diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 37c5759015e..c563d087d3b 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -503,6 +503,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "clap_lex 0.7.4",
  "completest",
  "completest-pty",
+ "home",
  "is_executable",
  "shlex",
  "snapbox",
diff --git a/clap_complete/Cargo.toml b/clap_complete/Cargo.toml
index 6cb6f10cb7d..be5aaed57a3 100644
--- a/clap_complete/Cargo.toml
+++ b/clap_complete/Cargo.toml
@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@ is_executable = { version = "1.0.1", optional = true }
 shlex = { version = "1.3.0", optional = true }
 completest = { version = "0.4.2", optional = true }
 completest-pty = { version = "0.5.5", optional = true }
+home = { version = "0.5.0", optional = true }
 
 [dev-dependencies]
 snapbox = { version = "0.6.0", features = ["diff", "dir", "examples"] }
@@ -55,7 +56,7 @@ required-features = ["unstable-dynamic"]
 [features]
 default = []
 unstable-doc = ["unstable-dynamic"] # for docs.rs
-unstable-dynamic = ["dep:clap_lex", "dep:shlex", "dep:is_executable", "clap/unstable-ext"]
+unstable-dynamic = ["dep:clap_lex", "dep:shlex", "dep:is_executable", "dep:home", "clap/unstable-ext"]
 unstable-shell-tests = ["dep:completest", "dep:completest-pty"]
 debug = ["clap/debug"]
 
diff --git a/clap_complete/src/engine/custom.rs b/clap_complete/src/engine/custom.rs
index a81f0b02848..1ba9332f0b1 100644
--- a/clap_complete/src/engine/custom.rs
+++ b/clap_complete/src/engine/custom.rs
@@ -274,7 +274,19 @@ impl ValueCompleter for PathCompleter {
             current_dir_actual = std::env::current_dir().ok();
             current_dir_actual.as_deref()
         });
-        let mut candidates = complete_path(current, current_dir, filter);
+
+        let Some(current) = current.to_str() else {
+            return vec![];
+        };
+
+        #[cfg(unix)]
+        if current.starts_with("~") {
+            if let Some(home) = home_dir() {
+                current.replace_range(..1, &home.to_string_lossy());
+            }
+        }
+
+        let mut candidates = complete_path(&current, current_dir, filter);
         if self.stdio && current.is_empty() {
             candidates.push(CompletionCandidate::new("-").help(Some("stdio".into())));
         }
@@ -283,7 +295,7 @@ impl ValueCompleter for PathCompleter {
 }
 
 pub(crate) fn complete_path(
-    value_os: &OsStr,
+    value_os: &str,
     current_dir: Option<&std::path::Path>,
     is_wanted: &dyn Fn(&std::path::Path) -> bool,
 ) -> Vec<CompletionCandidate> {