diff --git a/crates/snapbox/src/dir/fixture.rs b/crates/snapbox/src/dir/fixture.rs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..9b6b135e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/crates/snapbox/src/dir/fixture.rs
@@ -0,0 +1,114 @@
+/// Collection of files
+pub trait DirFixture: std::fmt::Debug {
+    /// Initialize a test fixture directory `root`
+    fn write_to_path(&self, root: &std::path::Path) -> Result<(), crate::assert::Error>;
+}
+
+#[cfg(feature = "dir")] // for documentation purposes only
+impl DirFixture for std::path::Path {
+    fn write_to_path(&self, root: &std::path::Path) -> Result<(), crate::assert::Error> {
+        super::copy_template(self, root)
+    }
+}
+
+#[cfg(feature = "dir")] // for documentation purposes only
+impl DirFixture for &'_ std::path::Path {
+    fn write_to_path(&self, root: &std::path::Path) -> Result<(), crate::assert::Error> {
+        std::path::Path::new(self).write_to_path(root)
+    }
+}
+
+#[cfg(feature = "dir")] // for documentation purposes only
+impl DirFixture for &'_ std::path::PathBuf {
+    fn write_to_path(&self, root: &std::path::Path) -> Result<(), crate::assert::Error> {
+        std::path::Path::new(self).write_to_path(root)
+    }
+}
+
+#[cfg(feature = "dir")] // for documentation purposes only
+impl DirFixture for std::path::PathBuf {
+    fn write_to_path(&self, root: &std::path::Path) -> Result<(), crate::assert::Error> {
+        std::path::Path::new(self).write_to_path(root)
+    }
+}
+
+#[cfg(feature = "dir")] // for documentation purposes only
+impl DirFixture for str {
+    fn write_to_path(&self, root: &std::path::Path) -> Result<(), crate::assert::Error> {
+        std::path::Path::new(self).write_to_path(root)
+    }
+}
+
+#[cfg(feature = "dir")] // for documentation purposes only
+impl DirFixture for &'_ str {
+    fn write_to_path(&self, root: &std::path::Path) -> Result<(), crate::assert::Error> {
+        std::path::Path::new(self).write_to_path(root)
+    }
+}
+
+#[cfg(feature = "dir")] // for documentation purposes only
+impl DirFixture for &'_ String {
+    fn write_to_path(&self, root: &std::path::Path) -> Result<(), crate::assert::Error> {
+        std::path::Path::new(self).write_to_path(root)
+    }
+}
+
+#[cfg(feature = "dir")] // for documentation purposes only
+impl DirFixture for String {
+    fn write_to_path(&self, root: &std::path::Path) -> Result<(), crate::assert::Error> {
+        std::path::Path::new(self).write_to_path(root)
+    }
+}
+
+impl<P, S> DirFixture for &[(P, S)]
+where
+    P: AsRef<std::path::Path>,
+    P: std::fmt::Debug,
+    S: AsRef<[u8]>,
+    S: std::fmt::Debug,
+{
+    fn write_to_path(&self, root: &std::path::Path) -> Result<(), crate::assert::Error> {
+        let root = super::ops::canonicalize(root)
+            .map_err(|e| format!("Failed to canonicalize {}: {}", root.display(), e))?;
+
+        for (path, content) in self.iter() {
+            let rel_path = path.as_ref();
+            let path = root.join(rel_path);
+            let path = super::ops::normalize_path(&path);
+            if !path.starts_with(&root) {
+                return Err(crate::assert::Error::new(format!(
+                    "Fixture {} is for outside of the target root",
+                    rel_path.display(),
+                )));
+            }
+
+            let content = content.as_ref();
+
+            if let Some(dir) = path.parent() {
+                std::fs::create_dir_all(dir).map_err(|e| {
+                    format!(
+                        "Failed to create fixture directory {}: {}",
+                        dir.display(),
+                        e
+                    )
+                })?;
+            }
+            std::fs::write(&path, content)
+                .map_err(|e| format!("Failed to write fixture {}: {}", path.display(), e))?;
+        }
+        Ok(())
+    }
+}
+
+impl<const N: usize, P, S> DirFixture for [(P, S); N]
+where
+    P: AsRef<std::path::Path>,
+    P: std::fmt::Debug,
+    S: AsRef<[u8]>,
+    S: std::fmt::Debug,
+{
+    fn write_to_path(&self, root: &std::path::Path) -> Result<(), crate::assert::Error> {
+        let s: &[(P, S)] = self;
+        s.write_to_path(root)
+    }
+}
diff --git a/crates/snapbox/src/dir/mod.rs b/crates/snapbox/src/dir/mod.rs
index 56c84870..18ea24e7 100644
--- a/crates/snapbox/src/dir/mod.rs
+++ b/crates/snapbox/src/dir/mod.rs
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 //! Initialize working directories and assert on how they've changed
 
 mod diff;
+mod fixture;
 mod ops;
 mod root;
 #[cfg(test)]
@@ -8,6 +9,7 @@ mod tests;
 
 pub use diff::FileType;
 pub use diff::PathDiff;
+pub use fixture::DirFixture;
 #[cfg(feature = "dir")]
 pub use ops::copy_template;
 pub use ops::resolve_dir;
diff --git a/crates/snapbox/src/dir/ops.rs b/crates/snapbox/src/dir/ops.rs
index 036a4524..d37081f6 100644
--- a/crates/snapbox/src/dir/ops.rs
+++ b/crates/snapbox/src/dir/ops.rs
@@ -172,6 +172,50 @@ pub fn strip_trailing_slash(path: &std::path::Path) -> &std::path::Path {
     path.components().as_path()
 }
 
+/// Normalize a path, removing things like `.` and `..`.
+///
+/// CAUTION: This does not resolve symlinks (unlike
+/// [`std::fs::canonicalize`]). This may cause incorrect or surprising
+/// behavior at times. This should be used carefully. Unfortunately,
+/// [`std::fs::canonicalize`] can be hard to use correctly, since it can often
+/// fail, or on Windows returns annoying device paths. This is a problem Cargo
+/// needs to improve on.
+pub(crate) fn normalize_path(path: &std::path::Path) -> std::path::PathBuf {
+    use std::path::Component;
+
+    let mut components = path.components().peekable();
+    let mut ret = if let Some(c @ Component::Prefix(..)) = components.peek().cloned() {
+        components.next();
+        std::path::PathBuf::from(c.as_os_str())
+    } else {
+        std::path::PathBuf::new()
+    };
+
+    for component in components {
+        match component {
+            Component::Prefix(..) => unreachable!(),
+            Component::RootDir => {
+                ret.push(Component::RootDir);
+            }
+            Component::CurDir => {}
+            Component::ParentDir => {
+                if ret.ends_with(Component::ParentDir) {
+                    ret.push(Component::ParentDir);
+                } else {
+                    let popped = ret.pop();
+                    if !popped && !ret.has_root() {
+                        ret.push(Component::ParentDir);
+                    }
+                }
+            }
+            Component::Normal(c) => {
+                ret.push(c);
+            }
+        }
+    }
+    ret
+}
+
 pub(crate) fn display_relpath(path: impl AsRef<std::path::Path>) -> String {
     let path = path.as_ref();
     let relpath = if let Ok(cwd) = std::env::current_dir() {
diff --git a/crates/snapbox/src/dir/root.rs b/crates/snapbox/src/dir/root.rs
index 1981a700..d381a48c 100644
--- a/crates/snapbox/src/dir/root.rs
+++ b/crates/snapbox/src/dir/root.rs
@@ -43,21 +43,17 @@ impl DirRoot {
     }
 
     #[cfg(feature = "dir")]
-    pub fn with_template(
-        self,
-        template_root: &std::path::Path,
-    ) -> Result<Self, crate::assert::Error> {
+    pub fn with_template<F>(self, template: &F) -> Result<Self, crate::assert::Error>
+    where
+        F: crate::dir::DirFixture + ?Sized,
+    {
         match &self.0 {
             DirRootInner::None | DirRootInner::Immutable(_) => {
                 return Err("Sandboxing is disabled".into());
             }
             DirRootInner::MutablePath(path) | DirRootInner::MutableTemp { path, .. } => {
-                crate::debug!(
-                    "Initializing {} from {}",
-                    path.display(),
-                    template_root.display()
-                );
-                super::copy_template(template_root, path)?;
+                crate::debug!("Initializing {} from {:?}", path.display(), template);
+                template.write_to_path(path)?;
             }
         }