diff --git a/exe/Main.hs b/exe/Main.hs
index 1c66926..a12450a 100644
--- a/exe/Main.hs
+++ b/exe/Main.hs
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ import Language.PureScript.Backend qualified as Backend
 import Language.PureScript.Backend.IR qualified as IR
 import Language.PureScript.Backend.Lua qualified as Lua
 import Language.PureScript.Backend.Lua.Printer qualified as Printer
+import Language.PureScript.Backend.Output (withOutputFile)
 import Language.PureScript.CoreFn.Reader qualified as CoreFn
 import Language.PureScript.Names (runIdent, runModuleName)
 import Main.Utf8 qualified as Utf8
@@ -53,19 +54,19 @@ main = Utf8.withUtf8 do
       & Oops.runOops
 
   let outputFile = toFilePath luaOutput
-  withFile outputFile WriteMode \h →
+  withOutputFile luaOutput \h →
     renderIO h . layoutPretty defaultLayoutOptions $
       Printer.printLuaChunk lua
 
   when (OutputIR `elem` extraOutputs) do
-    irOutputFile ← toFilePath <$> replaceExtension ".ir" luaOutput
-    withFile irOutputFile WriteMode (`pHPrint` ir)
-    putTextLn $ "Wrote IR to " <> toText irOutputFile
+    irOutputPath ← replaceExtension ".ir" luaOutput
+    withOutputFile irOutputPath (`pHPrint` ir)
+    putTextLn $ "Wrote IR to " <> toText (toFilePath irOutputPath)
 
   when (OutputLuaAst `elem` extraOutputs) do
-    luaAstOutputFile ← toFilePath <$> replaceExtension ".lua-ast" luaOutput
-    withFile luaAstOutputFile WriteMode (`pHPrint` lua)
-    putTextLn $ "Wrote Lua AST to " <> toText luaAstOutputFile
+    luaAstOutputPath ← replaceExtension ".lua-ast" luaOutput
+    withOutputFile luaAstOutputPath (`pHPrint` lua)
+    putTextLn $ "Wrote Lua AST to " <> toText (toFilePath luaAstOutputPath)
 
   putTextLn $ "Wrote linked modules to " <> toText outputFile
 
diff --git a/lib/Language/PureScript/Backend/Output.hs b/lib/Language/PureScript/Backend/Output.hs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..63df543
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/Language/PureScript/Backend/Output.hs
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+module Language.PureScript.Backend.Output
+  ( withOutputFile
+  ) where
+
+import Path (Abs, File, Path, parent, toFilePath)
+import Path.IO (ensureDir)
+
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+-- Output ----------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+{- | Open a file for writing, first creating its parent directory (and any
+missing ancestors). pslua's @--lua-output-file@ may point into a directory
+that does not exist yet (a gitignored @dist/@, say); plain 'withFile' would
+abort with @does not exist@, a sharp edge each fork's build script would
+otherwise work around with @mkdir -p@.
+-}
+withOutputFile ∷ Path Abs File → (Handle → IO r) → IO r
+withOutputFile path action = do
+  ensureDir (parent path)
+  withFile (toFilePath path) WriteMode action
diff --git a/pslua.cabal b/pslua.cabal
index d8dad70..66c11f7 100644
--- a/pslua.cabal
+++ b/pslua.cabal
@@ -140,6 +140,7 @@ library
     Language.PureScript.Backend.Lua.Printer
     Language.PureScript.Backend.Lua.Traversal
     Language.PureScript.Backend.Lua.Types
+    Language.PureScript.Backend.Output
     Language.PureScript.Backend.Types
     Language.PureScript.Comments
     Language.PureScript.CoreFn
@@ -172,6 +173,7 @@ test-suite spec
     Language.PureScript.Backend.Lua.Linker.Foreign.Spec
     Language.PureScript.Backend.Lua.Optimizer.Spec
     Language.PureScript.Backend.Lua.Printer.Spec
+    Language.PureScript.Backend.Output.Spec
     Test.Hspec.Expectations.Pretty
     Test.Hspec.Extra
     Test.Hspec.Golden
diff --git a/test/Language/PureScript/Backend/Output/Spec.hs b/test/Language/PureScript/Backend/Output/Spec.hs
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..b2b9795
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/Language/PureScript/Backend/Output/Spec.hs
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+module Language.PureScript.Backend.Output.Spec (spec) where
+
+import Language.PureScript.Backend.Output (withOutputFile)
+import Path (parseRelFile, (</>))
+import Path.IO (doesFileExist, withSystemTempDir)
+import Test.Hspec (Spec, describe, it, shouldReturn)
+
+spec ∷ Spec
+spec = describe "Language.PureScript.Backend.Output" do
+  it "withOutputFile creates the missing parent directory" do
+    withSystemTempDir "pslua-output" \tmp → do
+      file ← (tmp </>) <$> parseRelFile "nested/dir/out.lua"
+      withOutputFile file (const pass)
+      doesFileExist file `shouldReturn` True
diff --git a/test/Main.hs b/test/Main.hs
index 6d27b1d..545ba10 100644
--- a/test/Main.hs
+++ b/test/Main.hs
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ import Language.PureScript.Backend.Lua.Golden.Spec qualified as Golden
 import Language.PureScript.Backend.Lua.Linker.Foreign.Spec qualified as LuaLinkerForeign
 import Language.PureScript.Backend.Lua.Optimizer.Spec qualified as LuaOptimizer
 import Language.PureScript.Backend.Lua.Printer.Spec qualified as Printer
+import Language.PureScript.Backend.Output.Spec qualified as Output
 import Test.Hspec (hspec)
 
 main ∷ IO ()
@@ -26,3 +27,4 @@ main = hspec do
   LuaOptimizer.spec
   Printer.spec
   LuaLinkerForeign.spec
+  Output.spec