diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index f7f911a0ed..3442e96ff5 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -195,6 +195,7 @@ reedline = { workspace = true, features = ["bashisms", "sqlite"] }
 
 crossterm = { workspace = true }
 ctrlc = { workspace = true }
+dirs-next = { workspace = true }
 log = { workspace = true }
 miette = { workspace = true, features = ["fancy-no-backtrace", "fancy"] }
 mimalloc = { version = "0.1.42", default-features = false, optional = true }
diff --git a/crates/nu-cli/tests/completions/mod.rs b/crates/nu-cli/tests/completions/mod.rs
index a5b0b13aa8..107de98c80 100644
--- a/crates/nu-cli/tests/completions/mod.rs
+++ b/crates/nu-cli/tests/completions/mod.rs
@@ -763,11 +763,13 @@ fn variables_completions() {
     // Test completions for $nu
     let suggestions = completer.complete("$nu.", 4);
 
-    assert_eq!(15, suggestions.len());
+    assert_eq!(17, suggestions.len());
 
     let expected: Vec<String> = vec![
+        "cache-dir".into(),
         "config-path".into(),
         "current-exe".into(),
+        "data-dir".into(),
         "default-config-dir".into(),
         "env-path".into(),
         "history-enabled".into(),
diff --git a/crates/nu-path/src/helpers.rs b/crates/nu-path/src/helpers.rs
index aaa53eab71..5b389410e4 100644
--- a/crates/nu-path/src/helpers.rs
+++ b/crates/nu-path/src/helpers.rs
@@ -6,18 +6,36 @@ pub fn home_dir() -> Option<PathBuf> {
     dirs_next::home_dir()
 }
 
+/// Return the data directory for the current platform or XDG_DATA_HOME if specified.
+pub fn data_dir() -> Option<PathBuf> {
+    match std::env::var("XDG_DATA_HOME").map(PathBuf::from) {
+        Ok(xdg_data) if xdg_data.is_absolute() => Some(canonicalize(&xdg_data).unwrap_or(xdg_data)),
+        _ => get_canonicalized_path(dirs_next::data_dir()),
+    }
+}
+
+/// Return the cache directory for the current platform or XDG_CACHE_HOME if specified.
+pub fn cache_dir() -> Option<PathBuf> {
+    match std::env::var("XDG_CACHE_HOME").map(PathBuf::from) {
+        Ok(xdg_cache) if xdg_cache.is_absolute() => {
+            Some(canonicalize(&xdg_cache).unwrap_or(xdg_cache))
+        }
+        _ => get_canonicalized_path(dirs_next::cache_dir()),
+    }
+}
+
+/// Return the config directory for the current platform or XDG_CONFIG_HOME if specified.
 pub fn config_dir() -> Option<PathBuf> {
     match std::env::var("XDG_CONFIG_HOME").map(PathBuf::from) {
         Ok(xdg_config) if xdg_config.is_absolute() => {
             Some(canonicalize(&xdg_config).unwrap_or(xdg_config))
         }
-        _ => config_dir_old(),
+        _ => get_canonicalized_path(dirs_next::config_dir()),
     }
 }
 
-/// Get the old default config directory. Outside of Linux, this will ignore `XDG_CONFIG_HOME`
-pub fn config_dir_old() -> Option<PathBuf> {
-    let path = dirs_next::config_dir()?;
+pub fn get_canonicalized_path(path: Option<PathBuf>) -> Option<PathBuf> {
+    let path = path?;
     Some(canonicalize(&path).unwrap_or(path))
 }
 
diff --git a/crates/nu-path/src/lib.rs b/crates/nu-path/src/lib.rs
index 6c064d4b57..13640acd2f 100644
--- a/crates/nu-path/src/lib.rs
+++ b/crates/nu-path/src/lib.rs
@@ -8,6 +8,6 @@ mod trailing_slash;
 
 pub use components::components;
 pub use expansions::{canonicalize_with, expand_path_with, expand_to_real_path, locate_in_dirs};
-pub use helpers::{config_dir, config_dir_old, home_dir};
+pub use helpers::{cache_dir, config_dir, data_dir, get_canonicalized_path, home_dir};
 pub use tilde::expand_tilde;
 pub use trailing_slash::{has_trailing_slash, strip_trailing_slash};
diff --git a/crates/nu-protocol/src/eval_const.rs b/crates/nu-protocol/src/eval_const.rs
index 08ff6fa391..9f81a6f38b 100644
--- a/crates/nu-protocol/src/eval_const.rs
+++ b/crates/nu-protocol/src/eval_const.rs
@@ -149,6 +149,38 @@ pub(crate) fn create_nu_constant(engine_state: &EngineState, span: Span) -> Valu
         },
     );
 
+    record.push(
+        "data-dir",
+        if let Some(path) = nu_path::data_dir() {
+            let mut canon_data_path = canonicalize_path(engine_state, &path);
+            canon_data_path.push("nushell");
+            Value::string(canon_data_path.to_string_lossy(), span)
+        } else {
+            Value::error(
+                ShellError::IOError {
+                    msg: "Could not get data path".into(),
+                },
+                span,
+            )
+        },
+    );
+
+    record.push(
+        "cache-dir",
+        if let Some(path) = nu_path::cache_dir() {
+            let mut canon_cache_path = canonicalize_path(engine_state, &path);
+            canon_cache_path.push("nushell");
+            Value::string(canon_cache_path.to_string_lossy(), span)
+        } else {
+            Value::error(
+                ShellError::IOError {
+                    msg: "Could not get cache path".into(),
+                },
+                span,
+            )
+        },
+    );
+
     record.push("temp-path", {
         let canon_temp_path = canonicalize_path(engine_state, &std::env::temp_dir());
         Value::string(canon_temp_path.to_string_lossy(), span)
diff --git a/crates/nu-utils/src/sample_config/default_env.nu b/crates/nu-utils/src/sample_config/default_env.nu
index 57e255ed20..effe76c98a 100644
--- a/crates/nu-utils/src/sample_config/default_env.nu
+++ b/crates/nu-utils/src/sample_config/default_env.nu
@@ -77,6 +77,7 @@ $env.ENV_CONVERSIONS = {
 # The default for this is $nu.default-config-dir/scripts
 $env.NU_LIB_DIRS = [
     ($nu.default-config-dir | path join 'scripts') # add <nushell-config-dir>/scripts
+    ($nu.data-dir | path join 'completions') # default home for nushell completions
 ]
 
 # Directories to search for plugin binaries when calling register
diff --git a/src/main.rs b/src/main.rs
index f9fdff3ccf..41d5534bb0 100644
--- a/src/main.rs
+++ b/src/main.rs
@@ -104,7 +104,9 @@ fn main() -> Result<()> {
                         default: nushell_config_path.display().to_string(),
                     },
                 );
-            } else if let Some(old_config) = nu_path::config_dir_old().map(|p| p.join("nushell")) {
+            } else if let Some(old_config) =
+                nu_path::get_canonicalized_path(dirs_next::config_dir()).map(|p| p.join("nushell"))
+            {
                 let xdg_config_empty = nushell_config_path
                     .read_dir()
                     .map_or(true, |mut dir| dir.next().is_none());
@@ -125,13 +127,22 @@ fn main() -> Result<()> {
         }
     }
 
+    let default_nushell_completions_path = if let Some(mut path) = nu_path::data_dir() {
+        path.push("nushell");
+        path.push("completions");
+        path
+    } else {
+        std::path::PathBuf::new()
+    };
+
     let mut default_nu_lib_dirs_path = nushell_config_path.clone();
     default_nu_lib_dirs_path.push("scripts");
     engine_state.add_env_var(
         "NU_LIB_DIRS".to_string(),
-        Value::test_list(vec![Value::test_string(
-            default_nu_lib_dirs_path.to_string_lossy(),
-        )]),
+        Value::test_list(vec![
+            Value::test_string(default_nu_lib_dirs_path.to_string_lossy()),
+            Value::test_string(default_nushell_completions_path.to_string_lossy()),
+        ]),
     );
 
     let mut default_nu_plugin_dirs_path = nushell_config_path;