diff --git a/projects/ExampleMonteCarlo/report/report.jl b/projects/ExampleMonteCarlo/report/report.jl
index 6288305..9308794 100644
--- a/projects/ExampleMonteCarlo/report/report.jl
+++ b/projects/ExampleMonteCarlo/report/report.jl
@@ -7,9 +7,8 @@ using ExampleMonteCarlo: ExampleMonteCarlo
 using ParamIO: ParamIO
 
 const CONFIG = get(ARGS, 1, joinpath(@__DIR__, "..", "configs", "smoke.toml"))
-const OUTDIR = get(ENV, "DATAVAULT_OUTDIR", joinpath(@__DIR__, "..", "out"))
 
-vault = DataVault.Vault(CONFIG; run="phase1", outdir=OUTDIR)
+vault = DataVault.Vault(CONFIG; run="phase1")
 rows = ExampleMonteCarlo.summarise(vault)      # the same reduction scripts/collect.jl uses
 
 @info "reporting over" n = length(rows)
diff --git a/projects/ExampleMonteCarlo/scripts/collect.jl b/projects/ExampleMonteCarlo/scripts/collect.jl
index 328dc59..c7b7ed7 100644
--- a/projects/ExampleMonteCarlo/scripts/collect.jl
+++ b/projects/ExampleMonteCarlo/scripts/collect.jl
@@ -8,9 +8,8 @@ using ParamIO: ParamIO
 using Printf
 
 const CONFIG = get(ARGS, 1, joinpath(@__DIR__, "..", "configs", "smoke.toml"))
-const OUTDIR = get(ENV, "DATAVAULT_OUTDIR", joinpath(@__DIR__, "..", "out"))
 
-vault = DataVault.Vault(CONFIG; run="phase1", outdir=OUTDIR)
+vault = DataVault.Vault(CONFIG; run="phase1")
 rows = ExampleMonteCarlo.summarise(vault)
 
 @printf("\n  %-5s %-7s %-11s %-11s %s\n", "L", "kbT", "E/N", "|M|", "Binder")
diff --git a/projects/ExampleMonteCarlo/scripts/compute.jl b/projects/ExampleMonteCarlo/scripts/compute.jl
index 9a9bce1..5f8e314 100644
--- a/projects/ExampleMonteCarlo/scripts/compute.jl
+++ b/projects/ExampleMonteCarlo/scripts/compute.jl
@@ -18,11 +18,14 @@ using ParamIO: ParamIO
 using SweepRunner: SweepRunner
 
 const CONFIG = get(ARGS, 1, joinpath(@__DIR__, "..", "configs", "smoke.toml"))
-const OUTDIR = get(ENV, "DATAVAULT_OUTDIR", joinpath(@__DIR__, "..", "out"))
 
 spec = ParamIO.load(CONFIG)
 keys = ParamIO.expand(spec)
-vault = DataVault.Vault(CONFIG; run="phase1", outdir=OUTDIR)
+# `outdir` is NOT passed. DataVault resolves it itself — kwarg, then DATAVAULT_OUTDIR, then the
+# config's [study] outdir — and a kwarg wins, so reading the environment here and handing the result
+# over would silently make the config's own setting unreachable. The config decides where its
+# results go; the driver only says which run.
+vault = DataVault.Vault(CONFIG; run="phase1")
 
 SweepRunner.init_workers!(; mode=:auto)
 opts = SweepRunner.RunOpts(; stop_flag=get(ENV, "PM_STOP_FLAG", nothing))
diff --git a/projects/ExampleSweep/report/report.jl b/projects/ExampleSweep/report/report.jl
index 839178a..c10da56 100644
--- a/projects/ExampleSweep/report/report.jl
+++ b/projects/ExampleSweep/report/report.jl
@@ -8,9 +8,8 @@ using ExampleSweep: ExampleSweep
 using ParamIO: ParamIO
 
 const CONFIG = get(ARGS, 1, joinpath(@__DIR__, "..", "configs", "smoke.toml"))
-const OUTDIR = get(ENV, "DATAVAULT_OUTDIR", joinpath(@__DIR__, "..", "out"))
 
-vault = DataVault.Vault(CONFIG; run="phase1", outdir=OUTDIR)
+vault = DataVault.Vault(CONFIG; run="phase1")
 rows = ExampleSweep.summarise(vault)          # the same reduction scripts/collect.jl uses
 
 @info "reporting over" n = length(rows)
diff --git a/projects/ExampleSweep/scripts/collect.jl b/projects/ExampleSweep/scripts/collect.jl
index 34dbdc7..4298124 100644
--- a/projects/ExampleSweep/scripts/collect.jl
+++ b/projects/ExampleSweep/scripts/collect.jl
@@ -9,9 +9,8 @@ using ParamIO: ParamIO
 using Printf
 
 const CONFIG = get(ARGS, 1, joinpath(@__DIR__, "..", "configs", "smoke.toml"))
-const OUTDIR = get(ENV, "DATAVAULT_OUTDIR", joinpath(@__DIR__, "..", "out"))
 
-vault = DataVault.Vault(CONFIG; run="phase1", outdir=OUTDIR)
+vault = DataVault.Vault(CONFIG; run="phase1")
 rows = ExampleSweep.summarise(vault)          # the same reduction report/ uses
 
 @printf("\n  %-8s %-10s %s\n", "a", "dt", "rel_error")
diff --git a/projects/ExampleSweep/scripts/compute.jl b/projects/ExampleSweep/scripts/compute.jl
index 2e94778..e8dca05 100644
--- a/projects/ExampleSweep/scripts/compute.jl
+++ b/projects/ExampleSweep/scripts/compute.jl
@@ -25,12 +25,14 @@ using ParamIO: ParamIO
 using SweepRunner: SweepRunner
 
 const CONFIG = get(ARGS, 1, joinpath(@__DIR__, "..", "configs", "smoke.toml"))
-# outdir precedence, resolved by DataVault: kwarg > ENV > the config's [study].
-const OUTDIR = get(ENV, "DATAVAULT_OUTDIR", joinpath(@__DIR__, "..", "out"))
 
 spec = ParamIO.load(CONFIG)
 keys = ParamIO.expand(spec)
-vault = DataVault.Vault(CONFIG; run="phase1", outdir=OUTDIR)
+# `outdir` is NOT passed. DataVault resolves it itself — kwarg, then DATAVAULT_OUTDIR, then the
+# config's [study] outdir — and a kwarg wins, so reading the environment here and handing the result
+# over would silently make the config's own setting unreachable. The config decides where its
+# results go; the driver only says which run.
+vault = DataVault.Vault(CONFIG; run="phase1")
 
 SweepRunner.init_workers!(; mode=:auto)