diff --git a/tests/e2e_cache_location.rs b/tests/e2e_cache_location.rs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fb828c0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/e2e_cache_location.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,153 @@
+use std::env;
+use std::fs;
+use std::fs::OpenOptions;
+use std::path::{Path, PathBuf};
+use std::process::Command;
+use std::time::UNIX_EPOCH;
+
+use tempfile::TempDir;
+
+/// End-to-end integration test that verifies the crate's discovery and
+/// default cache creation when a conventional binary (not `cargo`) uses
+/// the library.
+///
+/// Steps performed:
+/// 1. Create isolated temporary paths for source code and runtime.
+/// 2. Write a tiny `main.rs` that calls `CacheRoot::from_discovery()`,
+///    ensures a group directory, touches a probe file, and prints the
+///    three resolved paths (root, group, probe) to stdout.
+/// 3. Compile that binary using `rustc` and run it directly via
+///    `std::process::Command` (the test intentionally avoids `cargo`).
+/// 4. Run the binary from a directory with no `Cargo.toml`, then assert
+///    discovery falls back to `<cwd>/.cache`, and that subgroup + probe
+///    file exist and remain writable. This is cross-platform and does
+///    not use any platform-specific APIs.
+#[test]
+fn e2e_binary_compiled_with_rustc_creates_default_cache_under_temp_root() {
+    let tmp = TempDir::new().expect("tempdir");
+    let source_root = tmp.path().join("source");
+    let runtime_root = tmp.path().join("runtime");
+    fs::create_dir_all(&source_root).expect("create source dir");
+    fs::create_dir_all(&runtime_root).expect("create runtime dir");
+
+    // Create a Cargo.toml near source to prove runtime discovery is based on
+    // process cwd (runtime_root), not where source files happened to live.
+    fs::write(
+        source_root.join("Cargo.toml"),
+        "[package]\nname='irrelevant-source-root'\nversion='0.1.0'\nedition='2024'\n",
+    )
+    .expect("write source Cargo.toml");
+
+    let app_source = source_root.join("main.rs");
+    fs::write(
+        &app_source,
+        "use cache_manager::CacheRoot;\n\
+         use std::fs;\n\
+         use std::io;\n\
+         fn main() -> io::Result<()> {\n\
+             let root = CacheRoot::from_discovery()?;\n\
+             let group = root.group(\"e2e\");\n\
+             let ensured = group.ensure_dir()?;\n\
+             let probe = group.touch(\"probe.txt\")?;\n\
+             fs::metadata(&probe)?;\n\
+             println!(\"{}\", root.path().display());\n\
+             println!(\"{}\", ensured.display());\n\
+             println!(\"{}\", probe.display());\n\
+             Ok(())\n\
+         }\n",
+    )
+    .expect("write tiny app source");
+
+    let current_test_exe = env::current_exe().expect("current exe");
+    let deps_dir = current_test_exe.parent().expect("deps dir");
+    let cache_manager_rlib = latest_cache_manager_rlib(deps_dir);
+
+    let rustc = env::var("RUSTC").unwrap_or_else(|_| "rustc".to_string());
+    let binary_name = if std::env::consts::EXE_EXTENSION.is_empty() {
+        "tiny-app".to_string()
+    } else {
+        format!("tiny-app.{}", std::env::consts::EXE_EXTENSION)
+    };
+    let output_binary = runtime_root.join(binary_name);
+
+    let compile_output = Command::new(&rustc)
+        .arg("--edition=2024")
+        .arg(&app_source)
+        .arg("-o")
+        .arg(&output_binary)
+        .arg("--extern")
+        .arg(format!("cache_manager={}", cache_manager_rlib.display()))
+        .arg("-L")
+        .arg(format!("dependency={}", deps_dir.display()))
+        .output()
+        .expect("spawn rustc");
+
+    assert!(
+        compile_output.status.success(),
+        "rustc failed: {}",
+        String::from_utf8_lossy(&compile_output.stderr)
+    );
+
+    let run_output = Command::new(&output_binary)
+        .current_dir(&runtime_root)
+        .output()
+        .expect("run tiny binary directly");
+
+    assert!(
+        run_output.status.success(),
+        "tiny binary failed: {}",
+        String::from_utf8_lossy(&run_output.stderr)
+    );
+
+    let expected_root = runtime_root
+        .canonicalize()
+        .expect("canonicalize runtime root")
+        .join(".cache");
+    let expected_group = expected_root.join("e2e");
+    let expected_probe = expected_group.join("probe.txt");
+
+    assert!(
+        expected_root.is_dir(),
+        "expected default cache root to exist"
+    );
+    assert!(expected_group.is_dir(), "expected cache group to exist");
+    assert!(expected_probe.is_file(), "expected probe file to exist");
+
+    let stdout = String::from_utf8(run_output.stdout).expect("stdout utf8");
+    let mut lines = stdout.lines();
+    let root_line = lines.next().expect("root stdout line");
+    let group_line = lines.next().expect("group stdout line");
+    let probe_line = lines.next().expect("probe stdout line");
+
+    assert_eq!(Path::new(root_line), expected_root.as_path());
+    assert_eq!(Path::new(group_line), expected_group.as_path());
+    assert_eq!(Path::new(probe_line), expected_probe.as_path());
+
+    OpenOptions::new()
+        .append(true)
+        .open(&expected_probe)
+        .expect("probe path remains writable");
+}
+
+fn latest_cache_manager_rlib(deps_dir: &Path) -> PathBuf {
+    let mut rlibs = fs::read_dir(deps_dir)
+        .expect("read deps dir")
+        .filter_map(Result::ok)
+        .map(|entry| entry.path())
+        .filter(|path| {
+            path.file_name()
+                .and_then(|name| name.to_str())
+                .map(|name| name.starts_with("libcache_manager-") && name.ends_with(".rlib"))
+                .unwrap_or(false)
+        })
+        .collect::<Vec<_>>();
+
+    rlibs.sort_by_key(|path| {
+        path.metadata()
+            .and_then(|m| m.modified())
+            .ok()
+            .unwrap_or(UNIX_EPOCH)
+    });
+
+    rlibs.pop().expect("find libcache_manager rlib")
+}