diff --git a/ansible/roles/ood_config/tasks/main.yml b/ansible/roles/ood_config/tasks/main.yml
index 7e2949ec82649b23a4ae6e7f0a61a1f26ed7d64c..75d140eee911d30218c4450cc515d11da8a92beb 100644
--- a/ansible/roles/ood_config/tasks/main.yml
+++ b/ansible/roles/ood_config/tasks/main.yml
@@ -7,7 +7,13 @@
 - name: Download patched shell app with shell timeout fix
   ansible.builtin.get_url:
     url: https://s3.lts.rc.uab.edu/ood-proxy-file/ood-proxy.conf
-    dest: /var/www/ood/apps/sys/shell/app.js 
+    dest: /var/www/ood/apps/sys/shell/app.js
+
+- name: Create a directory if it does not exist
+  ansible.builtin.file:
+    path: /etc/ood/config/apps/shell
+    state: directory
+    mode: "0755"
 
 - name: Shell app configuration env
   ansible.builtin.template:
@@ -25,4 +31,3 @@
   ansible.builtin.service:
     name: httpd24-httpd
     state: restarted
-