diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index d46634f..8e601bc 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -301,7 +301,7 @@ You may have noticed that `search` method returns only documents ids. This is by
 
 ## Development
 
-After checking out the repo, run `bin/setup` to install dependencies. Then, run `rake spec` to run the tests. You can also run `bin/console` for an interactive prompt that will allow you to experiment.
+After checking out the repo, run `bin/setup` to install dependencies. Then, run `rake build` to build native extensions, and then `rake spec` to run the tests. You can also run `bin/console` for an interactive prompt that will allow you to experiment.
 
 We use [conventional commits](https://www.conventionalcommits.org) to automatically generate the CHANGELOG, bump the semantic version, and to publish and release the gem. All you need to do is stick to the convention and [CI will take care of everything else](https://github.com/baygeldin/tantiny/blob/main/.github/workflows/release.yml) for you.
 
diff --git a/lib/tantiny/index.rb b/lib/tantiny/index.rb
index b5fb8f3..4a70d06 100644
--- a/lib/tantiny/index.rb
+++ b/lib/tantiny/index.rb
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 # frozen_string_literal: true
 
+require "fileutils"
+
 module Tantiny
   class Index
     DEFAULT_INDEX_SIZE = 50_000_000
@@ -9,6 +11,8 @@ def self.new(path, **options, &block)
       index_size = options[:size] || DEFAULT_INDEX_SIZE
       default_tokenizer = options[:tokenizer] || Tokenizer.default
 
+      FileUtils.mkdir_p(path)
+
       schema = Schema.new(default_tokenizer, &block)
 
       object = __new(
diff --git a/spec/tantiny/index_spec.rb b/spec/tantiny/index_spec.rb
index 9c191d4..c81e499 100644
--- a/spec/tantiny/index_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/tantiny/index_spec.rb
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
   let(:tokenizer) { Tantiny::Tokenizer.default }
 
   after do
-    FileUtils.remove_dir(tmpdir)
+    FileUtils.rm_rf(tmpdir)
   end
 
   def documents
@@ -28,6 +28,14 @@ def commit_and_reload
       expect(Dir.entries(tmpdir)).not_to be_empty
     end
 
+    context "when folder at path does not exist" do
+      it "creates it first" do
+        FileUtils.rm_rf(tmpdir)
+        expect { Tantiny::Index.new(tmpdir) {} }.not_to raise_error
+        expect(Dir.entries(tmpdir)).not_to be_empty
+      end
+    end
+
     it "creates schema" do
       schema = Tantiny::Schema.new(tokenizer, &schema_block)