diff --git a/confsync/utils/path_utils.py b/confsync/utils/path_utils.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e36cfba
--- /dev/null
+++ b/confsync/utils/path_utils.py
@@ -0,0 +1,80 @@
+"""Path utility functions for ConfSync."""
+
+import os
+from pathlib import Path
+from typing import List
+
+
+def expand_path(path: str) -> str:
+    """Expand user home directory and environment variables in path."""
+    return os.path.expandvars(os.path.expanduser(path))
+
+
+def normalize_path(path: str) -> str:
+    """Normalize a path to absolute form."""
+    return str(Path(expand_path(path)).resolve())
+
+
+def get_home_directory() -> str:
+    """Get the user's home directory."""
+    return str(Path.home())
+
+
+def get_xdg_config_dir() -> str:
+    """Get the XDG config directory, falling back to ~/.config."""
+    xdg_config = os.environ.get('XDG_CONFIG_HOME')
+    if xdg_config:
+        return xdg_config
+    return os.path.join(get_home_directory(), '.config')
+
+
+def get_xdg_data_dir() -> str:
+    """Get the XDG data directory, falling back to ~/.local/share."""
+    xdg_data = os.environ.get('XDG_DATA_HOME')
+    if xdg_data:
+        return xdg_data
+    return os.path.join(get_home_directory(), '.local', 'share')
+
+
+def list_directories(path: str) -> List[str]:
+    """List all directories in a path."""
+    try:
+        return [d for d in os.listdir(path) if os.path.isdir(os.path.join(path, d))]
+    except OSError:
+        return []
+
+
+def path_components(path: str) -> List[str]:
+    """Get all components of a path."""
+    return list(Path(path).parts)
+
+
+def get_relative_path(path: str, base: str) -> str:
+    """Get the relative path from base to path."""
+    try:
+        return str(Path(path).relative_to(base))
+    except ValueError:
+        return path
+
+
+def is_subpath(path: str, parent: str) -> bool:
+    """Check if path is a subpath of parent."""
+    try:
+        path_resolved = Path(expand_path(path)).resolve()
+        parent_resolved = Path(expand_path(parent)).resolve()
+        return path_resolved == parent_resolved or parent_resolved in path_resolved.parents
+    except (OSError, ValueError):
+        return False
+
+
+def safe_join(base: str, *parts: str) -> str:
+    """Safely join paths, preventing directory traversal."""
+    base_path = Path(expand_path(base)).resolve()
+
+    for part in parts:
+        if part.startswith('/') or part.startswith('..'):
+            if '..' in part:
+                part = part.replace('..', '')
+        base_path /= part
+
+    return str(base_path)