diff --git a/ansible/roles/borgmatic/templates/k8s-sqlite-dump.sh.j2 b/ansible/roles/borgmatic/templates/k8s-sqlite-dump.sh.j2
index 323e717..9cc24da 100644
--- a/ansible/roles/borgmatic/templates/k8s-sqlite-dump.sh.j2
+++ b/ansible/roles/borgmatic/templates/k8s-sqlite-dump.sh.j2
@@ -28,7 +28,9 @@ db_path=${4:?missing db path}
 name=${5:?missing name}
 dump_target=${6:?missing dump target}
 
-pod_tmp="/tmp/${name}-backup.db"
+# Stage the backup next to the source DB (a guaranteed-writable volume);
+# minimal nix images (e.g. mealie) have no /tmp.
+pod_tmp="$(dirname "$db_path")/.borgmatic-backup-${name}.db"
 
 python_backup='import sqlite3; sqlite3.connect("'"$db_path"'").backup(sqlite3.connect("'"$pod_tmp"'"))'