diff --git a/packages/cli/src/ui/App.tsx b/packages/cli/src/ui/App.tsx
index befefec1..c07c623e 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/ui/App.tsx
+++ b/packages/cli/src/ui/App.tsx
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ import { ShellModeIndicator } from './components/ShellModeIndicator.js';
 import { EditorState, InputPrompt } from './components/InputPrompt.js';
 import { Footer } from './components/Footer.js';
 import { ThemeDialog } from './components/ThemeDialog.js';
-import { shortenPath, type Config } from '@gemini-code/server';
+import { type Config } from '@gemini-code/server';
 import { Colors } from './colors.js';
 import { Help } from './components/Help.js';
 import { loadHierarchicalGeminiMemory } from '../config/config.js';
@@ -342,14 +342,16 @@ export const App = ({
               justifyContent="space-between"
               width="100%"
             >
-              <Box>
-                <>
-                  <Text color={Colors.SubtleComment}>cwd: </Text>
-                  <Text color={Colors.LightBlue}>
-                    {shortenPath(config.getTargetDir(), 70)}
+              {geminiMdFileCount > 0 && (
+                <Box>
+                  {process.env.GEMINI_SYSTEM_MD && (
+                    <Text color={Colors.AccentRed}>|⌐■_■| </Text>
+                  )}
+                  <Text color={Colors.SubtleComment}>
+                    Using {geminiMdFileCount} GEMINI.md files
                   </Text>
-                </>
-              </Box>
+                </Box>
+              )}
               <Box>
                 {showAutoAcceptIndicator && !shellModeActive && (
                   <AutoAcceptIndicator />
@@ -431,7 +433,6 @@ export const App = ({
           debugMode={config.getDebugMode()}
           debugMessage={debugMessage}
           cliVersion={cliVersion}
-          geminiMdFileCount={geminiMdFileCount}
           corgiMode={corgiMode}
         />
         <ConsoleOutput debugMode={config.getDebugMode()} />
diff --git a/packages/cli/src/ui/components/Footer.tsx b/packages/cli/src/ui/components/Footer.tsx
index 0e2779cb..03e85db1 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/ui/components/Footer.tsx
+++ b/packages/cli/src/ui/components/Footer.tsx
@@ -7,14 +7,13 @@
 import React from 'react';
 import { Box, Text } from 'ink';
 import { Colors } from '../colors.js';
-import { Config } from '@gemini-code/server';
+import { shortenPath, tildeifyPath, Config } from '@gemini-code/server';
 
 interface FooterProps {
   config: Config;
   debugMode: boolean;
   debugMessage: string;
   cliVersion: string;
-  geminiMdFileCount: number;
   corgiMode: boolean;
 }
 
@@ -23,19 +22,16 @@ export const Footer: React.FC<FooterProps> = ({
   debugMode,
   debugMessage,
   cliVersion,
-  geminiMdFileCount,
   corgiMode,
 }) => (
   <Box marginTop={1}>
     <Box>
-      {geminiMdFileCount > 0 && (
-        <Text color={Colors.SubtleComment}>
-          Using {geminiMdFileCount} GEMINI.md files
-        </Text>
-      )}
+      <Text color={Colors.LightBlue}>
+        {shortenPath(tildeifyPath(config.getTargetDir()), 70)}
+      </Text>
       {debugMode && (
         <Text color={Colors.AccentRed}>
-          {debugMessage || ' | Running in debug mode.'}
+          {' ' + (debugMessage || '--debug')}
         </Text>
       )}
     </Box>
@@ -74,9 +70,6 @@ export const Footer: React.FC<FooterProps> = ({
           <Text color={Colors.AccentRed}>▼ </Text>
         </Text>
       )}
-      {process.env.GEMINI_SYSTEM_MD && (
-        <Text color={Colors.AccentRed}>|⌐■_■|</Text>
-      )}
     </Box>
   </Box>
 );
diff --git a/packages/cli/src/ui/components/InputPrompt.tsx b/packages/cli/src/ui/components/InputPrompt.tsx
index c9ebaf14..f77ac4d6 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/ui/components/InputPrompt.tsx
+++ b/packages/cli/src/ui/components/InputPrompt.tsx
@@ -216,7 +216,7 @@ export const InputPrompt: React.FC<InputPromptProps> = ({
           initialCursorOffset={editorState.initialCursorOffset}
           initialText={query}
           onChange={onChange}
-          placeholder="Enter your message or use tools (e.g., @src/file.txt)..."
+          placeholder="Type your message or @path/to/file"
           /* Account for width used by the box and &gt; */
           navigateUp={inputHistory.navigateUp}
           navigateDown={inputHistory.navigateDown}
diff --git a/packages/server/src/utils/paths.ts b/packages/server/src/utils/paths.ts
index 4ff74897..bbd479fd 100644
--- a/packages/server/src/utils/paths.ts
+++ b/packages/server/src/utils/paths.ts
@@ -5,6 +5,20 @@
  */
 
 import path from 'node:path';
+import os from 'os';
+
+/**
+ * Replaces the home directory with a tilde.
+ * @param path - The path to tildeify.
+ * @returns The tildeified path.
+ */
+export function tildeifyPath(path: string): string {
+  const homeDir = os.homedir();
+  if (path.startsWith(homeDir)) {
+    return path.replace(homeDir, '~');
+  }
+  return path;
+}
 
 /**
  * Shortens a path string if it exceeds maxLen, prioritizing the start and end segments.