diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index a86bc3b..4703f86 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -5,4 +5,4 @@ notifications:
 script:
   - cargo build --verbose --all
   - cargo test --verbose --all
-  - cargo run -- --verbose && rm -r target/debug/bin
+  - cargo run -- --verbose
diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 87fcc48..2896fcb 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -202,6 +202,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "sys-info 0.5.8 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
  "tar 0.4.26 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
  "tempfile 3.1.0 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
+ "xdg 2.2.0 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
 ]
 
 [[package]]
@@ -1412,6 +1413,11 @@ dependencies = [
  "libc 0.2.65 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)",
 ]
 
+[[package]]
+name = "xdg"
+version = "2.2.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+
 [metadata]
 "checksum adler32 1.0.3 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)" = "7e522997b529f05601e05166c07ed17789691f562762c7f3b987263d2dedee5c"
 "checksum aho-corasick 0.7.6 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)" = "58fb5e95d83b38284460a5fda7d6470aa0b8844d283a0b614b8535e880800d2d"
@@ -1574,3 +1580,4 @@ dependencies = [
 "checksum winreg 0.6.2 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)" = "b2986deb581c4fe11b621998a5e53361efe6b48a151178d0cd9eeffa4dc6acc9"
 "checksum ws2_32-sys 0.2.1 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)" = "d59cefebd0c892fa2dd6de581e937301d8552cb44489cdff035c6187cb63fa5e"
 "checksum xattr 0.2.2 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)" = "244c3741f4240ef46274860397c7c74e50eb23624996930e484c16679633a54c"
+"checksum xdg 2.2.0 (registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index)" = "d089681aa106a86fade1b0128fb5daf07d5867a509ab036d99988dec80429a57"
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 974c3d1..cd394a9 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ sys-info = "0.5.8"
 reqwest = "0.9.22"
 tar = "0.4.26"
 flate2 = "1.0.13"
+xdg = "^2.1"
 
 [dev-dependencies]
 tempfile = "3.1.0"
diff --git a/src/checker.rs b/src/checker.rs
index 2517c17..e49828b 100644
--- a/src/checker.rs
+++ b/src/checker.rs
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 use crate::architecture::Architecture;
-use crate::error::{Error, Result};
+use crate::error::Result;
 use crate::ostype::OsType;
-use std::{fs, io, path::Path, path::PathBuf};
+use std::{fmt::Display, fs, io, path::Path};
 
 #[cfg(test)]
 mod tests {
@@ -9,7 +9,6 @@ mod tests {
     use crate::error::Result;
     use flate2::write::GzEncoder;
     use flate2::Compression;
-    use std::env;
     use std::env::consts;
     use std::fs::File;
     use tempfile::NamedTempFile;
@@ -49,33 +48,11 @@ mod tests {
         assert_eq!(false, path_exists(&path));
     }
 
-    #[test]
-    fn test_get_base_path() {
-        let pwd = env::current_dir().unwrap();
-        let pwd = pwd.display();
-
-        // this is a little hacky... it only works as long as debug assertions stay dissabled for
-        // release builds. but for now `cargo test` and `cargo test --release` work, when executed
-        // from the project root
-        #[cfg(debug_assertions)]
-        let profile = "debug";
-        #[cfg(not(debug_assertions))]
-        let profile = "release";
-
-        let expected = format!(
-            "{}{sep}target{sep}{}{sep}deps",
-            pwd,
-            profile,
-            sep = std::path::MAIN_SEPARATOR
-        );
-        let base_path = get_base_path(env::current_exe().unwrap()).unwrap();
-        assert_eq!(expected, base_path)
-    }
-
     #[test]
     fn test_download() -> Result<()> {
         let base_url = generate_base_url("2.0.3");
-        let base_path = get_base_path(env::current_exe().unwrap()).unwrap();
+        let base_path = tempfile::tempdir().unwrap();
+        let base_path = base_path.path().display().to_string();
         let architecture = consts::ARCH.parse::<Architecture>()?;
         let os_type = consts::OS.parse::<OsType>()?;
 
@@ -140,7 +117,7 @@ pub fn generate_base_url(version: &str) -> String {
     format!("{}/{}", base_url, version)
 }
 
-pub fn download(base_url: &str, base_path: &str, filename: &str) -> Result<()> {
+pub fn download(base_url: &str, base_path: impl Display, filename: impl Display) -> Result<()> {
     let filepath = format!("{}/{}.tar.gz", base_path, filename);
     let url = format!("{}/{}.tar.gz", base_url, filename);
     let mut resp = reqwest::get(&url)?;
@@ -158,10 +135,3 @@ pub fn unpack(tar_path: impl AsRef<Path>, base_path: impl AsRef<Path>) -> Result
 
     Ok(())
 }
-
-pub fn get_base_path(path: PathBuf) -> Result<String> {
-    path.parent()
-        .map(Path::display)
-        .map(|path| path.to_string())
-        .ok_or(Error::InvalidBasePath)
-}
diff --git a/src/error.rs b/src/error.rs
index 28881c8..20a99fb 100644
--- a/src/error.rs
+++ b/src/error.rs
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ pub enum Error {
     Network(reqwest::Error),
     Encoding(std::str::Utf8Error),
     Output(fmt::Error),
-    InvalidBasePath,
+    Xdg(xdg::BaseDirectoriesError),
 }
 
 impl fmt::Display for Error {
@@ -25,11 +25,17 @@ impl fmt::Display for Error {
             Network(err) => write!(fmt, "Error downloading the file ({})", err),
             Encoding(err) => write!(fmt, "Encoding error ({})", err),
             Output(err) => write!(fmt, "Output error ({})", err),
-            InvalidBasePath => write!(fmt, "Invalid Base Path"),
+            Xdg(err) => write!(fmt, "XdgError({})", err),
         }
     }
 }
 
+impl From<xdg::BaseDirectoriesError> for Error {
+    fn from(err: xdg::BaseDirectoriesError) -> Self {
+        Error::Xdg(err)
+    }
+}
+
 impl From<std::io::Error> for Error {
     fn from(err: std::io::Error) -> Self {
         Error::IO(err)
diff --git a/src/main.rs b/src/main.rs
index 21395e8..1a88505 100644
--- a/src/main.rs
+++ b/src/main.rs
@@ -5,7 +5,6 @@ mod ostype;
 
 use crate::{architecture::Architecture, error::Result, ostype::OsType};
 use std::{
-    env,
     env::consts,
     io::{self, Write},
     process,
@@ -14,18 +13,23 @@ use std::{
 fn main() -> Result<()> {
     let version = "2.0.3";
 
+    // create XDG profile
+    let xdg_dirs = xdg::BaseDirectories::with_profile("editorconfig-checker", version)?;
     let architecture = consts::ARCH.parse::<Architecture>()?;
     let os_type = consts::OS.parse::<OsType>()?;
 
-    let base_path = checker::get_base_path(env::current_exe()?)?;
+    // create XDG cache dir in case it does not exist
+    xdg_dirs.create_cache_directory("")?;
+    // use XDG cache home as base path
+    let base_path = xdg_dirs.get_cache_home();
     let filename = checker::generate_filename(os_type, architecture);
-    let tar_path = format!("{}/{}.tar.gz", base_path, filename);
-    let binary_path = format!("{}/bin/{}", base_path, filename);
+    let tar_path = format!("{}/{}.tar.gz", base_path.display(), filename);
+    let binary_path = format!("{}/bin/{}", base_path.display(), filename);
 
     if !checker::path_exists(&binary_path) {
         let base_url: String = checker::generate_base_url(version);
 
-        checker::download(&base_url, &base_path, &filename)?;
+        checker::download(&base_url, base_path.display(), &filename)?;
         checker::unpack(&tar_path, &base_path)?;
     }