diff --git a/README.markdown b/README.markdown
index 0c207aa..3805f7f 100644
--- a/README.markdown
+++ b/README.markdown
@@ -121,7 +121,9 @@ There are no `options` for this function.
 
 Remove a directory
 
-There are no `options` for this function.
+`options` can include:
+
+ - options.recursive - (optional, default is `false`) whether to delete everything within this directory.
 
 `meta` in the response is empty.
 
diff --git a/local/localfs.js b/local/localfs.js
index ec839a1..beb2040 100644
--- a/local/localfs.js
+++ b/local/localfs.js
@@ -496,8 +496,24 @@ module.exports = function setup(fsOptions) {
   }
 
   function rmdir(path, options, callback) {
-    // TODO: add recursive delete to options?
-    remove(path, fs.rmdir, callback);
+    if (options.recursive) {
+      remove(path, function(path, callback) {
+        var rm = spawn("rm", ["-rf", path]);
+        var err = "";
+        rm.on("stderr", function(data) {
+          err += data;
+        });
+        rm.on("exit", function(code) {
+          if (code) {
+            return callback("error removing directory: " + code + " " + err.join(""));
+          }
+          callback();
+        });
+      }, callback);
+    }
+    else {
+      remove(path, fs.rmdir, callback);
+    }
   }
 
   function rmfile(path, options, callback) {