google-gemini/gemini-cli · error · Error

Unable to create directory. Do you have file permissions in…

Error message

Unable to create ${dirPath} directory. Do you have file permissions in the current directory?

What it means

Thrown by createDirectory() when fs.promises.mkdir(dirPath, { recursive: true }) rejects — typically the .github/workflows directory (or another target) could not be created. The underlying error is logged via debugLogger before this generic message is thrown.

Solutions

1. Check write permissions on the repo root and parent of .github/workflows (`ls -la` and try `touch` a test file).
2. Run the CLI with appropriate filesystem permissions / as a user that can write to the repo.
3. If the disk is full, free space (df -h) and retry.
4. Confirm the repo root path returned by git is writable and not on a read-only mount.

import fs from 'node:fs';
async function isWritableDir(dirPath: string): Promise<boolean> {
  try {
    await fs.promises.access(path.dirname(dirPath), fs.constants.W_OK);
    return true;
  } catch { return false; }
}

function isMkdirError(e: unknown): boolean {
  return e instanceof Error && /Unable to create .* directory/.test(e.message);
}

try {
  await runSetupGithub(ctx);
} catch (e) {
  if (e instanceof Error && /Unable to create .* directory/.test(e.message)) {
    // check write permissions / disk space on the repo root and retry
  }
  throw e;
}

When it happens

Trigger: mkdir with recursive:true throws inside createDirectory(); the catch wraps any filesystem error (EACCES, EROFS, ENOSPC, ENAMETOOLONG) and rethrows this message.

Common situations: The git repo root is on a read-only filesystem or the user lacks write permission; the target path is invalid/locked; the disk is full; running /setup-github in a directory the process cannot write to.

Related errors

• Could not read file
• Failed to mount workspace into LXC container
• Access to forbidden path is denied
• Access to the default Cloud Shell Gemini project was…
• AGENT_EXECUTION_BLOCKED

AI-assisted analysis of google-gemini/gemini-cli@5024443c72 (2026-08-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/40188d3f6196f5b5. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at packages/cli/src/ui/commands/setupGithubCommand.ts:176

          flush: true,
        });

        await body.pipeTo(Writable.toWeb(fileStream));
      })(),
    );
  }

  await Promise.all(downloads).finally(() => {
    abortController.abort();
  });
}

async function createDirectory(dirPath: string): Promise<void> {
  try {
    await fs.promises.mkdir(dirPath, { recursive: true });
  } catch (error) {
    debugLogger.debug(`Failed to create ${dirPath} directory:`, error);
    throw new Error(
      `Unable to create ${dirPath} directory. Do you have file permissions in the current directory?`,
    );
  }
}

async function downloadSetupFiles({
  configs,
  releaseTag,
  proxy,
}: {
  configs: Array<{ paths: string[]; targetDir: string }>;
  releaseTag: string;
  proxy: string | undefined;
}): Promise<void> {
  try {
    await Promise.all(
      configs.map(({ paths, targetDir }) => {
        const abortController = new AbortController();

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