diff --git a/roles/docker/tasks/pre_deploy/nodebb.yml b/roles/docker/tasks/pre_deploy/nodebb.yml
index 664af8c..79d51db 100644
--- a/roles/docker/tasks/pre_deploy/nodebb.yml
+++ b/roles/docker/tasks/pre_deploy/nodebb.yml
@@ -1,7 +1,29 @@
 # vim: ft=yaml.ansible
 ---
+- name: Create subfolder for uploads
+  file:
+    name: "{{ services.mastodon.volume_folder }}/nodebb-uploads"
+    state: directory
+    owner: root
+    mode: u=rwx,g=rx,o=rx
+
+- name: Create subfolder for config
+  file:
+    name: "{{ services.mastodon.volume_folder }}/nodebb-config"
+    state: directory
+    owner: root
+    mode: u=rwx,g=rx,o=rx
+
+- name: Create subfolder for MongoDB
+  file:
+    name: "{{ services.mastodon.volume_folder }}/mongodb"
+    state: directory
+    owner: root
+    mode: u=rwx,g=rx,o=rx
+
 - name: Upload setup.json
   template:
     src: nodebb/setup.json.j2
     dest: "{{ services.nodebb.volume_folder }}/setup.json"
-# should we create directories?!
+    owner: root
+    mode: u=rw,g=r,o=r