diff --git a/src/cache/targets.ts b/src/cache/targets.ts
index 1dd56b4..9ffdf01 100644
--- a/src/cache/targets.ts
+++ b/src/cache/targets.ts
@@ -69,7 +69,11 @@ export const applyTargetDir = async (params: TargetParams) => {
 
 	const type = process.platform === "win32" ? "junction" : "dir";
 	try {
-		await deps.symlink(sourceDir, params.targetDir, type);
+		const linkTarget =
+			process.platform === "win32"
+				? sourceDir
+				: path.relative(parentDir, sourceDir);
+		await deps.symlink(linkTarget, params.targetDir, type);
 	} catch (error) {
 		const code = getErrnoCode(error);
 		const fallbackCodes = new Set(["EPERM", "EACCES", "ENOTSUP", "EINVAL"]);
diff --git a/tests/targets.test.js b/tests/targets.test.js
index 597bc7e..d6f7ce8 100644
--- a/tests/targets.test.js
+++ b/tests/targets.test.js
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 import assert from "node:assert/strict";
-import { cp, mkdir, readFile, rm, writeFile } from "node:fs/promises";
+import { cp, mkdir, readFile, readlink, rm, writeFile } from "node:fs/promises";
 import { tmpdir } from "node:os";
 import path from "node:path";
 import { test } from "node:test";
@@ -45,3 +45,29 @@ test("applyTargetDir warns and falls back to copy when symlink fails", async ()
 	assert.equal(data, "hello");
 	assert.match(stderr, /Warning: Failed to create symlink/i);
 });
+
+test(
+	"applyTargetDir uses relative symlink targets on non-Windows",
+	{ skip: process.platform === "win32" },
+	async () => {
+		const tmpRoot = path.join(
+			tmpdir(),
+			`docs-cache-target-relative-${Date.now().toString(36)}`,
+		);
+		const sourceDir = path.join(tmpRoot, "source");
+		const targetDir = path.join(tmpRoot, "target");
+		const parentDir = path.dirname(targetDir);
+
+		await mkdir(sourceDir, { recursive: true });
+		await writeFile(path.join(sourceDir, "README.md"), "hello", "utf8");
+
+		await applyTargetDir({
+			sourceDir,
+			targetDir,
+			mode: "symlink",
+		});
+
+		const linkTarget = await readlink(targetDir);
+		assert.equal(linkTarget, path.relative(parentDir, sourceDir));
+	},
+);