diff --git a/src/server/apps.ts b/src/server/apps.ts
index 96eee00..b19fee1 100644
--- a/src/server/apps.ts
+++ b/src/server/apps.ts
@@ -644,9 +644,12 @@ async function runApp(dir: string, port: number) {
   // Load env vars from TOES_DIR/env/
   const appEnv = loadAppEnv(dir, TOES_DIR)
 
+  const dataDir = join(process.env.DATA_DIR ?? '.', 'toes', dir)
+  mkdirSync(dataDir, { recursive: true })
+
   const proc = Bun.spawn(['bun', 'run', 'toes'], {
     cwd,
-    env: { ...process.env, ...appEnv, PORT: String(port), NO_AUTOPORT: 'true', APP_URL: buildAppUrl(dir, TOES_URL), APPS_DIR, DATA_DIR: join(process.env.DATA_DIR ?? '.', 'toes', dir), TOES_DIR, TOES_URL },
+    env: { ...process.env, ...appEnv, PORT: String(port), NO_AUTOPORT: 'true', APP_URL: buildAppUrl(dir, TOES_URL), APPS_DIR, DATA_DIR: dataDir, TOES_DIR, TOES_URL },
     stdout: 'pipe',
     stderr: 'pipe',
   })