diff --git a/.config/fish/config.fish b/.config/fish/config.fish
index fea9e0b..c9810ad 100644
--- a/.config/fish/config.fish
+++ b/.config/fish/config.fish
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@
 #  DOTFILES_DIR holds the template files; DOTFILES_BACKUP_DIR holds backups
 #  and the last-update-check timestamp.
 
-set -g DOTFILES_VERSION "1.0.5"
+set -g DOTFILES_VERSION "1.0.6"
 
 # --- Remote repository (set this to enable auto-updates) --------------------
 #  Example:
diff --git a/.config/fish/functions/dotfiles.fish b/.config/fish/functions/dotfiles.fish
index b0fd2a5..d722bfc 100644
--- a/.config/fish/functions/dotfiles.fish
+++ b/.config/fish/functions/dotfiles.fish
@@ -382,11 +382,14 @@ if test -f "$repo_file"
     set -gx DOTFILES_REPO_URL (command cat "$repo_file")
 end
 
-# Ensure there's always a default branch, even if config.fish hasn't been
-# reloaded after a framework update.
+# Ensure there's always a default branch and dotfiles directory, even if
+# config.fish hasn't been reloaded after a framework update.
 if not set -q DOTFILES_REPO_BRANCH
     set -gx DOTFILES_REPO_BRANCH "main"
 end
+if not set -q DOTFILES_DIR
+    set -gx DOTFILES_DIR "$__fish_config_dir/dotfiles"
+end
 
 
 # ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
@@ -434,9 +437,11 @@ function dotfiles_sync -d "Pull remote updates and re-apply all dotfiles"
     if test -d "$upstream_templates"
         echo ""
         echo "Updating templates from upstream ..."
-        # Copy recursively to handle subdirectory templates (e.g. config/).
-        # We use cp -r and then clean up the destination to only keep files.
-        command cp -r "$upstream_templates/." "$DOTFILES_DIR/"
+        if not command cp -r "$upstream_templates/." "$DOTFILES_DIR/"
+            echo "Error: failed to copy templates to $DOTFILES_DIR"
+            command rm -rf "$tmpdir"
+            return 1
+        end
         echo "  templates synced from upstream"
     else
         echo "Warning: no dotfiles/ directory found in the upstream repo."