{"meta":{"exportedAt":"2026-10-10T09:44:23.947Z","formatVersion":2,"selection":{"q":"backups","system":"","harm":"","context":"","country":"","role":"","relation":"core","evidence":"","year":"unknown","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-recursive-delete-resolved-to-windows-drive-root-dev-folder-deleted-first-person","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'A subagent (spawned via the Agent tool) ran'; 'intending to delete a stray directory literally named'; 'MSYS path translation resolved the bare backslash to the'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The author reports that a Claude Code sub-agent ran a recursive delete intended for a stray directory in the repository, and that Git Bash path translation resolved its target to the root of the current drive.","causal_attribution":"Author attributes the command to the sub-agent and the error to the model."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'in alphabetical order for ~7 minutes before being killed manually'; '(multiple projects, some with no remote backup) was deleted'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The author reports that the command deleted drive contents in alphabetical order for about seven minutes and destroyed a development folder holding several projects, some with no remote backup.","causal_attribution":"Author's account."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'Recovery succeeded via a same-day Volume Shadow Copy plus GitHub remotes; one directory created after the snapshot was permanently lost'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The author reports that most data was recovered from a same-day shadow copy and GitHub remotes and that one directory created after the snapshot was permanently lost.","causal_attribution":"Author's account."},{"id":"c4","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'When the agent realized the problem and called TaskStop on the background task, the tool reported success, but the underlying'; 'kept deleting for roughly 5 more minutes until it was killed manually by PID'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The author reports that when the agent called its stop tool, the tool reported success while the delete process kept running for about five more minutes until it was killed manually.","causal_attribution":"Author's account of the harness behaviour."},{"id":"c5","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'Model: claude-fable-5 (main session and subagent)'; 'Claude Code CLI on Windows 11 Home'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The issue records the model claude-fable-5 for the main session and the sub-agent, running the Claude Code CLI on Windows 11 Home.","causal_attribution":"Not applicable."}],"effects":[{"label":"development folder of several projects deleted from the drive root down (author's account)","claim_id":"c2","direction":"negative"},{"label":"one directory permanently lost after partial recovery from a shadow copy and remotes (author's account)","claim_id":"c3","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues/92593","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 author handle is not recorded.","independence_group":"github-claude-code-92593-author"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["own_use"],"contexts":["work"],"unknowns":["The date of the deletion; the issue was filed on 7 September 2026 and mentions a same-day shadow copy but gives no event date.","What the permanently lost directory contained.","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 recursive delete destroying a user's project folder with a permanent partial loss, 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 sub-agent chose and ran the recursive delete aimed at a stray folder, that it resolved to the drive root and deleted the development folder, and that the delete kept running after the agent's stop call reported success; the author describes the agent's error as the model's.","status":"reported"},"person_relations":["acted_on_behalf"]},"name":"First-person GitHub issue: Claude Code user reports a sub-agent's recursive delete hit the Windows drive root and destroyed a development folder","summary":"In a public GitHub issue filed on 7 September 2026, a Claude Code user on Windows reports that a sub-agent, intending to delete a stray directory inside the repository, ran a recursive delete that Git Bash path translation resolved to the root of the current drive. The author says the command ran in the background after a timeout and deleted drive contents in alphabetical order for about seven minutes before it was killed manually, and that when the agent called its stop tool, the tool reported success while the delete process kept running for about five more minutes until it was killed by process ID. Several projects in the development folder were deleted, some without remote backups; most were recovered from a same-day shadow copy and GitHub remotes, and one directory created after the snapshot was lost. The account is the author's own and is uncorroborated.","incidentKind":"single_event","incidentDatePrecision":"unknown","exposurePattern":"single_interaction","reportedDate":"2026-09-07","aiSystem":"Claude Code CLI on Windows 11 Home, a sub-agent spawned through the Agent tool running claude-fable-5 and using the Bash tool through Git 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 sub-agent's recursive delete, aimed at a stray folder, resolved to the Windows drive root and deleted their development folder of several projects; most was recovered from a shadow copy and remotes, but one directory was permanently lost (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/92593","primarySourceLabel":"GitHub issue anthropics/claude-code #92593, 7 September 2026: runaway sub-agent recursive delete on Windows kept running after TaskStop","firstPublishedAt":"2026-10-06T03:11:06.502004+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-10-06T03:11:06.502004+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["first-person","github-issue","claude-code","anthropic","ai-agent","sub-agent","data-loss","file-deletion","windows","drive-root","acted-on-behalf"]}]}