diff --git a/src/xfel_calibrate/repeat.py b/src/xfel_calibrate/repeat.py
index 44e7daef84a7f95c396fb23f7e276d4277aed0e7..b4ac0c330a77f3ff680cf38ff088f5fe78170691 100644
--- a/src/xfel_calibrate/repeat.py
+++ b/src/xfel_calibrate/repeat.py
@@ -53,6 +53,7 @@ def main(argv=None):
         out_folder = cal_metadata['out-folder']
 
     # finalize & some notebooks expect yaml metadata in the output folder
+    Path(out_folder).mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
     shutil.copy(working_dir / 'calibration_metadata.yml', out_folder)
 
     job_group = JobGroup(