mastra-ai/mastra · error · Error

Directory ${projectName} already exists

Error message

Directory ${projectName} already exists

What it means

cloneTemplate refuses to proceed when the destination directory (projectPath/projectName) already exists. It checks directoryExists(projectPath) before cloning and aborts with spinner.error plus this Error to avoid overwriting an existing project. This is a deliberate safety guard so `create-mastra` never clobbers user files.

Source

Thrown at packages/cli/src/utils/clone-template.ts:54

  projectName: string;
  targetDir?: string;
  branch?: string;
  signal?: AbortSignal;
  silent?: boolean;
}

export async function cloneTemplate(options: CloneTemplateOptions): Promise<string> {
  const { template, projectName, targetDir, branch, signal, silent = false } = options;
  const projectPath = targetDir ? path.resolve(targetDir, projectName) : path.resolve(projectName);

  const spinner = startSpinner(`Cloning template "${template.title}"...`, signal, silent);
  let ownsProjectPath = false;

  try {
    // Check if directory already exists
    if (await directoryExists(projectPath)) {
      spinner?.error(`Directory ${projectName} already exists`);
      throw new Error(`Directory ${projectName} already exists`);
    }

    ownsProjectPath = true;

    // Clone the repository without git history
    await cloneRepositoryWithoutGit(template.githubUrl, projectPath, branch, signal);

    // Update package.json with new project name
    await updatePackageJson(projectPath, projectName);

    spinner?.success(`Template "${template.title}" cloned successfully to ${projectName}`);
    return projectPath;
  } catch (error) {
    if (ownsProjectPath) {
      await fs.rm(projectPath, { recursive: true, force: true });
    }
    spinner?.error(`Failed to clone template: ${error instanceof Error ? error.message : 'Unknown error'}`);
    throw error;

View on GitHub (pinned to 75dd419e61)

Solutions

1. Choose a different project name or remove/rename the existing directory before re-running the CLI.
2. If the existing directory is a leftover partial clone from a failed run, delete it (rm -rf <dir>) and retry.
3. Run the CLI from a different working directory where the target name is free.

Example fix

// before
$ npx create-mastra@latest my-app
// Error: Directory my-app already exists

// after
$ rm -rf my-app   # or pick a new name
$ npx create-mastra@latest my-app-v2

import { stat } from 'node:fs/promises';
async function directoryExists(p: string): Promise<boolean> {
  try { return (await stat(p)).isDirectory(); } catch { return false; }
}
if (await directoryExists(targetPath)) {
  throw new Error(`Directory ${projectName} already exists`);
}

When it happens

Trigger: Running the create-mastra CLI (cloneTemplate) with a --projectName or target path whose directory already exists on disk (including empty ones, since only existence is checked, not emptiness).

Common situations: Re-running the scaffolder after a failed/aborted first attempt left a partial directory; choosing a name like 'my-app' that already exists in the cwd; rerunning the command in a repo where the target folder is committed; re-running in a workspace with a pre-created empty folder.

Related errors

• Directory ${path.basename(targetPath)} already exists
• Project name must be 1-214 lowercase characters, start with
• A file or directory named "${projectName}" already exists. P
• .mastra/output/index.mjs not found — did the build succeed?
• Directory not found: ${dirArg}.${hint}

AI-assisted analysis of mastra-ai/mastra@75dd419e61 (2026-08-30). Data as JSON: /api/errors/6aa0890331250b77. Report an issue: GitHub.