diff --git a/server/util.go b/server/util.go
index 712eec749276..2a70f4b4edec 100644
--- a/server/util.go
+++ b/server/util.go
@@ -444,6 +444,10 @@ func DefaultBaseappOptions(appOpts types.AppOptions) []func(*baseapp.BaseApp) {
 	}
 
 	snapshotDir := filepath.Join(cast.ToString(appOpts.Get(flags.FlagHome)), "data", "snapshots")
+	if err = os.MkdirAll(snapshotDir, os.ModePerm); err != nil {
+		panic(fmt.Errorf("failed to create snapshots directory: %w", err))
+	}
+
 	snapshotDB, err := dbm.NewDB("metadata", GetAppDBBackend(appOpts), snapshotDir)
 	if err != nil {
 		panic(err)