diff --git a/scripts/meta_optimize_distributed.sh b/scripts/meta_optimize_distributed.sh
index 1e149ead..00389b4e 100755
--- a/scripts/meta_optimize_distributed.sh
+++ b/scripts/meta_optimize_distributed.sh
@@ -52,7 +52,11 @@ if [[ -n "$REMOTE" ]]; then
     HOST="${REMOTE%%:*}"
     RPATH="${REMOTE#*:}"
     echo "[orch] cargo build --release on remote ($HOST:$RPATH)…" >&2
-    ( ssh "$HOST" "bash -lc 'cd \"$RPATH\" && cargo build --release --bin paint_meta_opt_worker'" >&2 ) &
+    # Don't quote $RPATH inside the bash -lc script — leaving it bare
+    # lets tilde expansion work (cd ~/source/foo). With quotes, bash
+    # sees "~/source/foo" as a literal pathname and `cd` fails. We
+    # accept the no-spaces-in-path constraint that comes with this.
+    ( ssh "$HOST" "bash -lc 'cd $RPATH && cargo build --release --bin paint_meta_opt_worker'" >&2 ) &
     REMOTE_BUILD_PID=$!
 fi
 
@@ -87,7 +91,7 @@ if [[ -n "$REMOTE" && "$REMOTE_N" -gt 0 ]]; then
     echo "[orch] dispatching $REMOTE_N samples to $HOST (serial on remote)…" >&2
     (
         seq "$LOCAL_N" $((N - 1)) | \
-            ssh "$HOST" "bash -lc 'cd \"$RPATH\" && while read -r i; do ./target/release/paint_meta_opt_worker \$i --inner $I --passes $P; done'"
+            ssh "$HOST" "bash -lc 'cd $RPATH && while read -r i; do ./target/release/paint_meta_opt_worker \$i --inner $I --passes $P; done'"
     ) >> "$REMOTE_OUT" &
     REMOTE_PID=$!
 fi
diff --git a/scripts/optimize_distributed.sh b/scripts/optimize_distributed.sh
index a94592cb..861f78fd 100755
--- a/scripts/optimize_distributed.sh
+++ b/scripts/optimize_distributed.sh
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ if [[ -n "$REMOTE" ]]; then
     HOST="${REMOTE%%:*}"
     RPATH="${REMOTE#*:}"
     echo "[orch] cargo build --release on remote ($HOST:$RPATH)…" >&2
-    ( ssh "$HOST" "bash -lc 'cd \"$RPATH\" && cargo build --release --bin paint_opt_worker'" >&2 ) &
+    ( ssh "$HOST" "bash -lc 'cd $RPATH && cargo build --release --bin paint_opt_worker'" >&2 ) &
     REMOTE_BUILD_PID=$!
 fi
 
@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@ if [[ -n "$REMOTE" && "$REMOTE_N" -gt 0 ]]; then
     echo "[orch] launching $REMOTE_N remote workers on $HOST…" >&2
     # Generate the index list local-side and stream to xargs over ssh.
     seq "$LOCAL_N" $((N - 1)) | \
-        ssh "$HOST" "bash -lc 'cd \"$RPATH\" && xargs -n1 -P$REMOTE_N -I{} ./target/release/paint_opt_worker {}'" \
+        ssh "$HOST" "bash -lc 'cd $RPATH && xargs -n1 -P$REMOTE_N -I{} ./target/release/paint_opt_worker {}'" \
         >> "$REMOTE_OUT" &
     REMOTE_PID=$!
 fi