diff --git a/packages/spike/src/discord/crash.ts b/packages/spike/src/discord/crash.ts
index 470b87d..d7bda1a 100644
--- a/packages/spike/src/discord/crash.ts
+++ b/packages/spike/src/discord/crash.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,12 @@
+import { mkdirSync } from "node:fs"
+import { getConfig } from "../config"
 import { log } from "../log"
 
+const crashLogDir = getConfig("dataDir")
+mkdirSync(crashLogDir, { recursive: true })
+
+const crashLogPath = `${crashLogDir}/crash.log`
+
 export const logCrash = async (error: unknown) => {
   try {
     const stack = error instanceof Error ? error.stack : ""
@@ -8,7 +15,7 @@ export const logCrash = async (error: unknown) => {
     const crashLog = `Spike crashed at ${new Date().toISOString()}:\n${message}\n${stack ?? ""}\n`
 
     // overwrite the crash log file
-    const file = Bun.file(`${process.env.DATA_DIR}/crash.log`)
+    const file = Bun.file(crashLogPath)
     file.write(crashLog)
   } catch (writeError) {
     log({ type: "error", error: writeError, context: "writing crash log" })
@@ -33,7 +40,7 @@ export const alertAboutCrashLog = async (client: any) => {
 
 const clearCrashLog = async () => {
   try {
-    const file = Bun.file(`${process.env.DATA_DIR}/crash.log`)
+    const file = Bun.file(crashLogPath)
     if (!(await file.exists())) return
     const contents = await file.text()
     await file.write("")