diff --git a/apps/cp.cpp b/apps/cp.cpp
index de858bac..d80ce302 100644
--- a/apps/cp.cpp
+++ b/apps/cp.cpp
@@ -81,6 +81,11 @@ Result<void> copy_tree(StringView source, StringView destination, bool verbose,
     {
         path = TRY(String::from_string_view(destination));
         if (!os::FileSystem::exists(path.view(), false)) TRY(os::FileSystem::create_directory(path.view(), 0755));
+        else
+        {
+            os::eprintln("cp: cannot overwrite non-directory '%s' with directory '%s'", path.chars(), source.chars());
+            return {};
+        }
     }
 
     auto dir = TRY(os::Directory::open(source));