diff --git a/src/auto-reply/reply/commands-compact.test.ts b/src/auto-reply/reply/commands-compact.test.ts
index 0f5fc9fabda..58362d8bda9 100644
--- a/src/auto-reply/reply/commands-compact.test.ts
+++ b/src/auto-reply/reply/commands-compact.test.ts
@@ -226,5 +226,6 @@ describe("handleCompactCommand", () => {
         agentDir: "/tmp/target-agent",
       }),
     );
+    expect(vi.mocked(resolveAgentDir)).toHaveBeenCalledWith(expect.any(Object), "target");
   });
 });
diff --git a/src/auto-reply/reply/commands-compact.ts b/src/auto-reply/reply/commands-compact.ts
index 7dada0fd3b6..0fa29e471ab 100644
--- a/src/auto-reply/reply/commands-compact.ts
+++ b/src/auto-reply/reply/commands-compact.ts
@@ -97,7 +97,7 @@ export const handleCompactCommand: CommandHandler = async (params) => {
     ? resolveSessionAgentId({ sessionKey: params.sessionKey, config: params.cfg })
     : params.agentId;
   const sessionAgentDir =
-    params.agentDir ?? (sessionAgentId ? resolveAgentDir(params.cfg, sessionAgentId) : undefined);
+    (sessionAgentId ? resolveAgentDir(params.cfg, sessionAgentId) : undefined) ?? params.agentDir;
   const customInstructions = extractCompactInstructions({
     rawBody: params.ctx.CommandBody ?? params.ctx.RawBody ?? params.ctx.Body,
     ctx: params.ctx,