diff --git a/artiq/frontend/artiq_browser.py b/artiq/frontend/artiq_browser.py
index 5cc0624dd..a11a39b1c 100755
--- a/artiq/frontend/artiq_browser.py
+++ b/artiq/frontend/artiq_browser.py
@@ -10,7 +10,8 @@ from PyQt5 import QtCore, QtGui, QtWidgets
 from quamash import QEventLoop
 
 from artiq import __artiq_dir__ as artiq_dir
-from artiq.tools import verbosity_args, atexit_register_coroutine
+from artiq.tools import (verbosity_args, atexit_register_coroutine,
+                         get_user_config_dir)
 from artiq.gui import state, applets, models, log
 from artiq.browser import datasets, files, experiments
 
@@ -19,10 +20,7 @@ logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
 
 def get_argparser():
-    if os.name == "nt":
-        default_db_file = os.path.expanduser("~\\artiq_browser.pyon")
-    else:
-        default_db_file = os.path.expanduser("~/.artiq_browser.pyon")
+    default_db_file = os.path.join(get_user_config_dir(), "artiq_browser.pyon")
 
     parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description="ARTIQ Browser")
     parser.add_argument("--db-file", default=default_db_file,
diff --git a/artiq/frontend/artiq_dashboard.py b/artiq/frontend/artiq_dashboard.py
index aabd1b6f5..3ac1c2f63 100755
--- a/artiq/frontend/artiq_dashboard.py
+++ b/artiq/frontend/artiq_dashboard.py
@@ -10,7 +10,8 @@ from PyQt5 import QtCore, QtGui, QtWidgets
 from quamash import QEventLoop
 
 from artiq import __artiq_dir__ as artiq_dir, __version__ as artiq_version
-from artiq.tools import *
+from artiq.tools import (atexit_register_coroutine, verbosity_args,
+                         get_user_config_dir)
 from artiq.protocols.pc_rpc import AsyncioClient
 from artiq.protocols.broadcast import Receiver
 from artiq.gui.models import ModelSubscriber
@@ -20,10 +21,8 @@ from artiq.dashboard import (experiments, shortcuts, explorer,
 
 
 def get_argparser():
-    if os.name == "nt":
-        default_db_file = os.path.expanduser("~\\artiq_dashboard.pyon")
-    else:
-        default_db_file = os.path.expanduser("~/.artiq_dashboard.pyon")
+    default_db_file = os.path.join(get_user_config_dir(),
+                                   "artiq_dashboard.pyon")
 
     parser = argparse.ArgumentParser(description="ARTIQ Dashboard")
     parser.add_argument(
diff --git a/artiq/tools.py b/artiq/tools.py
index 20ef7e892..c24c9725c 100644
--- a/artiq/tools.py
+++ b/artiq/tools.py
@@ -14,6 +14,9 @@ import numpy as np
 
 from artiq.language.environment import is_experiment
 from artiq.protocols import pyon
+from artiq.appdirs import user_config_dir
+from artiq._version import get_versions
+artiq_version = get_versions()['version']
 
 
 __all__ = ["parse_arguments", "elide", "short_format", "file_import",
@@ -243,3 +246,10 @@ def get_windows_drives():
             drives.append(letter)
         bitmask >>= 1
     return drives
+
+
+def get_user_config_dir():
+    major = artiq_version.split(".")[0]
+    dir = user_config_dir("artiq", "m-labs", major)
+    os.makedirs(dir, exist_ok=True)
+    return dir