From 16cbaef475df9e8bfed27bee38295a178590547c Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: azdrojowa123 <33667003+azdrojowa123@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Tue, 20 Jan 2026 16:03:51 +0100
Subject: [PATCH] [1.x] Fix missing `project` directory (#8583)

* create `project` directory if extra sbt files are added to the meta-build #8570
---
 main/src/main/scala/sbt/internal/Load.scala | 7 +++++--
 1 file changed, 5 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/main/src/main/scala/sbt/internal/Load.scala b/main/src/main/scala/sbt/internal/Load.scala
index f3f2265a6..7433afbb0 100755
--- a/main/src/main/scala/sbt/internal/Load.scala
+++ b/main/src/main/scala/sbt/internal/Load.scala
@@ -1233,9 +1233,12 @@ private[sbt] object Load {
     val extraSbtFiles: Seq[File] =
       if (isMetaBuildContext(context)) s.get(BasicKeys.extraMetaSbtFiles).getOrElse(Nil)
       else Nil
-    if (hasDefinition(dir) || extraSbtFiles.nonEmpty)
+    if (hasDefinition(dir) || extraSbtFiles.nonEmpty) {
+      if (extraSbtFiles.nonEmpty && !dir.exists()) {
+        IO.createDirectory(dir)
+      }
       buildPlugins(dir, s, enableSbtPlugin(activateGlobalPlugin(config)))
-    else
+    } else
       noPlugins(dir, config)
   }