{"meta":{"exportedAt":"2026-10-06T06:03:58.524Z","formatVersion":2,"selection":{"q":"auto-mode","system":"","harm":"","context":"","country":"","role":"","relation":"","evidence":"","year":"","response":"","severity":"","verification":"","view":"incidents","sort":"added"},"totalIncidents":1,"coverage":{"cases":1,"countries":0,"languages":1,"unknownLocation":1,"locationPending":0,"unknownLanguage":0,"unknownDate":1,"lawsuits":0,"regulatory":0,"minors":0,"coreRelations":1,"contextualRelations":0,"mixedRelations":0,"unknownRelations":0,"relationPending":0,"relationUnknown":0},"countingNote":"Distinct public cases in this selection. People counts apply within individual cases only; cross-case person overlap has not been resolved. No population incidence estimate.","affectedCountNote":"Interpret person counts with affectedCountStatus and the reported effects. Unquantified zeros are placeholders, not a measured zero.","source":"AI incidents","publisher":"NOPE","url":"https://nope.net/incidents","license":"CC BY 4.0"},"incidents":[{"id":"2026-claude-code-sub-agent-auto-mode-recursive-delete-wiped-windows-drive-root-about-125-gb-first-person","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'a background subagent (auto mode, Claude Code desktop app) passed a bash script to MSYS2 inside a PowerShell double-quoted string'; 'meant to delete a temporary folder'; 'which MSYS2 treats as the root of the current drive'; 'Auto mode approved the command'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The author reports that a background Claude Code sub-agent in auto mode passed a bash script inside a PowerShell string whose last step was meant to delete a temporary folder, and that bash instead received a recursive delete of the drive root, which auto mode approved.","causal_attribution":"Author attributes the script and the command to the sub-agent."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'It deleted everything the user could delete from C:\\ in alphabetical order, until stopped about two minutes later'; 'about 125 GB of personal and project folders at the drive root'; 'the whole working project'; 'files inside several installed programs (Adobe, Epic Games/Unreal, AMD and others)'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The author reports that the command deleted files from C: in alphabetical order for about two minutes, including about 125 GB of personal and project folders, the whole working project and files inside several installed programs.","causal_attribution":"Author's account."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'Nothing went to the Recycle Bin'; 'Recovery was only possible from a Windows shadow copy taken nine hours earlier'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The author reports that nothing went to the Recycle Bin and that recovery was only possible from a Windows shadow copy taken nine hours earlier.","causal_attribution":"Author's account."},{"id":"c4","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'CLAUDE MODEL Opus 5.5 (a general-purpose subagent in the background)'; 'Windows 11 Pro 10.0.26200'; '2.9939.2'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The issue records the Claude Code desktop app version 2.9939.2 and the model Opus 5.5 running as a general-purpose sub-agent in the background on Windows 11 Pro.","causal_attribution":"Not applicable."}],"effects":[{"label":"about 125 GB of personal and project folders, the working project and installed-program files deleted (author's account)","claim_id":"c2","direction":"negative"},{"label":"recovery possible only from a shadow copy taken nine hours earlier (author's account)","claim_id":"c3","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues/97660","kind":"first_person_account","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read in English on 2026-10-06: full issue body retrieved through the GitHub API; the issue had no comments. The transcripts and output log offered on request were not retrieved. The author handle is not recorded.","independence_group":"github-claude-code-97660-author"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["own_use"],"contexts":["work"],"unknowns":["The date of the deletion; the issue was filed on 27 September 2026 and gives no event date.","How much of the deleted data and installed software was restored from the shadow copy, and what changes after it were lost.","Whether Anthropic has confirmed or responded to the report.","Where the author lives."],"geography":{"basis":"The issue does not say where the author was or lives; no country is recorded.","court_countries":[],"event_countries":[],"affected_person_countries":[]},"publication":{"basis":"Published under the charter's public first-person rule as a concrete account of an AI coding agent's own cleanup command deleting a user's files and programs after automatic approval, described with attribution and without corroboration. The author's handle is not recorded.","reviewed_on":"2026-10-06"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"The author states that a Claude Code background sub-agent wrote and ran the PowerShell-wrapped bash script whose cleanup step became a recursive delete of the drive root, that auto mode approved it, and attributes the deletions to it, quoting the command output. The transcripts were not examined.","status":"reported"},"person_relations":["acted_on_behalf"]},"name":"First-person GitHub issue: Claude Code user reports an auto-mode sub-agent turned a temp-folder cleanup into a delete of the Windows drive root (about 125 GB)","summary":"In a public GitHub issue filed on 27 September 2026, a Claude Code desktop app user on Windows reports that a background sub-agent running in auto mode passed a bash script inside a PowerShell string, meaning to delete a temporary folder. Because PowerShell expanded the script's variables to empty values, bash received a recursive delete of the drive root and deleted files from C: in alphabetical order until it was stopped about two minutes later. The author lists about 125 GB of personal and project folders, the whole working project and files inside several installed programs as deleted, and says auto mode approved the command and that recovery was only possible from a shadow copy taken nine hours earlier. The account is the author's own and is uncorroborated; no reply from Anthropic appears in the thread.","incidentKind":"single_event","incidentDatePrecision":"unknown","exposurePattern":"single_interaction","reportedDate":"2026-09-27","aiSystem":"Claude Code desktop app 2.9939.2 (Code tab), a general-purpose background sub-agent running Opus 5.5 in auto mode on Windows 11 Pro, using the PowerShell tool to call MSYS2 bash, per the issue","aiProduct":"Claude Code","aiCompany":"Anthropic","severity":"low","verificationStatus":"unverified","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["property_loss","other_material_harm"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"The author reports that a Claude Code background sub-agent, approved by auto mode, ran a recursive delete that wiped about 125 GB of personal and project folders, their working project and parts of installed programs from a Windows drive, recoverable only from a nine-hour-old shadow copy (first-person account, uncorroborated).","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"alleged","participantUsersAffectedMin":1,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":0,"affectedCountStatus":"exact","affectedCountEvidence":"One person: the issue's author. Exact 1.","victimAgeRange":"unknown","jurisdiction":"unknown","platformType":"agent","outcomeStatus":"ongoing","primarySourceUrl":"https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues/97660","primarySourceLabel":"GitHub issue anthropics/claude-code #97660, 27 September 2026: sub-agent recursive delete via PowerShell and MSYS2 wiped the C: drive top-down","firstPublishedAt":"2026-10-06T03:11:02.761476+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-10-06T03:11:02.761476+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["first-person","github-issue","claude-code","anthropic","ai-agent","sub-agent","auto-mode","data-loss","file-deletion","windows","drive-root","acted-on-behalf"]}]}