diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 81e9e2f15..b7099ad45 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -402,7 +402,7 @@ semble savings --verbose # also show breakdown by call type
 
 Savings are calculated as follows: for each call, semble records the total character count of the unique files containing returned chunks and the character count of the snippets returned. Estimated tokens saved is `(file chars − snippet chars) / 4` (4 chars per token). This is a conservative estimate: the baseline is reading matched files in full, which is how coding agents often explore unfamiliar code.
 
-Stats are stored in the OS cache folder (`~/Library/Caches/semble/` on macOS, `~/.cache/semble/` on Linux, `%LOCALAPPDATA%\semble\Cache\` on Windows).
+By default, stats are stored in the OS cache folder (`~/Library/Caches/semble/` on macOS, `~/.cache/semble/` on Linux, `%LOCALAPPDATA%\semble\Cache\` on Windows). To override this location you can supply an environment variable `SEMBLE_CACHE_LOCATION` which should be the full path to the target cache location e.g. 'd:\caches\storemysemblecachehere'.
 
 </details>
 
diff --git a/src/semble/cache.py b/src/semble/cache.py
index 6f6ea49ee..e42454044 100644
--- a/src/semble/cache.py
+++ b/src/semble/cache.py
@@ -49,9 +49,11 @@ def _linux_cache_dir(name: str) -> Path:
 
 
 def resolve_cache_folder() -> Path:
-    """Resolves a cache folder, respects XDG_CACHE_HOME."""
+    """Resolves a cache folder, respects SEMBLE_CACHE_LOCATION (highest precedence), XDG_CACHE_HOME."""
     name = "semble"
-    if sys.platform == "win32":
+    if semble_cache_location := os.getenv("SEMBLE_CACHE_LOCATION"):
+        cache_dir = Path(semble_cache_location)
+    elif sys.platform == "win32":
         cache_dir = _windows_cache_dir(name)
     elif sys.platform == "darwin":
         cache_dir = _macos_cache_dir(name)
diff --git a/tests/test_cache.py b/tests/test_cache.py
index e46eb20d0..995705dab 100644
--- a/tests/test_cache.py
+++ b/tests/test_cache.py
@@ -93,6 +93,15 @@ def test_resolve_cache_folder(platform: str, mock_target: str, expected: Path) -
     assert result == expected
 
 
+def test_resolve_cache_folder_semble_cache_location(tmp_path: Path) -> None:
+    """SEMBLE_CACHE_LOCATION takes precedence over all platform-specific helpers."""
+    custom = tmp_path / "custom_cache"
+    with patch.dict("os.environ", {"SEMBLE_CACHE_LOCATION": str(custom)}):
+        result = resolve_cache_folder()
+    assert result == custom
+    assert custom.exists()
+
+
 def test_clear_cache(tmp_path: Path) -> None:
     """clear_cache removes the index directory when it exists and is a no-op otherwise."""
     index_path = tmp_path / "index"