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Low reported severity Media Coverage

Heritage project reports loss of inscription records after a Claude Code command

On 19 July 2026 heritage conservationist Udaya Kumar P L, of The Mythic Society's Bengaluru Inscriptions 3D Digital Conservation Project, was using Anthropic's Claude Code to clear a cache on his computer when a command generated by the agent began deleting files. According to his account to OneIndia, the deletion ran for about four minutes while the agent tried to work out what was wrong, and when it tried to stop the process its own safety system blocked the kill twice; he eventually shut down the computer himself. Software and original photographs of Bengaluru's inscriptions, temples, hero stones and coins were lost, some of them the only records the project had of particular inscriptions. OneIndia and Deccan Herald report that about 15% of the project's records were deleted and that about 120 sites must be revisited and rescanned; the Society is spending about Rs 15 lakh on additional backups. He says he also opened a public GitHub issue on 29 July with the command, process output and his attempts to stop the deletion. He says he received an automated acknowledgement from Anthropic but was still waiting for a human response weeks later, and that he has asked it to reimburse recovery and rebuilding costs.

AI system
Claude Code
Anthropic
Occurred
19 Jul 2026
Reported
1 September 2026
Event location
India
What the AI did
Acted on the person’s behalf
Reported harm
Property LossFinancial LossOther Material Harm
Whose AI use
Their own AI use
Setting
Work · Everyday life
Evidence
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 3 sources, 1 underlying account
6 claims: 6 reported. 4 open questions
People reported harmed
At least 1 person

AI system as recorded: Claude Code (Anthropic), an AI coding agent that Udaya was using on his computer to clear a cache (OneIndia); the model is not stated in the news reports

What Happened

The Mythic Society launched the Bengaluru Inscriptions 3D Digital Conservation Project in 2021 to document inscriptions and other historical records at risk of damage. OneIndia reports that on 19 July 2026 Udaya was using Claude Code to clear a cache when 'a mistake in a command generated by the AI' began deleting files; he says the AI kept deleting for about four minutes while it tried to understand what was happening, and that when it tried to kill the process 'its own safety system blocked the kill. Twice.' By the time he shut the system down, several software programmes and original photographs collected over years had been lost, including photographs of an inscription with an early form of the name Hebbal (about 750 CE) and one recording Nekkundi, the old name of Doddanekkundi (about 1304 CE). OneIndia says some photographs were the only records the project had of certain inscriptions, and that data on the project's NAS was safe. A GitHub issue on Anthropic's Claude Code repository, filed on 29 July 2026 about an incident on 19 July, has details that match Udaya's account (cache clearing, about four minutes of deletion, two blocked kill attempts, emails to Anthropic's support and user-safety addresses), but it names neither the Society nor Udaya and no read source identifies it as his. It says the agent built a command to clear an application cache whose inner variable was expanded by the outer shell, so that the command actually run removed everything from the root directory; the process ran detached, deleted the WSL distribution including a live production database and web services, and through the mounted drives permanently erased large parts of a Windows drive across several unrelated projects; recovery tools found the files zeroed. It says the classifier denied a targeted kill and a WSL terminate, and that deletion continued until the user shut WSL down. OneIndia, by contrast, describes the loss as software and photographs and reports that the project's NAS data was safe. The 15% figure and the count of about 120 sites come from Deccan Herald and OneIndia, and OneIndia attributes the same figures to the Manuscripts and Inscriptions Digitisation Foundation.

Reported harm

A Claude Code command run for a cache clean-up deleted about 15% of a heritage project's digitised inscription records, some of them unique, so volunteers must revisit about 120 sites; the Society is spending about Rs 15 lakh on backups, and the user has asked Anthropic to reimburse recovery and rebuilding costs (the user's account to OneIndia and Deccan Herald; not independently verified).

Outcome

Ongoing

Reported by Deccan Herald (1 September 2026, premium article; headline and standfirst read) and OneIndia (4 September 2026), and discussed on Hacker News. Udaya says he reported the incident to Anthropic the same night, sent a reminder on 21 July, contacted its user safety team on 28 July, posted on Discord, filed an in-product bug report and opened a public GitHub issue on 29 July, and says he received an automated acknowledgement within two minutes but was still waiting for a response from a human representative weeks later; he has asked Anthropic to reimburse recovery and rebuilding costs and says he could approach a consumer forum under India's Consumer Protection Act. The Society is buying another NAS device and planning offsite tape backups. The Manuscripts and Inscriptions Digitisation Foundation cited the loss in calling for shared repositories. No response from Anthropic is reported.

What remains unknown

  • Whether Anthropic has responded or reimbursed any costs.
  • How much of the lost material was later recovered from other copies.
  • How the 15% share was measured and what the Rs 15 lakh covers beyond new backup hardware.
  • The content of the Deccan Herald article body behind its paywall.

What the evidence supports

AI involvement: reported. Udaya told OneIndia that a command generated by Claude Code, which he was using to clear a cache, deleted the files and that the agent's own safety system blocked it from killing the process. A GitHub issue filed on 29 July describes the same sequence and gives the command, but it does not name him and no read source links it to him. Anthropic has not publicly confirmed or disputed the account.

6 claims: 6 reported. What the statuses mean

Reported On 19 July 2026 Udaya Kumar P L was using Claude Code to clear a cache on his computer when a command generated by the agent began deleting files; software and original photographs of Bengaluru inscriptions, temples, hero stones and coins collected for The Mythic Society's project were lost, and some photographs were the project's only records of particular inscriptions.

Causal attribution. Udaya's account to OneIndia. Not independently verified. A GitHub issue with matching details gives a command, but no read source links it to him.

  • oneindia.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'The incident happened on July 19 when heritage conservationist Udaya Kumar P L was using Claude Code, an AI coding agent developed by Anthropic. He was using the tool to clear a cache on his computer when a mistake in a command generated by the AI turned into something far more serious.'; 'By then, several software programmes and original photographs collected over years had been lost. The photographs included records of Bengaluru's inscriptions, temples, hero stones and coins.'; 'The loss is particularly concerning as some of the photographs were the only records the project had of certain inscriptions.'
  • deccanherald.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    Headline: 'When Claude Code went rogue, years of Bengaluru heritage work disappeared'
Reported The deletion continued for about four minutes while the agent tried to understand what was wrong; when it tried to kill the process, its safety system blocked the kill twice, and the user had to stop the system himself.

Causal attribution. Udaya's account to OneIndia.

  • oneindia.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'According to Udaya, the AI continued deleting files for about four minutes while it tried to figure out what was going wrong.'; '"When it finally understood and tried to kill the process, its own safety system blocked the kill. Twice," Udaya said. He eventually had to shut down the computer himself.'
  • github.com(opens in new tab) context · English
    'It also ran **detached in the background**, so it kept deleting for ~4 minutes while the agent was still diagnosing the missing files.'; 'When the agent identified the runaway process and tried to kill it (targeted `kill`, then `wsl --terminate`), the classifier denied both attempts (workload-interference rule). The deletion continued until I manually ran `wsl --shutdown`.'
Reported About 15% of the project's digitised inscription records were deleted, and about 120 sites in Bengaluru must be revisited and rescanned.

Causal attribution. Figures reported by OneIndia and Deccan Herald from the project's account; OneIndia also attributes them to the Manuscripts and Inscriptions Digitisation Foundation.

  • oneindia.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'an AI coding tool accidentally deleted around 15 per cent of the records collected by a heritage conservation project.'; 'Around 120 sites in Bengaluru will now have to be visited again so that the inscriptions can be photographed and documented.'
  • deccanherald.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    Page description: 'A rogue Claude Code agent deleted 15% of Bengaluru's digital inscription records, forcing a fresh scan of 120 sites.'
Reported The Mythic Society is spending about Rs 15 lakh on additional backup systems, and Udaya has asked Anthropic to reimburse recovery and rebuilding costs.

Causal attribution. The Society's and Udaya's account.

  • oneindia.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'The organisation is spending around Rs 15 lakh on additional backup systems.'; 'Udaya said he had asked the company to reimburse expenses related to data recovery and rebuilding the systems'
  • deccanherald.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    Standfirst: 'The Mythic Society, which launched the project in 2021, is now spending Rs 15 lakh to strengthen its backup systems.'
Reported A public GitHub issue on the Claude Code repository, filed on 29 July 2026 about an incident on 19 July 2026, describes a cache-clearing command whose deletion ran for about four minutes and two denied kill attempts. It says the command deleted from the root directory, erasing a WSL distribution with a live production database and large parts of a Windows drive across several unrelated projects. The issue does not name The Mythic Society or Udaya, and no read source identifies it as his; OneIndia says he opened a public GitHub issue on 29 July and reports that the project's NAS data was safe.

Causal attribution. The issue author's technical account. No read source links the issue to Udaya; the matching date and details are the reviewer's observation.

  • github.com(opens in new tab) context · English
    'It deleted the WSL distro (including a live production database and web services) and, via the writable `/mnt/c` and `/mnt/d` drvfs mounts, reached the host Windows drives — permanently erasing large parts of D: across multiple unrelated projects.'
  • oneindia.com(opens in new tab) context · English
    'Udaya said the data stored on the project's Network-Attached Storage (NAS) system was safe, but another NAS device has now been ordered.'
  • oneindia.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'He also opened a public GitHub issue on July 29, where he shared the technical details, including the command, process output and the attempts to stop the deletion.'
Reported Udaya says he reported the incident to Anthropic the same night and through several further channels, and received an automated acknowledgement within two minutes but was still waiting for a human response weeks later.

Causal attribution. Udaya's account; no Anthropic statement is reported.

  • oneindia.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'Udaya said he reported the incident to Anthropic on the same night'; 'According to Udaya, he received an automated acknowledgement within two minutes but was still waiting for a response from a human representative weeks later.'
  • github.com(opens in new tab) context · English
    'opened 19 July; **no human response in 10 days** despite three emails to support@ and usersafety@.'

Sources

3 sources inspected, from 1 underlying account. Sources that repeat one account do not corroborate each other.

How the sources were read, and where the events happened

Full body read on 2026-09-29 from an Internet Archive capture (the live URL returned 404 to curl). OneIndia Staff (Madhuri Adnal), updated 4 September 2026. Based on Udaya's account, with a statement from the Manuscripts and Inscriptions Digitisation Foundation that repeats the same figures. Applies to s1.

Deccan Herald premium article by Barkha Kumari, last updated 1 September 2026. Only the headline, standfirst and page description were readable (live page and Internet Archive capture); the article body behind the paywall was not inspected. Grouped with OneIndia because both rest on Udaya's account. Applies to s2.

GitHub issue filed 29 July 2026, read in full with comments via the gh CLI on 2026-09-29. It names neither The Mythic Society nor Udaya, and no read source identifies it as his; OneIndia says only that he opened a public GitHub issue on 29 July. Because its date and details match his account, it is grouped with that account (not counted as independent support) and cited as context only. Applies to s3.

Event countries: India. Affected-person countries: India. Court countries: Unknown.

OneIndia and Deccan Herald describe the loss of records of a Bengaluru heritage conservation project run by The Mythic Society, with about 120 Bengaluru sites to be rescanned, and quote Udaya. Where the computer was located is not stated beyond this.

Reviewed for publication 2026-09-29: Published as a consequential coding-agent action on a user's behalf with reported loss of irreplaceable heritage records and rebuilding costs. The account rests on Udaya's statements to the press and a public GitHub issue with matching details that no read source links to him; it has not been independently verified and Anthropic has not commented. Udaya spoke publicly under his name; no volunteer is identified.

People described

Udaya Kumar P L, a heritage conservationist working on The Mythic Society's Bengaluru Inscriptions 3D Digital Conservation Project, who ran the agent and spoke publicly about the loss; the project's volunteers, who must revisit about 120 sites, are described but not counted

People reported harmed in this case

At least 1 person

1 AI participant · 0 other people harmed

Additional affected people are described without a reliable count.

One counted person: Udaya Kumar P L, who ran the agent and whose project records were lost (OneIndia). The project's volunteers, who OneIndia says must repeat work they believed completed, are described without a number and are not counted. The Mythic Society is an organisation and is not counted as a person. Partial: 1 counted plus unquantified volunteers.

Counted once within this case. The same person may appear in other cases. This count does not establish AI causation.

Tags

#claude-code#anthropic#coding-agent#data-loss#file-deletion#heritage#bengaluru

Cite this case

Compiled per our published methodology: verification statuses, sourcing standards, and corrections process.

APA

NOPE. (2026). Heritage project reports loss of inscription records after a Claude Code command. AI incidents. https://nope.net/incidents/2026-bengaluru-mythic-society-claude-code-deleted-inscription-records

BibTeX

@misc{2026_bengaluru_mythic_society_claude_code_deleted_inscription_records,
  title = {Heritage project reports loss of inscription records after a Claude Code command},
  author = {NOPE},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {AI incidents},
  url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2026-bengaluru-mythic-society-claude-code-deleted-inscription-records}
}

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