diff --git a/changelog.md b/changelog.md
index 0537b3d6a634b..abd2f8733d057 100644
--- a/changelog.md
+++ b/changelog.md
@@ -283,9 +283,12 @@
 
 - Added `hasClosure` to `std/typetraits`.
 
+- Added `std/tempfiles`.
+
 - Added `genasts.genAst` that avoids the problems inherent with `quote do` and can
   be used as a replacement.
 
+
 ## Language changes
 
 - `nimscript` now handles `except Exception as e`.
diff --git a/lib/std/tempfiles.nim b/lib/std/tempfiles.nim
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..1e1bbd403facd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/std/tempfiles.nim
@@ -0,0 +1,139 @@
+#
+#
+#            Nim's Runtime Library
+#        (c) Copyright 2021 Nim contributors
+#
+#    See the file "copying.txt", included in this
+#    distribution, for details about the copyright.
+#
+
+## This module creates temporary files and directories.
+
+import os, random
+
+
+const
+  maxRetry = 10000
+  letters = "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ0123456789"
+  nimTempPathLength {.intdefine.} = 8
+
+
+when defined(windows):
+  import winlean
+
+  var O_RDWR {.importc: "_O_RDWR", header: "<fcntl.h>".}: cint
+
+  proc c_fdopen(
+    filehandle: cint,
+    mode: cstring
+  ): File {.importc: "_fdopen",header: "<stdio.h>".}
+
+  proc open_osfhandle(osh: Handle, mode: cint): cint {.
+    importc: "_open_osfhandle", header: "<io.h>".}
+
+  proc close_osfandle(fd: cint): cint {.
+    importc: "_close", header: "<io.h>".}
+else:
+  import posix
+
+  proc c_fdopen(
+    filehandle: cint,
+    mode: cstring
+  ): File {.importc: "fdopen",header: "<stdio.h>".}
+
+
+proc safeOpen(filename: string): File =
+  ## Open files exclusively.
+  when defined(windows):
+    let dwShareMode = FILE_SHARE_DELETE or FILE_SHARE_READ or FILE_SHARE_WRITE
+    let dwCreation = CREATE_NEW
+    let dwFlags = FILE_FLAG_BACKUP_SEMANTICS or FILE_ATTRIBUTE_NORMAL
+    let handle = createFileW(newWideCString(filename), GENERIC_READ or GENERIC_WRITE, dwShareMode,
+                              nil, dwCreation, dwFlags, Handle(0))
+
+    if handle == INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE:
+      raiseOSError(osLastError(), filename)
+
+    let fileHandle = open_osfhandle(handle, O_RDWR)
+    if fileHandle == -1:
+      discard closeHandle(handle)
+      raiseOSError(osLastError(), filename)
+
+    result = c_fdopen(fileHandle, "w+")
+    if result == nil:
+      discard close_osfandle(fileHandle)
+      raiseOSError(osLastError(), filename)
+  else:
+    let flags = posix.O_RDWR or posix.O_CREAT or posix.O_EXCL
+
+    let fileHandle = posix.open(filename, flags)
+    if fileHandle == -1:
+      raiseOSError(osLastError(), filename)
+
+    result = c_fdopen(fileHandle, "w+")
+    if result == nil:
+      discard posix.close(fileHandle) # TODO handles failure when closing file
+      raiseOSError(osLastError(), filename)
+
+template randomPathName(length: Natural): string =
+  var res = newString(length)
+  var state = initRand()
+  for i in 0 ..< length:
+    res[i] = state.sample(letters)
+  res
+
+proc createTempFile*(prefix, suffix: string, dir = ""): tuple[fd: File, path: string] =
+  ## `createTempFile` creates a new temporary file in the directory `dir`.
+  ## 
+  ## If `dir` is the empty string, the default directory for temporary files
+  ## (`getTempDir <os.html#getTempDir>`_) will be used.
+  ## The temporary file name begins with `prefix` and ends with `suffix`.
+  ## `createTempFile` returns a file handle to an open file and the path of that file.
+  ## 
+  ## If failing to create a temporary file, `IOError` will be raised.
+  ##
+  ## .. note:: It is the caller's responsibility to remove the file when no longer needed.
+  ##
+  var dir = dir
+  if dir.len == 0:
+    dir = getTempDir()
+
+  createDir(dir)
+
+  for i in 0 ..< maxRetry:
+    result.path = dir / (prefix & randomPathName(nimTempPathLength) & suffix)
+    try:
+      result.fd = safeOpen(result.path)
+    except OSError:
+      continue
+    return
+
+  raise newException(IOError, "Failed to create a temporary file under directory " & dir)
+
+proc createTempDir*(prefix, suffix: string, dir = ""): string =
+  ## `createTempDir` creates a new temporary directory in the directory `dir`.
+  ##
+  ## If `dir` is the empty string, the default directory for temporary files
+  ## (`getTempDir <os.html#getTempDir>`_) will be used.
+  ## The temporary directory name begins with `prefix` and ends with `suffix`.
+  ## `createTempDir` returns the path of that temporary firectory.
+  ##
+  ## If failing to create a temporary directory, `IOError` will be raised.
+  ##
+  ## .. note:: It is the caller's responsibility to remove the directory when no longer needed.
+  ##
+  var dir = dir
+  if dir.len == 0:
+    dir = getTempDir()
+
+  createDir(dir)
+
+  for i in 0 ..< maxRetry:
+    result = dir / (prefix & randomPathName(nimTempPathLength) & suffix)
+    try:
+      if not existsOrCreateDir(result):
+        return
+    except OSError:
+      continue
+
+  raise newException(IOError, "Failed to create a temporary directory under directory " & dir)
diff --git a/tests/stdlib/ttempfiles.nim b/tests/stdlib/ttempfiles.nim
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..29ef2fb2b74c8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/stdlib/ttempfiles.nim
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+import std/[os, tempfiles]
+
+
+doAssert createTempDir("nim", "tmp") != createTempDir("nim", "tmp")
+
+block:
+  var t1 = createTempFile("nim", ".tmp")
+  var t2 = createTempFile("nim", ".tmp")
+  doAssert t1.path != t2.path
+
+  write(t1.fd, "1234")
+  doAssert readAll(t2.fd) == ""
+
+  close(t1.fd)
+  close(t2.fd)
+  removeFile(t1.path)
+  removeFile(t2.path)