diff --git a/tritonparse/common.py b/tritonparse/common.py
index 1020354..cbf6494 100644
--- a/tritonparse/common.py
+++ b/tritonparse/common.py
@@ -169,14 +169,33 @@ def copy_local_to_tmpdir(local_path: str, verbose: bool = False) -> str:
     Copy local log files to a temporary directory.
 
     Args:
-        local_path: Path to local directory containing logs
+        local_path: Path to local directory or single file containing logs
         verbose: Whether to print verbose information
 
     Returns:
         Path to temporary directory containing copied logs
+
+    Raises:
+        RuntimeError: If the local_path does not exist
     """
+    if not os.path.exists(local_path):
+        raise RuntimeError(f"Path does not exist: {local_path}")
+
     temp_dir = tempfile.mkdtemp()
 
+    # Handle single file case
+    if os.path.isfile(local_path):
+        if os.path.basename(local_path).startswith(LOG_PREFIX):
+            if verbose:
+                logger.info(f"Copying single file {local_path} to {temp_dir}")
+            shutil.copy2(local_path, temp_dir)
+        return temp_dir
+
+    # Handle directory case
+    if not os.path.isdir(local_path):
+        raise RuntimeError(
+            f"Path is neither a file nor a directory: {local_path}")
+
     for item in os.listdir(local_path):
         item_path = os.path.join(local_path, item)
         if os.path.isfile(item_path) and os.path.basename(item_path).startswith(
@@ -319,13 +338,6 @@ def save_logs(out_dir: Path, parsed_logs: str, overwrite: bool, verbose: bool) -
     if not out_dir.is_absolute():
         out_dir = out_dir.resolve()
 
-    if out_dir.exists():
-        if not overwrite:
-            raise RuntimeError(
-                f"{out_dir} already exists, pass --overwrite to overwrite"
-            )
-        shutil.rmtree(out_dir)
-
     os.makedirs(out_dir, exist_ok=True)
 
     logger.info(f"Copying parsed logs from {parsed_logs} to {out_dir}")
diff --git a/tritonparse/utils.py b/tritonparse/utils.py
index 81ddc57..c67e07a 100644
--- a/tritonparse/utils.py
+++ b/tritonparse/utils.py
@@ -66,6 +66,17 @@ def oss_parse(args):
     source = Source(args.source, verbose)
     rank_config = RankConfig.from_cli_args(args.rank, args.all_ranks, source.type)
 
+    # Check output directory early if specified
+    if args.out is not None:
+        out_dir = Path(args.out)
+        if out_dir.exists():
+            if not args.overwrite:
+                raise RuntimeError(
+                    f"{out_dir} already exists, pass --overwrite to overwrite"
+                )
+            shutil.rmtree(out_dir)
+        os.makedirs(out_dir, exist_ok=True)
+
     # For signpost logging (not implemented in Python version)
 
     if source.type == SourceType.LOCAL:
@@ -75,18 +86,8 @@ def oss_parse(args):
 
     elif source.type == SourceType.LOCAL_FILE:
         local_path = source.value
-
-        if args.out is not None:
-            out_dir = Path(args.out)
-            if out_dir.exists():
-                if not args.overwrite:
-                    raise RuntimeError(
-                        f"{out_dir} already exists, pass --overwrite to overwrite"
-                    )
-                shutil.rmtree(out_dir)
-
-            os.makedirs(out_dir, exist_ok=True)
-            return
+        # Copy the single file to a temp directory, then parse it
+        logs = copy_local_to_tmpdir(local_path, verbose)
 
     parsed_log_dir, _ = parse_logs(logs, rank_config, verbose)
     if args.out is not None: