diff --git a/include/fc/filesystem.hpp b/include/fc/filesystem.hpp
index 71c04eb..bd091b5 100644
--- a/include/fc/filesystem.hpp
+++ b/include/fc/filesystem.hpp
@@ -135,8 +135,16 @@ namespace fc {
 
   void     create_hard_link( const path& from, const path& to );
 
-  path     unique_path();
-  path     temp_directory_path();
+  path        unique_path();
+  path        temp_directory_path();
+
+  /** @return the home directory on Linux and OS X and the Profile directory on Windows */
+  const path& home_path();
+
+  /** @return the home_path() on Linux, home_path()/Library/Application Support/ on OS X, 
+   *  and APPDATA on windows
+   */
+  const path& app_path();
 
   class variant;
   void to_variant( const fc::path&,  fc::variant&  );
diff --git a/src/filesystem.cpp b/src/filesystem.cpp
index de160f6..9448016 100644
--- a/src/filesystem.cpp
+++ b/src/filesystem.cpp
@@ -13,6 +13,10 @@
 
 #ifdef WIN32
   #include <windows.h>
+#else
+  #include <sys/types.h>
+  #include <pwd.h>
+  #include <uuid/uuid.h>
 #endif
 
 namespace fc {
@@ -365,4 +369,51 @@ namespace fc {
    {
       _path = fc::optional<fc::path>();
    }
+
+   const fc::path& home_path()
+   {
+      static fc::path p = []()
+      {
+        #ifdef WIN32
+          char* home = getenv( "USERPROFILE" );
+          if( nullptr == home )
+          {
+             FC_ASSERT( home != nullptr, "The USERPROFILE environment variable is not set" );
+          }
+          return fc::path( home );
+        #else
+          char* home = getenv( "HOME" );
+          if( nullptr == home )
+          {
+             struct passwd* pwd = getpwuid(getuid());
+             if( pwd )
+             {
+                 return fc::path( std::string( pwd->pw_dir ) );
+             }
+             FC_ASSERT( home != nullptr, "The HOME environment variable is not set" );
+          }
+          return fc::path( std::string(home) );
+        #endif
+      }();
+      return p;
+   }
+
+   const fc::path& app_dir()
+   {
+      #ifdef __APPLE__
+         static fc::path appdir = [](){  return home_path() / "Library" / "Application Support"; }();  
+      #elif defined( WIN32 )
+         static fc::path appdir = [](){  
+          char* appdata = getenv( "APPDATA" );
+          if( nullptr == appdata )
+          {
+             FC_ASSERT( appdata != nullptr, "The APPDATA environment variable is not set" );
+          }
+          return fc::path( std::string(appdata) );
+         }();
+      #else
+         static fc::path appdir = home_dir();
+      #endif
+      return appdir;
+   }
 }