diff --git a/docs/config/index.md b/docs/config/index.md
index b297d11c926f..17d4ee6c5523 100644
--- a/docs/config/index.md
+++ b/docs/config/index.md
@@ -1137,6 +1137,10 @@ Clean coverage report on watch rerun
 - **Available for providers:** `'v8' | 'istanbul'`
 - **CLI:** `--coverage.reportsDirectory=<path>`
 
+::: warning
+Vitest will delete this directory before running tests if `coverage.clean` is enabled (default value).
+:::
+
 Directory to write coverage report to.
 
 To preview the coverage report in the output of [HTML reporter](/guide/reporters.html#html-reporter), this option must be set as a sub-directory of the html report directory (for example `./html/coverage`).
diff --git a/packages/vitest/src/node/config.ts b/packages/vitest/src/node/config.ts
index e1e46d16c6af..e52b8a21eaab 100644
--- a/packages/vitest/src/node/config.ts
+++ b/packages/vitest/src/node/config.ts
@@ -135,6 +135,7 @@ export function resolveConfig(
     }
   }
 
+  // TODO: V2.0.0 remove
   // @ts-expect-error -- check for removed API option
   if (resolved.coverage.provider === 'c8')
     throw new Error('"coverage.provider: c8" is not supported anymore. Use "coverage.provider: v8" instead')
@@ -142,6 +143,13 @@ export function resolveConfig(
   if (resolved.coverage.provider === 'v8' && resolved.coverage.enabled && isBrowserEnabled(resolved))
     throw new Error('@vitest/coverage-v8 does not work with --browser. Use @vitest/coverage-istanbul instead')
 
+  if (resolved.coverage.enabled && resolved.coverage.reportsDirectory) {
+    const reportsDirectory = resolve(resolved.root, resolved.coverage.reportsDirectory)
+
+    if (reportsDirectory === resolved.root || reportsDirectory === process.cwd())
+      throw new Error(`You cannot set "coverage.reportsDirectory" as ${reportsDirectory}. Vitest needs to be able to remove this directory before test run`)
+  }
+
   resolved.deps ??= {}
   resolved.deps.moduleDirectories ??= []
   resolved.deps.moduleDirectories = resolved.deps.moduleDirectories.map((dir) => {
diff --git a/test/config/test/failures.test.ts b/test/config/test/failures.test.ts
index 0007f55aac3f..33a6a5ea5f70 100644
--- a/test/config/test/failures.test.ts
+++ b/test/config/test/failures.test.ts
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+import { resolve } from 'node:path'
 import { expect, test } from 'vitest'
 import type { UserConfig } from 'vitest/config'
 import { version } from 'vitest/package.json'
@@ -67,6 +68,41 @@ test('v8 coverage provider cannot be used with browser in workspace', async () =
   expect(stderr).toMatch('Error: @vitest/coverage-v8 does not work with --browser. Use @vitest/coverage-istanbul instead')
 })
 
+test('coverage reportsDirectory cannot be current working directory', async () => {
+  const { stderr } = await runVitest({
+    coverage: {
+      enabled: true,
+      reportsDirectory: './',
+
+      // Additional options to make sure this test doesn't accidentally remove whole vitest project
+      clean: false,
+      cleanOnRerun: false,
+      provider: 'custom',
+      customProviderModule: 'non-existing-provider-so-that-reportsDirectory-is-not-removed',
+    },
+  })
+
+  expect(stderr).toMatch(`Error: You cannot set "coverage.reportsDirectory" as ${resolve('./')}. Vitest needs to be able to remove this directory before test run`)
+})
+
+test('coverage reportsDirectory cannot be root', async () => {
+  const { stderr } = await runVitest({
+    root: './fixtures',
+    coverage: {
+      enabled: true,
+      reportsDirectory: './',
+
+      // Additional options to make sure this test doesn't accidentally remove whole vitest project
+      clean: false,
+      cleanOnRerun: false,
+      provider: 'custom',
+      customProviderModule: 'non-existing-provider-so-that-reportsDirectory-is-not-removed',
+    },
+  })
+
+  expect(stderr).toMatch(`Error: You cannot set "coverage.reportsDirectory" as ${resolve('./fixtures')}. Vitest needs to be able to remove this directory before test run`)
+})
+
 test('version number is printed when coverage provider fails to load', async () => {
   const { stderr, stdout } = await runVitest({
     coverage: {