diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index e391d76..aeb4a61 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -29,6 +29,8 @@ Notes:
 - The default compose file uses traefik/whoami for smoke testing.
 - Edit each generated compose.yaml before production use.
 - App names must be lowercase slugs.
+- If deploy reports XDG_RUNTIME_DIR missing, enable lingering for the runtime user:
+   `sudo loginctl enable-linger reudy`
 
 API service:
 - Nix now runs panel-api as a systemd service on 127.0.0.1:9911.
diff --git a/panelctl.sh b/panelctl.sh
index 9d046c0..61382eb 100644
--- a/panelctl.sh
+++ b/panelctl.sh
@@ -117,6 +117,49 @@ compose_command() {
   fail "no compose command available (need 'podman compose' or 'podman-compose')"
 }
 
+ensure_podman_runtime_env() {
+  local uid
+  uid="$(id -u)"
+
+  if [[ -z "${HOME:-}" ]]; then
+    HOME="$(getent passwd "${uid}" | cut -d: -f6 || true)"
+    export HOME
+  fi
+
+  if [[ -z "${XDG_RUNTIME_DIR:-}" ]]; then
+    XDG_RUNTIME_DIR="/run/user/${uid}"
+    export XDG_RUNTIME_DIR
+  fi
+
+  if [[ ! -d "${XDG_RUNTIME_DIR}" ]]; then
+    fail "XDG_RUNTIME_DIR '${XDG_RUNTIME_DIR}' does not exist for uid ${uid}. Ensure user runtime is available (e.g. loginctl enable-linger $(id -un))."
+  fi
+
+  if [[ -z "${DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS:-}" && -S "${XDG_RUNTIME_DIR}/bus" ]]; then
+    DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS="unix:path=${XDG_RUNTIME_DIR}/bus"
+    export DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS
+  fi
+
+  # Avoid inherited docker/podman remote host env from external callers.
+  unset DOCKER_HOST
+  unset CONTAINER_HOST
+}
+
+run_compose() {
+  local compose
+  compose="$(compose_command)"
+
+  ensure_podman_runtime_env
+
+  if [[ "${compose}" == *" compose" ]]; then
+    local podman_bin="${compose% compose}"
+    "${podman_bin}" compose "$@"
+    return
+  fi
+
+  "${compose}" "$@"
+}
+
 write_default_compose() {
   local name="$1"
   local port="$2"
@@ -239,11 +282,8 @@ cmd_deploy() {
   validate_name "${name}"
   load_app "${name}"
 
-  local compose
-  compose="$(compose_command)"
-
   cmd_render_route "${name}"
-  ${compose} -f "${APP_COMPOSE_FILE}" up -d
+  run_compose -f "${APP_COMPOSE_FILE}" up -d
   maybe_reload_caddy
 
   echo "deployed app '${name}'"
@@ -254,9 +294,7 @@ cmd_stop() {
   validate_name "${name}"
   load_app "${name}"
 
-  local compose
-  compose="$(compose_command)"
-  ${compose} -f "${APP_COMPOSE_FILE}" down
+  run_compose -f "${APP_COMPOSE_FILE}" down
   echo "stopped app '${name}'"
 }
 
@@ -266,9 +304,7 @@ cmd_remove() {
   validate_name "${name}"
   load_app "${name}"
 
-  local compose
-  compose="$(compose_command)"
-  ${compose} -f "${APP_COMPOSE_FILE}" down || true
+  run_compose -f "${APP_COMPOSE_FILE}" down || true
 
   rm -f "${APP_ROUTE_FILE}" "$(app_manifest "${name}")"
   rm -rf "${APP_STACK_DIR}"