diff --git a/cmd/headscale/cli/utils.go b/cmd/headscale/cli/utils.go
index 823089d2..1560dc2c 100644
--- a/cmd/headscale/cli/utils.go
+++ b/cmd/headscale/cli/utils.go
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ func getHeadscaleApp() (*headscale.Headscale, error) {
 		DerpMap:        derpMap,
 
 		DBtype: viper.GetString("db_type"),
-		DBpath: viper.GetString("db_path"),
+		DBpath: absPath(viper.GetString("db_path")),
 		DBhost: viper.GetString("db_host"),
 		DBport: viper.GetInt("db_port"),
 		DBname: viper.GetString("db_name"),
diff --git a/config.json.sqlite.example b/config.json.sqlite.example
index 40bd85b2..2ae821b2 100644
--- a/config.json.sqlite.example
+++ b/config.json.sqlite.example
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
     "private_key_path": "private.key",
     "derp_map_path": "derp.yaml",
     "db_type": "sqlite3",
-    "db_path": "./db.sqlite",
+    "db_path": "db.sqlite",
     "tls_letsencrypt_hostname": "",
     "tls_letsencrypt_cache_dir": ".cache",
     "tls_letsencrypt_challenge_type": "HTTP-01",