When ecFlow is started up it uses a number of files for configuration and reporting.
These files can be configured through environment variables or in an ecFlow configuration file (e.g. the file server_environment.config in the ecFlow source directories).
The first thing ecFlow does is to change the current working directory (or CWD) into ECF_HOME, so all the other files listed there are read from that directory (unless full path names are used).
This directory must be accessible and writable by the user starting ecFlow otherwise ecFlow cannot start.