diff --git a/cmd/createSnapshot.go b/cmd/createSnapshot.go
index 4372875e..50cad5eb 100644
--- a/cmd/createSnapshot.go
+++ b/cmd/createSnapshot.go
@@ -6,7 +6,6 @@ import (
 	"github.com/Layr-Labs/sidecar/internal/config"
 	"github.com/Layr-Labs/sidecar/internal/logger"
 	"github.com/Layr-Labs/sidecar/pkg/snapshot"
-	"github.com/Layr-Labs/sidecar/pkg/utils"
 	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
 	"github.com/spf13/pflag"
 	"github.com/spf13/viper"
@@ -25,13 +24,8 @@ var createSnapshotCmd = &cobra.Command{
 			return fmt.Errorf("failed to initialize logger: %w", err)
 		}
 
-		outputFile, err := utils.ExpandHomeDir(cfg.SnapshotConfig.OutputFile)
-		if err != nil {
-			return err
-		}
-
-		svc := snapshot.NewSnapshotService(&snapshot.SnapshotConfig{
-			OutputFile: outputFile,
+		svc, err := snapshot.NewSnapshotService(&snapshot.SnapshotConfig{
+			OutputFile: cfg.SnapshotConfig.OutputFile,
 			Host:       cfg.DatabaseConfig.Host,
 			Port:       cfg.DatabaseConfig.Port,
 			User:       cfg.DatabaseConfig.User,
@@ -39,6 +33,9 @@ var createSnapshotCmd = &cobra.Command{
 			DbName:     cfg.DatabaseConfig.DbName,
 			SchemaName: cfg.DatabaseConfig.SchemaName,
 		}, l)
+		if err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
 
 		if err := svc.CreateSnapshot(); err != nil {
 			return fmt.Errorf("failed to create snapshot: %w", err)
diff --git a/cmd/restoreSnapshot.go b/cmd/restoreSnapshot.go
index 58f5c836..4b6d8a4a 100644
--- a/cmd/restoreSnapshot.go
+++ b/cmd/restoreSnapshot.go
@@ -6,7 +6,6 @@ import (
 	"github.com/Layr-Labs/sidecar/internal/config"
 	"github.com/Layr-Labs/sidecar/internal/logger"
 	"github.com/Layr-Labs/sidecar/pkg/snapshot"
-	"github.com/Layr-Labs/sidecar/pkg/utils"
 	"github.com/spf13/cobra"
 	"github.com/spf13/pflag"
 	"github.com/spf13/viper"
@@ -28,13 +27,8 @@ Follow the snapshot docs if you need to convert the snapshot to a different sche
 			return fmt.Errorf("failed to initialize logger: %w", err)
 		}
 
-		inputFile, err := utils.ExpandHomeDir(cfg.SnapshotConfig.InputFile)
-		if err != nil {
-			return err
-		}
-
-		svc := snapshot.NewSnapshotService(&snapshot.SnapshotConfig{
-			InputFile:  inputFile,
+		svc, err := snapshot.NewSnapshotService(&snapshot.SnapshotConfig{
+			InputFile:  cfg.SnapshotConfig.InputFile,
 			Host:       cfg.DatabaseConfig.Host,
 			Port:       cfg.DatabaseConfig.Port,
 			User:       cfg.DatabaseConfig.User,
@@ -42,6 +36,9 @@ Follow the snapshot docs if you need to convert the snapshot to a different sche
 			DbName:     cfg.DatabaseConfig.DbName,
 			SchemaName: cfg.DatabaseConfig.SchemaName,
 		}, l)
+		if err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
 
 		if err := svc.RestoreSnapshot(); err != nil {
 			return fmt.Errorf("failed to restore snapshot: %w", err)
diff --git a/docs/snapshots_docs.md b/docs/snapshots_docs.md
index d9d546b8..f7962a98 100644
--- a/docs/snapshots_docs.md
+++ b/docs/snapshots_docs.md
@@ -114,7 +114,7 @@ Commonly the input schema is
 psql -c "CREATE DATABASE temp_sidecar_dump_schema_conversion_db;"
 
 # Use the Sidecar CLI to restore the snapshot dump into the temporary database:
-go run main.go restore-snapshot \
+./bin/sidecar restore-snapshot \
     --database.host=localhost \
     --database.user=... \
     --database.password=... \
@@ -127,7 +127,7 @@ go run main.go restore-snapshot \
 psql -d temp_sidecar_dump_schema_conversion_db -c "ALTER SCHEMA <input schema name> RENAME TO <output schema name>;"
 
 # Use the Sidecar CLI to create a new snapshot with the updated schema:
-go run main.go create-snapshot \
+./bin/sidecar create-snapshot \
     --database.host=localhost \
     --database.user=... \
     --database.password=... \
diff --git a/pkg/snapshot/snapshot.go b/pkg/snapshot/snapshot.go
index 5c5581c6..d5633fe0 100644
--- a/pkg/snapshot/snapshot.go
+++ b/pkg/snapshot/snapshot.go
@@ -3,6 +3,8 @@ package snapshot
 import (
 	"fmt"
 	"os"
+	"path/filepath"
+	"strings"
 
 	pgcommands "github.com/habx/pg-commands"
 	"go.uber.org/zap"
@@ -27,17 +29,49 @@ type SnapshotService struct {
 }
 
 // NewSnapshotService initializes a new SnapshotService with the given configuration and logger.
-func NewSnapshotService(cfg *SnapshotConfig, l *zap.Logger) *SnapshotService {
+func NewSnapshotService(cfg *SnapshotConfig, l *zap.Logger) (*SnapshotService, error) {
+	var err error
+
+	cfg.InputFile, err = resolveFilePath(cfg.InputFile)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to resolve input file path: %w", err)
+	}
+	cfg.OutputFile, err = resolveFilePath(cfg.OutputFile)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to resolve output file path: %w", err)
+	}
+
+	l.Sugar().Infow("Resolved file paths", "inputFile", cfg.InputFile, "outputFile", cfg.OutputFile)
+
 	return &SnapshotService{
 		cfg: cfg,
 		l:   l,
+	}, nil
+}
+
+// resolveFilePath expands the ~ in file paths to the user's home directory and converts relative paths to absolute paths.
+func resolveFilePath(path string) (string, error) {
+	if path == "" {
+		return "", nil
+	}
+	if strings.HasPrefix(path, "~/") {
+		homeDir, err := os.UserHomeDir()
+		if err != nil {
+			return "", fmt.Errorf("failed to get user home directory: %w", err)
+		}
+		path = filepath.Join(homeDir, path[2:])
+	}
+	absPath, err := filepath.Abs(path)
+	if err != nil {
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("failed to get absolute path: %w", err)
 	}
+	return absPath, nil
 }
 
 // CreateSnapshot creates a snapshot of the database based on the provided configuration.
 func (s *SnapshotService) CreateSnapshot() error {
-	if !s.validateCreateSnapshotConfig() {
-		return fmt.Errorf("invalid snapshot configuration")
+	if err := s.validateCreateSnapshotConfig(); err != nil {
+		return err
 	}
 
 	dump, err := s.setupSnapshotDump()
@@ -57,8 +91,8 @@ func (s *SnapshotService) CreateSnapshot() error {
 
 // RestoreSnapshot restores a snapshot of the database based on the provided configuration.
 func (s *SnapshotService) RestoreSnapshot() error {
-	if !s.validateRestoreConfig() {
-		return fmt.Errorf("invalid restore configuration")
+	if err := s.validateRestoreConfig(); err != nil {
+		return err
 	}
 
 	restore, err := s.setupRestore()
@@ -79,18 +113,16 @@ func (s *SnapshotService) RestoreSnapshot() error {
 	return nil
 }
 
-func (s *SnapshotService) validateCreateSnapshotConfig() bool {
+func (s *SnapshotService) validateCreateSnapshotConfig() error {
 	if s.cfg.Host == "" {
-		s.l.Sugar().Error("Database host is required")
-		return false
+		return fmt.Errorf("database host is required")
 	}
 
 	if s.cfg.OutputFile == "" {
-		s.l.Sugar().Error("Output path i.e. `output-file` must be specified")
-		return false
+		return fmt.Errorf("output path i.e. `output-file` must be specified")
 	}
 
-	return true
+	return nil
 }
 
 func (s *SnapshotService) setupSnapshotDump() (*pgcommands.Dump, error) {
@@ -115,19 +147,17 @@ func (s *SnapshotService) setupSnapshotDump() (*pgcommands.Dump, error) {
 	return dump, nil
 }
 
-func (s *SnapshotService) validateRestoreConfig() bool {
+func (s *SnapshotService) validateRestoreConfig() error {
 	if s.cfg.InputFile == "" {
-		s.l.Sugar().Error("Restore snapshot file path i.e. `input-file` must be specified")
-		return false
+		return fmt.Errorf("restore snapshot file path i.e. `input-file` must be specified")
 	}
 
 	info, err := os.Stat(s.cfg.InputFile)
 	if err != nil || info.IsDir() {
-		s.l.Sugar().Errorw("Snapshot file does not exist", "path", s.cfg.InputFile)
-		return false
+		return fmt.Errorf("snapshot file does not exist: %s", s.cfg.InputFile)
 	}
 
-	return true
+	return nil
 }
 
 func (s *SnapshotService) setupRestore() (*pgcommands.Restore, error) {
diff --git a/pkg/utils/helpers.go b/pkg/utils/helpers.go
index 6613ef8a..c875ff3d 100644
--- a/pkg/utils/helpers.go
+++ b/pkg/utils/helpers.go
@@ -3,8 +3,6 @@ package utils
 import (
 	"encoding/hex"
 	"fmt"
-	"os"
-	"path/filepath"
 	"regexp"
 	"strings"
 )
@@ -26,15 +24,3 @@ func SnakeCase(s string) string {
 	notSnake := regexp.MustCompile(`[_-]`)
 	return notSnake.ReplaceAllString(s, "_")
 }
-
-// ExpandHomeDir expands the ~ in file paths to the user's home directory.
-func ExpandHomeDir(path string) (string, error) {
-	if strings.HasPrefix(path, "~/") {
-		homeDir, err := os.UserHomeDir()
-		if err != nil {
-			return "", fmt.Errorf("failed to get user home directory: %w", err)
-		}
-		path = filepath.Join(homeDir, path[2:])
-	}
-	return path, nil
-}
diff --git a/scripts/convertSnapshotSchema.sh b/scripts/convertSnapshotSchema.sh
index a5a93e7c..327ee19d 100755
--- a/scripts/convertSnapshotSchema.sh
+++ b/scripts/convertSnapshotSchema.sh
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ PGPASSWORD=$DB_PASSWORD psql -U $DB_USER -c "CREATE DATABASE $TEMP_DB_NAME;" ||
 
 # Restore the snapshot dump into the temporary database
 echo "Restoring snapshot into temporary database"
-go run main.go restore-snapshot \
+./bin/sidecar restore-snapshot \
     --database.host=localhost \
     --database.port=5432 \
     --database.user=$DB_USER \
@@ -42,7 +42,7 @@ PGPASSWORD=$DB_PASSWORD psql -U $DB_USER -d $TEMP_DB_NAME -c "ALTER SCHEMA $INPU
 
 # Create a new snapshot with the updated schema
 echo "Creating new snapshot with updated schema"
-go run main.go create-snapshot \
+./bin/sidecar create-snapshot \
     --database.host=localhost \
     --database.port=5432 \
     --database.user=$DB_USER \