getzola/zola · error

The current directory is not an empty folder (hidden files a

Error message

The current directory is not an empty folder (hidden files are ignored).

What it means

`create_new_project` refuses to initialize into an existing, non-empty directory unless `--force` is passed. Hidden files (starting with `.`) are ignored, so a directory containing only dotfiles counts as empty. When the target is the current directory (`name == "."`) this generic message is shown; otherwise the path is named.

Source

Thrown at src/cmd/init.rs:76

        return Ok(true);
    }

    Ok(false)
}

// Remove the unc part of a windows path
fn strip_unc(path: &Path) -> String {
    let path_to_refine = path.to_str().unwrap();
    path_to_refine.trim_start_matches(LOCAL_UNC).to_string()
}

pub fn create_new_project(name: &str, force: bool) -> Result<()> {
    let path = Path::new(name);

    // Better error message than the rust default
    if path.exists() && !is_directory_quasi_empty(path)? && !force {
        if name == "." {
            bail!("The current directory is not an empty folder (hidden files are ignored).");
        } else {
            bail!("`{}` is not an empty folder (hidden files are ignored).", path.to_string_lossy())
        }
    }

    console::info("Welcome to Zola!");
    console::info("Please answer a few questions to get started quickly.");
    console::info("Any choices made can be changed by modifying the `zola.toml` file later.");

    let base_url = ask_url("> What is the URL of your site?", "https://example.com")?;
    let compile_sass = ask_bool("> Do you want to enable Sass compilation?", true)?;
    let search = ask_bool("> Do you want to build a search index of the content?", false)?;

    let config = CONFIG
        .trim_start()
        .replace("%BASE_URL%", &base_url)
        .replace("%COMPILE_SASS%", &format!("{compile_sass}"))
        .replace("%SEARCH%", &format!("{search}"));

View on GitHub (pinned to 61d3082821)

Solutions

1. Run `zola init . --force` (or `zola init <name> --force`) to overwrite/initialize anyway
2. Move or delete the non-hidden files out of the directory first
3. Initialize into a new empty directory instead

Example fix

// before
$ zola init .
// after
$ zola init . --force   # or clear the directory first

fn init_target_clear(name: &str, force: bool) -> bool {
    let p = Path::new(name);
    force || !p.exists()
        || p.read_dir().map_or(false, |mut it| it.all(|e| e.map(|f| f.file_name().to_string_lossy().starts_with('.')).unwrap_or(false)))
}

match create_new_project(name, force) {
    Ok(_) => {},
    Err(e) if e.to_string().contains("is not an empty folder") => {
        eprintln!("pass --force or clean the directory first");
    }
    Err(e) => return Err(e),
}

When it happens

Trigger: Running `zola init .` (or a named path) where the directory exists, `is_directory_quasi_empty` returns false (contains at least one non-hidden file), and `force` is false.

Common situations: Initializing into a folder that already has files (previous project, downloaded files, notes); running init in the wrong directory by mistake.

Related errors

• Theme `{}` is missing a templates folder
• Either a `templates/` folder or a theme is required
• could not parse domain `{}` from link
• could not parse domain `{}` from link: `{}`
• Failed to convert bytes to string : {}

AI-assisted analysis of getzola/zola@61d3082821 (2026-09-03). Data as JSON: /api/errors/59d2e6c85e81516f. Report an issue: GitHub.