diff --git a/src/app/exercisecontroller.cpp b/src/app/exercisecontroller.cpp
--- a/src/app/exercisecontroller.cpp
+++ b/src/app/exercisecontroller.cpp
@@ -124,6 +124,25 @@
     jsonDirs = QStandardPaths::locateAll(QStandardPaths::AppDataLocation, QStringLiteral("minuet/") + directoryName, QStandardPaths::LocateDirectory);
 #else
     jsonDirs = QStandardPaths::locateAll(QStandardPaths::AppDataLocation, directoryName, QStandardPaths::LocateDirectory);
+#ifdef Q_OS_MACOS
+    // Qt does not check XDG_DATA_DIRS for MACOS but KDE prefix.sh script sets it.
+    // If AppDataLocation fail, we should give a shot and check XDG env variable
+    if (jsonDirs.isEmpty()) {
+        const QString xdgDataDirsEnv = QFile::decodeName(qgetenv("XDG_DATA_DIRS"));
+        if (!xdgDataDirsEnv.isEmpty()) {
+            const auto parts = xdgDataDirsEnv.splitRef(QLatin1Char(':'), QString::SkipEmptyParts);
+            // Normalize paths, skip relative paths
+            for (const QStringRef &dir : parts) {
+                if (dir.startsWith(QLatin1Char('/'))) {
+                    const QDir testDir(QDir(dir.toString()).absoluteFilePath(QStringLiteral("minuet/") + directoryName));
+                    if (testDir.exists()) {
+                        jsonDirs << testDir.absolutePath();
+                    }
+                }
+            }
+        }
+    }
+#endif
 #endif
     foreach (const QString &jsonDirString, jsonDirs) {
         QDir jsonDir(jsonDirString);