diff --git a/internal/api/app.go b/internal/api/app.go
index 3e2c6b4..8dde2ef 100644
--- a/internal/api/app.go
+++ b/internal/api/app.go
@@ -101,9 +101,13 @@ func expandPath(path string) string {
 
 // ReloadPlugins re-discovers plugins from disk and returns a summary.
 func (a *App) ReloadPlugins() (int, string) {
+	// Resolve plugin directories relative to the binary location
+	binDir := filepath.Dir(os.Args[0])
+	pluginDir := filepath.Join(binDir, "plugins")
+
 	discoveryDirs := []string{
 		"~/.config/verstak/plugins",
-		"./plugins",
+		pluginDir,
 	}
 
 	// Expand tilde in all paths
diff --git a/main.go b/main.go
index 8fb5b5c..69a02ac 100644
--- a/main.go
+++ b/main.go
@@ -71,9 +71,14 @@ func main() {
 	log.Printf("[main] registered vault capability")
 
 	// ─── Plugin Discovery ───────────────────────────────────
+	// Resolve plugin directories relative to the binary location,
+	// not CWD (Wails may launch from a different directory).
+	binDir := filepath.Dir(os.Args[0])
+	pluginDir := filepath.Join(binDir, "plugins")
+
 	discoveryDirs := []string{
 		"~/.config/verstak/plugins",
-		"./plugins",
+		pluginDir,
 	}
 
 	// Expand tilde in all paths
diff --git a/scripts/build.sh b/scripts/build.sh
index 8bbf776..2c69f83 100755
--- a/scripts/build.sh
+++ b/scripts/build.sh
@@ -127,6 +127,12 @@ if [ -n "$WAILS" ]; then
   echo "  🔨 wails build..."
   (cd "$ROOT" && "$WAILS" build -clean $WAILS_TAGS)
   report "wails build" $?
+  # Copy plugins/ to build/bin/ so the binary can find them at runtime
+  if [ -d "$ROOT/plugins" ]; then
+    mkdir -p "$ROOT/build/bin/plugins"
+    cp -r "$ROOT/plugins/"* "$ROOT/build/bin/plugins/" 2>/dev/null || true
+    echo "  📦 plugins copied to build/bin/plugins/"
+  fi
   # Show where the binary ended up
   if [ -f "$ROOT/build/bin/$WAILS_BINARY" ]; then
     echo "  📦 binary: $ROOT/build/bin/$WAILS_BINARY"