What causes "Stopping as the directory is not empty" in wasmerio/wasmer?

Pass --dir /path/to/empty-directory to scaffold somewhere else.

wasmerio/wasmer · error · anyhow::Error

Stopping as the directory is not empty

Error message

Stopping as the directory is not empty

What it means

get_output_dir checks whether the chosen output directory is empty before scaffolding an app. If it is not empty (and the user is not quiet/interactive-confirming), it bails with 'Stopping as the directory is not empty' to avoid clobbering existing files with template/package contents.

Source

Thrown at lib/cli/src/commands/app/create.rs:242

        crate::utils::prompts::prompt_for_namespace("Who should own this app?", None, user.as_ref())
    }

    async fn get_output_dir(&self, app_name: &str) -> anyhow::Result<PathBuf> {
        let mut output_path = if let Some(path) = &self.app_dir_path {
            path.clone()
        } else {
            PathBuf::from(".").canonicalize()?
        };

        if output_path.is_dir() && output_path.read_dir()?.next().is_some() {
            if self.non_interactive {
                if !self.quiet {
                    eprintln!("The current directory is not empty.");
                    eprintln!(
                        "Use the `--dir` flag to specify another directory, or remove files from the currently selected one."
                    )
                }
                anyhow::bail!("Stopping as the directory is not empty")
            } else {
                let theme = ColorfulTheme::default();
                let raw: String = dialoguer::Input::with_theme(&theme)
                    .with_prompt("Select the directory to save the app in")
                    .with_initial_text(app_name)
                    .interact_text()
                    .context("could not read user input")?;
                output_path = PathBuf::from_str(&raw)?
            }
        }

        Ok(output_path)
    }

    async fn create_from_local_manifest(
        &self,
        owner: &str,
        app_name: &str,

View on GitHub (pinned to 8c4b9ee9d3)

Solutions

Pass --dir /path/to/empty-directory to scaffold somewhere else.
Clean the target directory (move/delete existing files) before re-running.
Run the command in a fresh empty directory.

Example fix

// before
// wasmer app create --template my-template   (run in non-empty dir)
// after
// wasmer app create --template my-template --dir ./my-new-app

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

import fs from 'fs';
const dir = args.dir ?? process.cwd();
if (fs.readdirSync(dir).length > 0) {
  throw new Error(`target directory ${dir} is not empty; use --dir`);
}

Type guard

fn dir_is_empty(p: &Path) -> std::io::Result<bool> {
    Ok(std::fs::read_dir(p)?.next().is_none())
}

Try / catch

match result {
    Err(e) if e.to_string().contains("directory is not empty") => {
        eprintln!("retrying with --dir ./new-app");
        // re-invoke command with --dir
    }
    other => other?,
}

Prevention

Always scaffold into a fresh empty directory (use --dir).
Check directory contents before running app create.
Avoid running create commands inside existing project roots.

When it happens

Trigger: Running `wasmer app create` (from package or template) targeting a directory (default: current directory) that already contains files, without --dir pointing elsewhere.

Common situations: Running the command inside an existing project folder or git repo; re-running create after a partial failure; forgetting the --dir flag.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of wasmerio/wasmer@8c4b9ee9d3 (2026-09-01). Data as JSON: /api/errors/379b72f6cc3da67d. Report an issue: GitHub.