diff --git a/cot/src/router.rs b/cot/src/router.rs
index 4c733e249..2d49c26ad 100644
--- a/cot/src/router.rs
+++ b/cot/src/router.rs
@@ -527,6 +527,9 @@ pub fn split_view_name(view_name: &str) -> (Option<&str>, &str) {
 
 /// A route that can be used to route requests to their respective views.
 ///
+/// Non-empty route paths may omit the leading slash. Cot normalizes them by
+/// prepending `/`, so `"home"` and `"/home"` define the same route.
+///
 /// # Examples
 ///
 /// ```
@@ -562,7 +565,8 @@ impl Route {
     /// #     unimplemented!()
     /// }
     ///
-    /// let route = Route::with_handler("/", home);
+    /// let route = Route::with_handler("home", home);
+    /// assert_eq!(route.url(), "/home");
     /// ```
     #[must_use]
     pub fn with_handler<HandlerParams, H>(url: &str, handler: H) -> Self
@@ -1130,6 +1134,21 @@ mod tests {
         assert_eq!(response.status(), StatusCode::OK);
     }
 
+    #[cot::test]
+    async fn router_route_without_leading_slash() {
+        let route = Route::with_handler_and_name("test", MockHandler, "test");
+        assert_eq!(route.url(), "/test");
+
+        let router = Router::with_urls(vec![route]);
+        let response = router.route(test_request(), "/test").await.unwrap();
+        assert_eq!(response.status(), StatusCode::OK);
+
+        let url = router
+            .reverse(None, "test", &ReverseParamMap::new())
+            .unwrap();
+        assert_eq!(url, "/test");
+    }
+
     #[cot::test]
     async fn router_handle() {
         let route = Route::with_handler("/test", MockHandler);
diff --git a/cot/src/router/path.rs b/cot/src/router/path.rs
index ba1f6fd67..cd2507992 100644
--- a/cot/src/router/path.rs
+++ b/cot/src/router/path.rs
@@ -25,7 +25,10 @@ impl PathMatcher {
             Param { start: usize },
         }
 
-        let path_pattern = path_pattern.into();
+        let mut path_pattern = path_pattern.into();
+        if !path_pattern.is_empty() && !path_pattern.starts_with('/') {
+            path_pattern.insert(0, '/');
+        }
 
         let mut parts = Vec::new();
         let mut state = State::Literal { start: 0 };
@@ -349,6 +352,20 @@ mod tests {
         assert_eq!(path_parser.capture("/test"), None);
     }
 
+    #[test]
+    fn path_parser_adds_missing_leading_slash() {
+        let path_parser = PathMatcher::new("users/{id}");
+        let mut params = ReverseParamMap::new();
+        params.insert("id", "123");
+
+        assert_eq!(
+            path_parser.capture("/users/123"),
+            Some(CaptureResult::new(vec![PathParam::new("id", "123")], ""))
+        );
+        assert_eq!(path_parser.reverse(&params).unwrap(), "/users/123");
+        assert_eq!(path_parser.to_string(), "/users/{id}");
+    }
+
     #[test]
     fn path_parser_escaped() {
         let path_parser = PathMatcher::new("/users/{{{{{{escaped}}}}}}");