diff --git a/src/storage.ts b/src/storage.ts
index aa95859..da2b87b 100644
--- a/src/storage.ts
+++ b/src/storage.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import { readFileSync, readdirSync, rmSync, statSync, writeFileSync } from 'node:fs'
+import { readFileSync, rmSync, writeFileSync } from 'node:fs'
 import { join } from 'node:path'
 import { env } from 'node:process'
 import * as vscode from 'vscode'
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ import { traceData } from '../shared/src/traceData'
 import { getCurrentConfig } from './configuration'
 import { log } from './logger'
 import { state } from './appState'
+import { getTraceFilesToDelete } from './traceFileDeletion'
 
 export function getProjectName(): string {
   if (state.projectName.value)
@@ -137,18 +138,6 @@ function simpleHash(str: string) {
 
 export async function deleteTraceFiles(fileName: string, dirName?: string) {
   const deleteDirName = dirName ?? await getTraceDir()
-  if (fileName === '*') {
-    const files = readdirSync(deleteDirName)
-    for (const file of files) {
-      if (!file.endsWith('.json'))
-        continue
-      const stat = statSync(file)
-      if (stat.isFile()) {
-        rmSync(join(deleteDirName, file))
-      }
-    }
-  }
-  else if (fileName.endsWith('.json')) {
-    rmSync(join(deleteDirName, fileName))
-  }
+  for (const filePath of getTraceFilesToDelete(deleteDirName, fileName))
+    rmSync(filePath)
 }
diff --git a/src/traceFileDeletion.ts b/src/traceFileDeletion.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..715171c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/traceFileDeletion.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+import { readdirSync, statSync } from 'node:fs'
+import { join } from 'node:path'
+
+export function getTraceFilesToDelete(dirName: string, fileName: string): string[] {
+  if (fileName === '*') {
+    return readdirSync(dirName)
+      .map(file => join(dirName, file))
+      .filter(filePath => statSync(filePath).isFile() && filePath.endsWith('.json'))
+  }
+
+  if (fileName.endsWith('.json'))
+    return [join(dirName, fileName)]
+
+  return []
+}
diff --git a/test/trace-file-deletion.test.ts b/test/trace-file-deletion.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e65134f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/trace-file-deletion.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+import { mkdirSync, mkdtempSync, readFileSync, rmSync, writeFileSync } from 'node:fs'
+import { tmpdir } from 'node:os'
+import { join } from 'node:path'
+import { afterEach, describe, expect, it } from 'vitest'
+import { getTraceFilesToDelete } from '../src/traceFileDeletion'
+
+const tempRoots: string[] = []
+
+afterEach(() => {
+  while (tempRoots.length) {
+    const root = tempRoots.pop()
+    if (root)
+      rmSync(root, { recursive: true, force: true })
+  }
+})
+
+describe('getTraceFilesToDelete', () => {
+  it('returns absolute json files in the target directory', () => {
+    const root = mkdtempSync(join(tmpdir(), 'tsperf-tracer-delete-'))
+    tempRoots.push(root)
+
+    const traceDir = join(root, 'traces')
+    mkdirSync(traceDir, { recursive: true })
+
+    const jsonFile = join(traceDir, 'trace.json')
+    const txtFile = join(traceDir, 'notes.txt')
+    const nestedDir = join(traceDir, 'nested')
+    mkdirSync(nestedDir)
+    const nestedJson = join(nestedDir, 'nested.json')
+
+    writeFileSync(jsonFile, '{}')
+    writeFileSync(txtFile, 'keep')
+    writeFileSync(nestedJson, '{}')
+
+    expect(getTraceFilesToDelete(traceDir, '*')).toEqual([jsonFile])
+    expect(readFileSync(jsonFile, 'utf8')).toBe('{}')
+    expect(readFileSync(txtFile, 'utf8')).toBe('keep')
+    expect(readFileSync(nestedJson, 'utf8')).toBe('{}')
+  })
+
+  it('returns a single absolute json path for direct deletion', () => {
+    const root = mkdtempSync(join(tmpdir(), 'tsperf-tracer-delete-one-'))
+    tempRoots.push(root)
+
+    const traceDir = join(root, 'traces')
+    mkdirSync(traceDir, { recursive: true })
+    const jsonFile = join(traceDir, 'trace.json')
+    writeFileSync(jsonFile, '{}')
+
+    expect(getTraceFilesToDelete(traceDir, 'trace.json')).toEqual([jsonFile])
+  })
+})