diff --git a/src/os/TempDir.zig b/src/os/TempDir.zig
index 2ddf18da3..c09e2f48d 100644
--- a/src/os/TempDir.zig
+++ b/src/os/TempDir.zig
@@ -3,10 +3,8 @@
 const TempDir = @This();
 
 const std = @import("std");
-const testing = std.testing;
 const Dir = std.fs.Dir;
-const allocTmpDir = @import("file.zig").allocTmpDir;
-const freeTmpDir = @import("file.zig").freeTmpDir;
+const file = @import("file.zig");
 
 const log = std.log.scoped(.tempdir);
 
@@ -18,28 +16,26 @@ parent: Dir,
 
 /// Name buffer that name points into. Generally do not use. To get the
 /// name call the name() function.
-name_buf: [TMP_PATH_LEN:0]u8,
+name_buf: [file.RANDOM_BASENAME_LEN:0]u8,
 
 /// Create the temporary directory.
 pub fn init() !TempDir {
     // Note: the tmp_path_buf sentinel is important because it ensures
-    // we actually always have TMP_PATH_LEN+1 bytes of available space. We
-    // need that so we can set the sentinel in the case we use all the
-    // possible length.
-    var tmp_path_buf: [TMP_PATH_LEN:0]u8 = undefined;
-    var rand_buf: [RANDOM_BYTES]u8 = undefined;
+    // we actually always have RANDOM_BASENAME_LEN+1 bytes of available
+    // space. We need that so we can set the sentinel in the case we use
+    // all the possible length.
+    var tmp_path_buf: [file.RANDOM_BASENAME_LEN:0]u8 = undefined;
 
     const dir = dir: {
         const cwd = std.fs.cwd();
-        const tmp_dir = allocTmpDir(std.heap.page_allocator) orelse break :dir cwd;
-        defer freeTmpDir(std.heap.page_allocator, tmp_dir);
+        const tmp_dir = file.allocTmpDir(std.heap.page_allocator) orelse break :dir cwd;
+        defer file.freeTmpDir(std.heap.page_allocator, tmp_dir);
         break :dir try cwd.openDir(tmp_dir, .{});
     };
 
     // We now loop forever until we can find a directory that we can create.
     while (true) {
-        std.crypto.random.bytes(rand_buf[0..]);
-        const tmp_path = b64_encoder.encode(&tmp_path_buf, &rand_buf);
+        const tmp_path = try file.randomBasename(&tmp_path_buf);
         tmp_path_buf[tmp_path.len] = 0;
 
         dir.makeDir(tmp_path) catch |err| switch (err) {
@@ -69,16 +65,9 @@ pub fn deinit(self: *TempDir) void {
         log.err("error deleting temp dir err={}", .{err});
 }
 
-// The amount of random bytes to get to determine our filename.
-const RANDOM_BYTES = 16;
-const TMP_PATH_LEN = b64_encoder.calcSize(RANDOM_BYTES);
-
-// Base64 encoder, replacing the standard `+/` with `-_` so that it can
-// be used in a file name on any filesystem.
-const b64_encoder = std.base64.Base64Encoder.init(b64_alphabet, null);
-const b64_alphabet = "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789-_".*;
-
 test {
+    const testing = std.testing;
+
     var td = try init();
     errdefer td.deinit();
 
diff --git a/src/os/file.zig b/src/os/file.zig
index dc2d9f857..eedc20841 100644
--- a/src/os/file.zig
+++ b/src/os/file.zig
@@ -79,3 +79,58 @@ pub fn freeTmpDir(allocator: std.mem.Allocator, dir: []const u8) void {
         allocator.free(dir);
     }
 }
+
+const random_basename_bytes = 16;
+const b64_encoder = std.base64.url_safe_no_pad.Encoder;
+
+pub const RandomBasenameError = error{BufferTooSmall};
+
+/// Length of the basename produced by `randomBasename`.
+pub const RANDOM_BASENAME_LEN = b64_encoder.calcSize(random_basename_bytes);
+
+/// Write a random filesystem-safe base64 basename of length
+/// `RANDOM_BASENAME_LEN` into `buf` and return a slice over the
+/// written bytes. Returns `error.BufferTooSmall` if `buf` is too
+/// short.
+pub fn randomBasename(buf: []u8) RandomBasenameError![]const u8 {
+    if (buf.len < RANDOM_BASENAME_LEN) return error.BufferTooSmall;
+    var rand_buf: [random_basename_bytes]u8 = undefined;
+    std.crypto.random.bytes(&rand_buf);
+    return b64_encoder.encode(buf[0..RANDOM_BASENAME_LEN], &rand_buf);
+}
+
+/// Return a freshly-allocated path of the form `{TMPDIR}/{prefix}{random}`.
+/// The caller owns the returned slice and must free it with `allocator`.
+///
+/// Nothing is created on disk; this only builds the path string. Useful
+/// for one-shot temporary file/socket paths where a full `TempDir` is
+/// overkill.
+pub fn randomTmpPath(
+    allocator: std.mem.Allocator,
+    prefix: []const u8,
+) std.mem.Allocator.Error![]u8 {
+    const tmp_dir = allocTmpDir(allocator) orelse "/tmp";
+    defer freeTmpDir(allocator, tmp_dir);
+    var name_buf: [RANDOM_BASENAME_LEN]u8 = undefined;
+    const basename = randomBasename(&name_buf) catch unreachable;
+    return std.fmt.allocPrint(
+        allocator,
+        "{s}{c}{s}{s}",
+        .{ tmp_dir, std.fs.path.sep, prefix, basename },
+    );
+}
+
+test randomBasename {
+    const testing = std.testing;
+
+    var buf: [RANDOM_BASENAME_LEN]u8 = undefined;
+    const name = try randomBasename(&buf);
+    try testing.expectEqual(RANDOM_BASENAME_LEN, name.len);
+    for (name) |c| {
+        const ok = std.ascii.isAlphanumeric(c) or c == '-' or c == '_';
+        try testing.expect(ok);
+    }
+
+    var small: [RANDOM_BASENAME_LEN - 1]u8 = undefined;
+    try testing.expectError(error.BufferTooSmall, randomBasename(&small));
+}
diff --git a/src/os/main.zig b/src/os/main.zig
index 2aadabac5..b30182740 100644
--- a/src/os/main.zig
+++ b/src/os/main.zig
@@ -52,6 +52,7 @@ pub const fixMaxFiles = file.fixMaxFiles;
 pub const restoreMaxFiles = file.restoreMaxFiles;
 pub const allocTmpDir = file.allocTmpDir;
 pub const freeTmpDir = file.freeTmpDir;
+pub const randomTmpPath = file.randomTmpPath;
 pub const isFlatpak = flatpak.isFlatpak;
 pub const FlatpakHostCommand = flatpak.FlatpakHostCommand;
 pub const home = homedir.home;
@@ -67,6 +68,7 @@ pub const ShellEscapeWriter = shell.ShellEscapeWriter;
 pub const getKernelInfo = kernel_info.getKernelInfo;
 
 test {
+    _ = file;
     _ = i18n;
     _ = path;
     _ = uri;