diff --git a/changelog.d/2262.changed.md b/changelog.d/2262.changed.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..56e40698ae0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog.d/2262.changed.md
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+change kubeconfig path expansion to use env as well
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/mirrord/kube/src/api/kubernetes.rs b/mirrord/kube/src/api/kubernetes.rs
index 9f457e54565..d4e78a35455 100644
--- a/mirrord/kube/src/api/kubernetes.rs
+++ b/mirrord/kube/src/api/kubernetes.rs
@@ -280,7 +280,8 @@ where
     };
 
     let mut config = if let Some(kubeconfig) = kubeconfig {
-        let kubeconfig = shellexpand::tilde(&kubeconfig);
+        let kubeconfig = shellexpand::full(&kubeconfig)
+            .map_err(|e| KubeApiError::ConfigPathExpansionError(e.to_string()))?;
         let parsed_kube_config = Kubeconfig::read_from(kubeconfig.deref())?;
         Config::from_custom_kubeconfig(parsed_kube_config, &kube_config_opts).await?
     } else if kube_config_opts.context.is_some() {
diff --git a/mirrord/kube/src/error.rs b/mirrord/kube/src/error.rs
index f5c88a6132b..06b68c8faf4 100644
--- a/mirrord/kube/src/error.rs
+++ b/mirrord/kube/src/error.rs
@@ -75,4 +75,7 @@ pub enum KubeApiError {
 
     #[error("Node {0:?} is too full with {1} pods")]
     NodePodLimitExceeded(String, usize),
+
+    #[error("Path expansion for kubeconfig failed: {0}")]
+    ConfigPathExpansionError(String),
 }