remotion-dev/remotion · error · Error

Cannot create an app named ${chalk.red(`"${folderName}"`)}.

Error message

Cannot create an app named ${chalk.red(`"${folderName}"`)}. ${validation}

What it means

Thrown by `assertValidName` in resolve-project-root when `validateName(folderName)` returns a string (i.e. validation failed) rather than `true`. validateName fails if the name is empty/non-string or contains characters outside the URL-friendly set `[a-z0-9@._-]`. The validation message is appended so the developer knows why the name is rejected.

Source

Thrown at packages/create-video/src/resolve-project-root.ts:16

import fs from 'node:fs';
import {readdir, stat} from 'node:fs/promises';
import {tmpdir} from 'node:os';
import path from 'node:path';
import chalk from 'chalk';
import {Log} from './log';
import {mkdirp} from './mkdirp';
import prompts from './prompts';
import {isFlagSelected, isTmpFlagSelected} from './select-template';
import type {Template} from './templates';
import {validateName} from './validate-name';

function assertValidName(folderName: string) {
	const validation = validateName(folderName);
	if (typeof validation === 'string') {
		throw new Error(
			`Cannot create an app named ${chalk.red(
				`"${folderName}"`,
			)}. ${validation}`,
		);
	}
}

function assertFolderEmptyAsync(projectRoot: string): {exists: boolean} {
	const conflicts = fs
		.readdirSync(projectRoot)
		.filter((file: string) => !/\.iml$/.test(file));

	if (conflicts.length > 0) {
		Log.newLine();
		Log.error(`Something already exists at "${projectRoot}"`);
		Log.error('Try using a new directory name, or moving these files.');
		Log.newLine();
		return {exists: true};

View on GitHub (pinned to 78fe4bb3fd)

Solutions

Use only alphanumeric characters plus @, ., -, and _ in the project name.
Replace spaces with hyphens: `my-project` instead of `my project`.
Quote the name if it must contain allowed punctuation, and avoid path separators.

Example fix

// before
npx create-video "my cool video"

// after
npx create-video my-cool-video

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

import {validateName} from './validate-name';

const result = validateName(folderName);
if (result !== true) throw new Error(result);

Type guard

const isValidProjectName = (name: string): boolean =>
  typeof name === 'string' && name !== '' && /^[a-z0-9@._-]+$/i.test(name);

Prevention

Restrict project names to [a-z0-9@._-].
Replace spaces with hyphens at the CLI.
Validate the name in your scaffolding script before calling create-video.

When it happens

Trigger: Passing a project folder name to create-video that is empty or contains characters not allowed by validateName (spaces, slashes, colons, emoji, etc.). E.g. `npx create-video my project` or a name with special punctuation.

Common situations: Typing a name with spaces at the CLI; using a path with slashes as the name; Unicode/emoji names; an empty positional argument.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of remotion-dev/remotion@78fe4bb3fd (2026-08-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/f43114993becded0. Report an issue: GitHub.