diff --git a/cointop/debug.go b/cointop/debug.go
index aab5dee..631168c 100644
--- a/cointop/debug.go
+++ b/cointop/debug.go
@@ -1,13 +1,22 @@
 package cointop
 
 import (
+	"fmt"
 	"os"
 
+	"github.com/cointop-sh/cointop/pkg/pathutil"
 	log "github.com/sirupsen/logrus"
 )
 
 func (ct *Cointop) initlog() {
 	filename := "/tmp/cointop.log"
+	debugFile := os.Getenv("DEBUG_FILE")
+	if debugFile != "" {
+		filename = pathutil.NormalizePath(debugFile)
+		if filename != debugFile && os.Getenv("DEBUG") != "" {
+			fmt.Printf("Writing debug log to %s\n", filename)
+		}
+	}
 	f, err := os.OpenFile(filename, os.O_CREATE|os.O_APPEND|os.O_WRONLY, 0600)
 	if err != nil {
 		panic(err)
diff --git a/docs/content/faq.md b/docs/content/faq.md
index cc3c391..7a2aa64 100644
--- a/docs/content/faq.md
+++ b/docs/content/faq.md
@@ -504,3 +504,5 @@ draft: false
   ```bash
   DEBUG=1 DEBUG_HTTP=1 cointop
   ```
+
+  If you set environment variable `DEBUG_FILE` you can explicitly provide a logfile location, rather than `/tmp/cointop.log`
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/pkg/pathutil/pathutil.go b/pkg/pathutil/pathutil.go
index 7606705..02c52e4 100644
--- a/pkg/pathutil/pathutil.go
+++ b/pkg/pathutil/pathutil.go
@@ -53,6 +53,7 @@ func NormalizePath(path string) string {
 	userHome := UserPreferredHomeDir()
 	userConfigHome := UserPreferredConfigDir()
 	userCacheHome := UserPreferredCacheDir()
+	userTempDir := os.TempDir()
 
 	// expand tilde
 	if strings.HasPrefix(path, "~/") {
@@ -62,6 +63,7 @@ func NormalizePath(path string) string {
 	path = strings.Replace(path, ":HOME:", userHome, -1)
 	path = strings.Replace(path, ":PREFERRED_CONFIG_HOME:", userConfigHome, -1)
 	path = strings.Replace(path, ":PREFERRED_CACHE_HOME:", userCacheHome, -1)
+	path = strings.Replace(path, ":PREFERRED_TEMP_DIR:", userTempDir, -1)
 	path = strings.Replace(path, "/", string(filepath.Separator), -1)
 
 	return filepath.Clean(path)