Fix EEXIST in importer when wp-content path is blocked by a non-directory file

[ivan-ottinger]

Related issues

• Resolves STU-1748

How AI was used in this PR

Diagnosis, reproduction, and patch were drafted with Claude Code. The bug was reproduced end-to-end on Windows; the underlying Node fs behavior was verified via probes on Windows, macOS, and the Linux CI runs on this branch's commits.

Proposed Changes

• Add ensureDir( dir ) helper in apps/cli/lib/import-export/import/importers/importer.ts that recovers from EEXIST / ENOTDIR on mkdir(recursive:true) by moving the non-directory blocker to trash before retrying.
• Use it in BaseBackupImporter.importWpContent — the call site that throws.
• Add unit tests for happy path, idempotent path, final-component blocker
  (EEXIST), and ancestor-component blocker (ENOTDIR).

Why this happens

The reporter's Pressable repo server branch tracks wp-content/plugins/akismet as a Git symlink (mode 120000, confirmed via git ls-tree). On their Windows machine with core.symlinks=false (Git default on Windows), git checkout materialized that entry as a 41-byte regular file containing the symlink target text. The next Studio Sync pull failed in the Jetpack importer:

EEXIST: file already exists, mkdir '...wp-content\plugins\akismet'

mkdir(recursive:true) treats EEXIST as a no-op only when the existing path is itself a directory. A regular file at that path makes mkdir throw and the import abort.

A related case the helper also handles: when mkdir is called on a path below the blocker (e.g. …/akismet/_inc while …/akismet is the file), Node raises ENOTDIR instead.

When mkdir fails, the helper recurses upward: it ensures the parent directory exists first, then stats the leaf — if it exists and isn't a directory, move it to trash before retrying mkdir. Each level only has to decide whether its own path is a blocker, because the recursion guarantees the parent is already a directory by the time control returns. Trash (rather than unlink) is used so that — in the unlikely event the blocker is something the user values rather than a checkout artifact — the file is recoverable, matching the precedent set by moveExistingDatabaseToTrash in the same file.

Testing Instructions

1. Unit tests

npm test -- apps/cli/lib/import-export/import/importers/tests/importer.test.ts

Four tests pass.

2. End-to-end Sync pull

1. Connect a Pressable site to Studio and run an initial Sync pull. Note the local site path, e.g. ~/Studio/my-site.

2. Replace the akismet plugin directory with a regular file:

   macOS / Linux:

   SITE=~/Studio/my-site   # adjust to your site path
   rm -rf "$SITE/wp-content/plugins/akismet"
   printf '/managed/akismet' > "$SITE/wp-content/plugins/akismet"

   Windows (PowerShell):

   $Site = "$HOME\Studio\my-site"   # adjust to your site path
   Remove-Item -Recurse -Force "$Site\wp-content\plugins\akismet" -ErrorAction Ignore
   '/managed/akismet' | Set-Content -LiteralPath "$Site\wp-content\plugins\akismet" -NoNewline

3. Trigger another Sync pull in the Studio UI.

Pull should succeed.

Against the unpatched trunk build, the pull fails with EEXIST: file already exists, mkdir '...wp-content/plugins/akismet'.

Pre-merge Checklist

• No new TypeScript errors in wp-studio workspace; ESLint clean on modified files
• Unit tests pass (4/4 new, 9/9 in apps/cli/lib/import-export)
• End-to-end Sync pull verified with the fix applied
• Have you checked for TypeScript, React or other console errors?

[Copilot]

Pull request overview

This PR hardens the CLI import path by handling cases where a non-directory file (often from Windows Git symlink checkouts) blocks creation of directories under wp-content, preventing mkdir({ recursive: true }) from throwing EEXIST/ENOTDIR and aborting the import.

Changes:

• Add ensureDir(dir) helper that retries mkdir(recursive:true) after locating and unlinking a non-directory path component blocker.
• Use ensureDir when preparing destination directories during wp-content import.
• Add Vitest unit coverage for creation, idempotency, and both “target blocker” and “ancestor blocker” scenarios.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 2 out of 2 changed files in this pull request and generated 2 comments.

File	Description
apps/cli/lib/import-export/import/importers/importer.ts	Introduces ensureDir + blocker discovery and uses it in importWpContent before copying files.
apps/cli/lib/import-export/import/importers/tests/importer.test.ts	Adds unit tests validating ensureDir behavior across common blocker cases.

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[Copilot]

Pull request overview

Copilot reviewed 2 out of 2 changed files in this pull request and generated 1 comment.

[Copilot]

Pull request overview

Copilot reviewed 2 out of 2 changed files in this pull request and generated no new comments.

[wpmobilebot]

📊 Performance Test Results

Comparing 76cc459 vs trunk

app-size

Metric	trunk	76cc459	Diff	Change
App Size (Mac)	1338.49 MB	1338.49 MB	+0.00 MB	⚪ 0.0%

site-editor

Metric	trunk	76cc459	Diff	Change
load	1652 ms	1635 ms	17 ms	⚪ 0.0%

site-startup

Metric	trunk	76cc459	Diff	Change
siteCreation	8594 ms	9597 ms	+1003 ms	🔴 11.7%
siteStartup	4956 ms	4955 ms	1 ms	⚪ 0.0%

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Results are median values from multiple test runs.

Legend: 🟢 Improvement (faster) | 🔴 Regression (slower) | ⚪ No change (<50ms diff)

[gavande1]

Thanks for debugging and fixing this issue! The sync works correctly on this branch while fails on trunk. LGTM 👍