diff --git a/kitty/main.py b/kitty/main.py
index 058cd6d07..f478e326b 100644
--- a/kitty/main.py
+++ b/kitty/main.py
@@ -138,6 +138,8 @@ def on_glfw_error(code, msg):
 
 
 def main():
+    if os.environ.pop('KITTY_LAUNCHED_BY_LAUNCH_SERVICES', None) == '1' and getattr(sys, 'frozen', True):
+        os.chdir(os.path.expanduser('~'))
     args = option_parser().parse_args()
     if args.cmd:
         exec(args.cmd)
diff --git a/linux-launcher.c b/linux-launcher.c
index c3a216e37..9d3e3ef1f 100644
--- a/linux-launcher.c
+++ b/linux-launcher.c
@@ -46,6 +46,7 @@ static int run_embedded(const char* exe_dir_, int argc, wchar_t **argv) {
     if (num < 0 || num >= PATH_MAX) { fprintf(stderr, "Failed to create path to kitty lib\n"); return 1; }
     Py_Initialize();
     PySys_SetArgvEx(argc - 1, argv + 1, 0);
+    PySys_SetObject("frozen", Py_True);   // dont care if this fails 
     PyObject *kitty = PyUnicode_FromWideChar(stdlib, -1);
     if (kitty == NULL) { fprintf(stderr, "Failed to allocate python kitty lib object\n"); goto end; }
     PyObject *runpy = PyImport_ImportModule("runpy");