diff --git a/e2e/cli/test_use b/e2e/cli/test_use
index de5d8a8378..8c3715b1e1 100644
--- a/e2e/cli/test_use
+++ b/e2e/cli/test_use
@@ -65,6 +65,18 @@ assert "cat mise.local.toml" '[tools]
 dummy = "1"'
 
 rm -f mise.local.toml mise.toml
+
+# mise use should write to .config/mise/config.toml instead of .config/mise/config.local.toml
+mkdir -p .config/mise
+echo '[tools]' >.config/mise/config.toml
+echo 'dummy = "1"' >>.config/mise/config.toml
+touch .config/mise/config.local.toml
+mise use dummy@2
+assert "cat .config/mise/config.toml" '[tools]
+dummy = "2"'
+assert "cat .config/mise/config.local.toml" ""
+rm -rf .config
+
 echo "dummy 1.0.0" >.tool-versions
 mise use dummy@2
 assert "cat .tool-versions" "dummy 2"
@@ -94,6 +106,15 @@ assert "cat ~/.config/mise/config.toml" '[tools]
 gh = "2"'
 rm -f ~/.config/mise/config.toml
 
+# mise use -g should write to config.toml instead of config.local.toml
+# See: https://github.com/jdx/mise/discussions/8236
+touch ~/.config/mise/config.toml ~/.config/mise/config.local.toml
+mise use -g dummy@1
+assert "cat ~/.config/mise/config.toml" '[tools]
+dummy = "1"'
+assert "cat ~/.config/mise/config.local.toml" ""
+rm -f ~/.config/mise/config.toml ~/.config/mise/config.local.toml
+
 export MISE_ENV=test
 mise use -g dummy@1
 assert "cat ~/.config/mise/config.toml" '[tools]
diff --git a/src/config/mod.rs b/src/config/mod.rs
index 781290bfdc..31b9cc17b4 100644
--- a/src/config/mod.rs
+++ b/src/config/mod.rs
@@ -1080,10 +1080,15 @@ fn is_tool_versions_file(p: &Path) -> bool {
 fn first_config_file(files: &IndexSet<PathBuf>) -> Option<&PathBuf> {
     files
         .iter()
-        .find(|p| !is_tool_versions_file(p))
+        .find(|p| !is_tool_versions_file(p) && !is_conf_d_file(p))
         .or_else(|| files.first())
 }
 
+fn is_conf_d_file(p: &Path) -> bool {
+    p.parent()
+        .is_some_and(|d| d.file_name().is_some_and(|n| n == "conf.d"))
+}
+
 pub fn config_file_from_dir(p: &Path) -> PathBuf {
     if !p.is_dir() {
         return p.to_path_buf();
@@ -1270,10 +1275,13 @@ fn config_files_from_dir(dir: &Path) -> IndexSet<PathBuf> {
     files.into_iter().filter(|p| p.is_file()).collect()
 }
 
-/// the top-most global config file or the path to where it should be written to
+/// the preferred global config file to write to, or the path where it should be created.
+/// Uses first_config_file() to pick the lowest-precedence non-local TOML (i.e., config.toml
+/// rather than config.local.toml) so that `mise use -g` writes to config.toml.
+/// See: https://github.com/jdx/mise/discussions/8236
 pub fn global_config_path() -> PathBuf {
-    global_config_files()
-        .last()
+    let files = global_config_files();
+    first_config_file(&files)
         .cloned()
         .or_else(|| env::MISE_GLOBAL_CONFIG_FILE.clone())
         .unwrap_or_else(|| dirs::CONFIG.join("config.toml"))