gatsbyjs/gatsby · error

The destination "${value}" is not a valid filename. Please t

Error message

The destination "${value}" is not a valid filename. Please try again, avoiding special characters.

What it means

Validation-helper warning from create-gatsby's project name validator: after trimming, the supplied directory name matched the INVALID_FILENAMES regex (characters invalid on filesystems, e.g. control or special characters). The validator returns false so the name is rejected.

Source

Thrown at packages/create-gatsby/src/utils/question-helpers.ts:42

    return entries
  }

  const none = { name: `none`, message: `No (or I'll add it later)` }
  const divider = { name: `–`, role: `separator`, message: `–` }

  return [none, divider, ...entries]
}

export function validateProjectName(value: string): boolean {
  if (!value) {
    reporter.warn(
      `You have not provided a directory name for your site. Please do so when running with the 'y' flag.`
    )
    return false
  }
  value = value.trim()
  if (INVALID_FILENAMES.test(value)) {
    reporter.warn(
      `The destination "${value}" is not a valid filename. Please try again, avoiding special characters.`
    )
    return false
  }
  if (process.platform === `win32` && INVALID_WINDOWS.test(value)) {
    reporter.warn(
      `The destination "${value}" is not a valid Windows filename. Please try another name`
    )
    return false
  }
  if (fs.existsSync(path.resolve(value))) {
    reporter.warn(
      `The destination "${value}" already exists. Please choose a different name`
    )
    return false
  }
  return true
}

View on GitHub (pinned to e85d62f177)

Solutions

1. Choose a directory name without special characters (letters, digits, dashes, underscores)

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at packages/create-gatsby/src/utils/question-helpers.ts:42 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of gatsbyjs/gatsby@e85d62f177 (2026-08-26). Data as JSON: /api/errors/052b07aa03c54ca9. Report an issue: GitHub.