diff --git a/internal/database/sqlite_open.go b/internal/database/sqlite_open.go
index c162a82..e73ce57 100644
--- a/internal/database/sqlite_open.go
+++ b/internal/database/sqlite_open.go
@@ -242,7 +242,19 @@ func SQLiteDSN(path, mode string) string {
 	)
 	q.Add("_pragma", "journal_mode(WAL)")
 
-	return "file:" + path + "?" + q.Encode()
+	// SQLite reads a file: URI's path only up to the first ? or #, and
+	// decodes %XX escapes in it, so url.URL escapes the path. OmitHost
+	// keeps a relative path as "file:data/x.db"; written
+	// "file://data/x.db", SQLite would reject "data" as the URI's
+	// authority.
+	dsn := url.URL{
+		Scheme:   "file",
+		Path:     path,
+		OmitHost: true,
+		RawQuery: q.Encode(),
+	}
+
+	return dsn.String()
 }
 
 // OpenSQLite opens the SQLite file at path with the service's
diff --git a/internal/database/sqlite_open_test.go b/internal/database/sqlite_open_test.go
index 448507c..1111c7c 100644
--- a/internal/database/sqlite_open_test.go
+++ b/internal/database/sqlite_open_test.go
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ package database_test
 
 import (
 	"context"
+	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
 	"strings"
 	"testing"
@@ -112,6 +113,54 @@ func TestMainDBAppliesPragmasOnALiveHandle(t *testing.T) {
 	assert.Equal(t, "10000", busy)
 }
 
+// TestOpenSQLiteOpensThePathAskedFor uses a data directory whose name
+// holds ?, # and %. SQLite reads a file: URI's path only up to a ? or
+// #, and decodes %41 to A, so an unescaped path sent every database in
+// that directory to one file outside it.
+func TestOpenSQLiteOpensThePathAskedFor(t *testing.T) {
+	t.Parallel()
+
+	ctx := context.Background()
+	dir := filepath.Join(t.TempDir(), "hooks#1?x%41")
+	require.NoError(t, os.Mkdir(dir, 0o700))
+
+	for _, name := range []string{
+		database.MainDBFileName,
+		"events-" + uuid.New().String() + ".db",
+	} {
+		path := filepath.Join(dir, name)
+
+		sqlDB, err := database.OpenSQLite(
+			path, database.SQLiteModeCreate,
+		)
+		require.NoError(t, err)
+
+		t.Cleanup(func() { assert.NoError(t, sqlDB.Close()) })
+
+		// database_list names the file SQLite actually opened, with
+		// symlinks resolved, so the files are compared, not the names.
+		var (
+			seq          int
+			schema, file string
+		)
+
+		require.NoError(t, sqlDB.
+			QueryRowContext(ctx, "pragma database_list").
+			Scan(&seq, &schema, &file))
+
+		asked, err := os.Stat(path)
+		require.NoError(t, err)
+
+		opened, err := os.Stat(file)
+		require.NoError(t, err)
+
+		assert.True(
+			t, os.SameFile(asked, opened),
+			"asked for %s, SQLite opened %s", path, file,
+		)
+	}
+}
+
 // TestConcurrentReaderDoesNotBlockWrites is the unit-scale form of the
 // reproduction in
 // https://git.eeqj.de/sneak/webhooker/issues/256: an operator's