How to create a folder in Node.js

Short answer

mkdir() with recursive: true creates all missing folders in the path and does not complain if they already exist:

import { mkdir, stat } from 'node:fs/promises';
 
await mkdir('storage/cache/images', { recursive: true });
await mkdir('storage/cache/images', { recursive: true });
 
console.log((await stat('storage/cache/images')).isDirectory());

Output:

true

A temporary folder

mkdtemp() creates a folder with a unique name in the system temporary directory:

import { mkdtemp, rm } from 'node:fs/promises';
import { tmpdir } from 'node:os';
import { join, basename } from 'node:path';
 
const dir = await mkdtemp(join(tmpdir(), 'upload-'));
console.log(basename(dir).startsWith('upload-'));
 
await rm(dir, { recursive: true });

Output:

true

Removing a folder

rm() with recursive: true removes a folder with everything inside. Be careful with it: there is no recycle bin.

import { mkdir, rm, writeFile } from 'node:fs/promises';
import { existsSync } from 'node:fs';
 
await mkdir('old-build', { recursive: true });
await writeFile('old-build/app.js', '');
await rm('old-build', { recursive: true, force: true });
 
console.log(existsSync('old-build'));

Output:

false

Common mistake

Without recursive, mkdir() fails if the parent folder is missing or the folder already exists:

import { mkdir } from 'node:fs/promises';
 
try {
  await mkdir('a/b/c');
} catch (error) {
  console.log(error.code);
}

Output:

ENOENT

Thanks for reading!

Short answer

A temporary folder

Removing a folder

Common mistake

Functions used in this recipe

Thanks for reading!