touch_file

Original：🇺🇸 English

Translated

Recovery strategy when the Write tool fails to create a new file. Use this skill whenever a Write or Edit tool call fails with an error related to creating a new file — such as missing parent directories, permission issues, or "file not found" errors on files that don't exist yet. This skill does NOT apply to editing existing files that fail for other reasons. Trigger when you see Write/Edit errors on new file creation, when file creation fails unexpectedly, or when you get path-related errors trying to create files in nested directories.

1installs

Sourcetrtmn/agent-skills

Added on2026-03-27

NPX Install

npx skill4agent add trtmn/agent-skills touch_file

SKILL.md Content

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touch_file

When a Write or Edit tool call fails while trying to create a new file, recover by using

touch

via the Bash tool to create the empty file first, then retry the Write.

Why this matters

The Write tool can fail when creating new files — often because parent directories don't exist, or the filesystem needs the file to be created differently. Rather than giving up or trying workarounds, a quick

mkdir -p

+

touch

reliably sets up the file path so the Write tool succeeds on retry.

Recovery steps

When Write or Edit fails on a new file (not an existing one):

Create parent directories — run
```
mkdir -p <parent-directory>
```
via Bash to ensure the full directory path exists.
Create the empty file — run
```
touch <filepath>
```
via Bash.
Retry the Write — use the Write tool again with the same content. It should succeed now.

You can combine steps 1 and 2:

bash

mkdir -p src/utils && touch src/utils/helpers.ts

When this applies

A Write tool call fails and the target file does not already exist
The error mentions missing directories, file not found, or path issues
You're trying to create a file in a nested directory structure

Edge case: broken symlinks

If

mkdir -p

fails because a broken symlink occupies a path component (error like

No such file or directory

even though

mkdir -p

should create it), the symlink is pointing to a nonexistent target and blocking directory creation. Do not remove it automatically — the symlink may be there intentionally. Instead, tell the user what you found and ask how they'd like to proceed (e.g., remove the symlink, fix its target, or choose a different path).

When this does NOT apply

Edit or Write fails on a file that already exists — that's a different problem
The error is unrelated to file creation (e.g., permission denied on an existing file, disk full)

touch_file

NPX Install

Tags

SKILL.md Content

touch_file

Why this matters

Recovery steps

When this applies

Edge case: broken symlinks

When this does NOT apply