diff --git a/go.mod b/go.mod
index 8619f42..90b7360 100644
--- a/go.mod
+++ b/go.mod
@@ -32,7 +32,6 @@ require (
 	github.com/prometheus/procfs v0.15.1 // indirect
 	github.com/rivo/uniseg v0.4.7 // indirect
 	github.com/rogpeppe/go-internal v1.12.0 // indirect
-	go.uber.org/automaxprocs v1.6.0 // indirect
 	golang.org/x/crypto v0.28.0 // indirect
 	golang.org/x/sys v0.26.0 // indirect
 	golang.org/x/time v0.7.0 // indirect
diff --git a/go.sum b/go.sum
index 1448f94..6e6b9b4 100644
--- a/go.sum
+++ b/go.sum
@@ -29,8 +29,6 @@ github.com/munnerz/goautoneg v0.0.0-20191010083416-a7dc8b61c822 h1:C3w9PqII01/Oq
 github.com/munnerz/goautoneg v0.0.0-20191010083416-a7dc8b61c822/go.mod h1:+n7T8mK8HuQTcFwEeznm/DIxMOiR9yIdICNftLE1DvQ=
 github.com/nats-io/jwt/v2 v2.7.0 h1:J+ZnaaMGQi3xSB8iOhVM5ipiWCDrQvgEoitTwWFyOYw=
 github.com/nats-io/jwt/v2 v2.7.0/go.mod h1:ZdWS1nZa6WMZfFwwgpEaqBV8EPGVgOTDHN/wTbz0Y5A=
-github.com/nats-io/nats-server/v2 v2.11.0-dev.0.20240919192050-816061f4f441 h1:zRz6lR7kpJGsScHQldbr0LFSzC5BWiX1r08oDgp42Tw=
-github.com/nats-io/nats-server/v2 v2.11.0-dev.0.20240919192050-816061f4f441/go.mod h1:7ME9V++zVk2hoBe5VOvq/WMQuOuNeyhG63bOwWWokZY=
 github.com/nats-io/nats-server/v2 v2.11.0-dev.0.20241004162106-225cd3dd6eca h1:EcjPbDziop5sCVOpWOhUXTcQPAg1of3p+MgczwJubUo=
 github.com/nats-io/nats-server/v2 v2.11.0-dev.0.20241004162106-225cd3dd6eca/go.mod h1:LkVD8QXFfIxYsQCn3r0NHJk48PIg2XY1RqVBDTQwYuU=
 github.com/nats-io/nats.go v1.37.0 h1:07rauXbVnnJvv1gfIyghFEo6lUcYRY0WXc3x7x0vUxE=
@@ -56,8 +54,6 @@ github.com/rogpeppe/go-internal v1.12.0 h1:exVL4IDcn6na9z1rAb56Vxr+CgyK3nn3O+epU
 github.com/rogpeppe/go-internal v1.12.0/go.mod h1:E+RYuTGaKKdloAfM02xzb0FW3Paa99yedzYV+kq4uf4=
 github.com/stretchr/testify v1.9.0 h1:HtqpIVDClZ4nwg75+f6Lvsy/wHu+3BoSGCbBAcpTsTg=
 github.com/stretchr/testify v1.9.0/go.mod h1:r2ic/lqez/lEtzL7wO/rwa5dbSLXVDPFyf8C91i36aY=
-go.uber.org/automaxprocs v1.6.0 h1:O3y2/QNTOdbF+e/dpXNNW7Rx2hZ4sTIPyybbxyNqTUs=
-go.uber.org/automaxprocs v1.6.0/go.mod h1:ifeIMSnPZuznNm6jmdzmU3/bfk01Fe2fotchwEFJ8r8=
 golang.org/x/crypto v0.28.0 h1:GBDwsMXVQi34v5CCYUm2jkJvu4cbtru2U4TN2PSyQnw=
 golang.org/x/crypto v0.28.0/go.mod h1:rmgy+3RHxRZMyY0jjAJShp2zgEdOqj2AO7U0pYmeQ7U=
 golang.org/x/net v0.30.0 h1:AcW1SDZMkb8IpzCdQUaIq2sP4sZ4zw+55h6ynffypl4=
diff --git a/natscontext/context.go b/natscontext/context.go
index 612f873..ac270dc 100644
--- a/natscontext/context.go
+++ b/natscontext/context.go
@@ -356,11 +356,11 @@ func (c *Context) NATSOptions(opts ...nats.Option) ([]nats.Option, error) {
 			}
 			nopts = append(nopts, nats.UserJWT(userCB, sigCB))
 		} else {
-			nopts = append(nopts, nats.UserCredentials(c.Creds()))
+			nopts = append(nopts, nats.UserCredentials(ExpandHomedir(c.Creds())))
 		}
 
 	case c.NKey() != "":
-		nko, err := nats.NkeyOptionFromSeed(c.NKey())
+		nko, err := nats.NkeyOptionFromSeed(ExpandHomedir(c.NKey()))
 		if err != nil {
 			return nil, err
 		}
@@ -369,15 +369,15 @@ func (c *Context) NATSOptions(opts ...nats.Option) ([]nats.Option, error) {
 	}
 
 	if c.Token() != "" {
-		nopts = append(nopts, nats.Token(c.Token()))
+		nopts = append(nopts, nats.Token(ExpandHomedir(c.Token())))
 	}
 
 	if c.Certificate() != "" && c.Key() != "" {
-		nopts = append(nopts, nats.ClientCert(c.Certificate(), c.Key()))
+		nopts = append(nopts, nats.ClientCert(ExpandHomedir(c.Certificate()), ExpandHomedir(c.Key())))
 	}
 
 	if c.CA() != "" {
-		nopts = append(nopts, nats.RootCAs(c.CA()))
+		nopts = append(nopts, nats.RootCAs(ExpandHomedir(c.CA())))
 	}
 
 	if c.SocksProxy() != "" {
@@ -502,18 +502,6 @@ func (c *Context) loadActiveContext() error {
 	// performing environment variable expansion for the path of the cerds.
 	c.config.Creds = os.ExpandEnv(c.config.Creds)
 
-	usr, err := user.Current()
-	if err != nil {
-		return err
-	}
-
-	// expand tilde to current user's home directory
-	c.config.Creds = strings.Replace(c.config.Creds, "~", usr.HomeDir, 1)
-	c.config.NKey = strings.Replace(c.config.NKey, "~", usr.HomeDir, 1)
-	c.config.Cert = strings.Replace(c.config.Cert, "~", usr.HomeDir, 1)
-	c.config.Key = strings.Replace(c.config.Key, "~", usr.HomeDir, 1)
-	c.config.CA = strings.Replace(c.config.CA, "~", usr.HomeDir, 1)
-
 	if c.config.NSCLookup != "" {
 		err := c.resolveNscLookup()
 		if err != nil {
@@ -564,6 +552,19 @@ func (c *Context) resolveNscLookup() error {
 	return nil
 }
 
+func ExpandHomedir(path string) string {
+	if path[0] != '~' {
+		return path
+	}
+
+	usr, err := user.Current()
+	if err != nil {
+		return path
+	}
+
+	return strings.Replace(path, "~", usr.HomeDir, 1)
+}
+
 func validName(name string) bool {
 	return name != "" && !strings.Contains(name, "..") && !strings.Contains(name, string(os.PathSeparator))
 }
diff --git a/natscontext/context_test.go b/natscontext/context_test.go
index 5e7ed80..bee97d3 100644
--- a/natscontext/context_test.go
+++ b/natscontext/context_test.go
@@ -128,20 +128,23 @@ func TestContext(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatalf("could not load context file: %s", err)
 	}
 
-	// test tilde expansion
-	if config.NKey() == "~/.keys/nats/example/prod.nkey" {
-		t.Fatalf("invalid expansion of HOME directory - %s", config.NKey())
-	}
-	if config.Creds() == "~/.keys/nats/example/creds" {
-		t.Fatalf("invalid expansion of HOME directory - %s", config.Creds())
-	}
-	if config.Certificate() == "~/.keys/nats/example/public.crt" {
-		t.Fatalf("invalid expansion of HOME directory - %s", config.Certificate())
+	// Make sure expandHomedir correctly expands tilde
+
+	// Do nothing if the string does not start with ~
+	t1 := natscontext.ExpandHomedir("foo")
+	if t1 != "foo" {
+		t.Fatalf("failed to expand home directory for string 'foo': %s", t1)
 	}
-	if config.Key() == "~/.keys/nats/example/public.key" {
-		t.Fatalf("invalid expansion of HOME directory - %s", config.Key())
+
+	// Expand ~ to HOMEDIR if string starts with ~
+	t2 := natscontext.ExpandHomedir("~/foo")
+	if t2 == "~/foo" {
+		t.Fatalf("failed to expand home directory for string 'foo': %s", t2)
 	}
-	if config.CA() == "~/.keys/nats/example/public.ca" {
-		t.Fatalf("invalid expansion of HOME directory - %s", config.CA())
+
+	// Do nothing if there is a ~ but it is not the first character of the string
+	t3 := natscontext.ExpandHomedir("/~/foo")
+	if t3 != "/~/foo" {
+		t.Fatalf("failed to expand home directory for string 'foo': %s", t3)
 	}
 }