{"meta":{"exportedAt":"2026-09-30T06:25:44.346Z","formatVersion":2,"selection":{"q":"file-deletion","system":"","harm":"","context":"","country":"","role":"","relation":"","evidence":"","year":"","response":"","severity":"","verification":"","view":"incidents","sort":"added"},"totalIncidents":3,"coverage":{"cases":3,"countries":1,"languages":1,"unknownLocation":2,"locationPending":0,"unknownLanguage":0,"unknownDate":0,"lawsuits":0,"regulatory":0,"minors":0,"coreRelations":3,"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-gpt-5-6-sol-agent-deleted-shumer-mac-home-directory","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'GPT-5.6-Sol just accidentally deleted almost ALL of my Mac’s files.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'Three days ago, GPT-5.6 deleted my Mac’s home directory.'; 'It absolutely sucked.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"'wrote Matt Shumer, the founder and CEO of AI startup OthersideAI, maker of HyperWrite, in a now viral post on X.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"On 10 July 2026 Matt Shumer, founder and chief executive of the AI start-up OthersideAI, posted on X that OpenAI's GPT-5.6 Sol had just accidentally deleted almost all of the files on his Mac; three days later he wrote that GPT-5.6 had deleted his Mac's home directory and that it \"absolutely sucked\".","causal_attribution":"Shumer's own posts; TechCrunch relays them."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'a sub-agent on a cleanup task expanded $HOME incorrectly and ran rm -rf /Users/mattsdevbox. He was testing Ultra mode, a high-autonomy multi-agent configuration, at OpenAI’s invitation. He caught the process mid-run; material deletion had already occurred.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s6"},{"locator":"'The OpenAI team reached out privately and asked him to test \"Ultra mode\"'; 'Shumer accepted and granted the local agent Full Access to his machine.'; 'One hour and twenty-one minutes into the session, he noticed something was wrong. By the time he killed the process, most of his home directory's contents were gone.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s5"}],"assertion":"According to accounts of Shumer's post-mortem, he was testing a high-autonomy multi-agent \"Ultra mode\" at OpenAI's invitation with the agent given Full Access to his machine; during a cleanup task a sub-agent expanded $HOME incorrectly and ran a recursive delete of his home directory, he noticed a problem about 81 minutes into the session, and by the time he stopped the process most of the directory's contents were gone.","causal_attribution":"Shumer's account as summarised by a technical blog and TechTimes; the original post-mortem was not read."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'OpenAI has confirmed reports that GPT-5.6 has deleted users' files without authorization but insists these rare erasures represent an \"honest mistake.\"'; 'an internal inquiry into file deletion claims found that when GPT-5.6 unexpectedly deleted files, the model is usually configured in Full-Access mode'; '\"The model attempts to override the $HOME env var to define a temporary directory,\" said Sottiaux. \"The model makes an honest mistake and mistakenly deletes $HOME instead.\"'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s4"}],"assertion":"OpenAI confirmed that GPT-5.6 had deleted users' files without authorisation; its Codex engineering lead said an internal inquiry found the model usually ran in Full-Access mode without sandboxing when this happened and that the model \"mistakenly deletes $HOME\" when trying to override the variable to define a temporary directory.","causal_attribution":"OpenAI's statement as reported by The Register; it is general and does not name Shumer's case."},{"id":"c4","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'But so many OpenAI folks reached out, and @gdb called me and offered to do anything he could to help.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"'As of this writing, Shumer is using agents to attempt recovery of the deleted files.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s5"}],"assertion":"Shumer said OpenAI staff reached out and that Greg Brockman called him and offered help; TechTimes reported that he was using agents to try to recover the files, and no report inspected says whether they were recovered.","causal_attribution":"Shumer's post and TechTimes."}],"effects":[{"label":"most of the user's Mac home directory was deleted by the coding agent during a cleanup task","claim_id":"c1","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://x.com/mattshumer_/status/2075657271401390161","kind":"first_person_account","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Shumer's X post of 10 July 2026 (19:03 UTC), read on 2026-09-29 as JSON through the api.fxtwitter.com mirror of the status; x.com itself was not fetched.","independence_group":"shumer-account"},{"id":"s2","url":"https://x.com/mattshumer_/status/2076794038456385546","kind":"first_person_account","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Shumer's follow-up X post of 13 July 2026 (22:20 UTC), quoting s1; read through the api.fxtwitter.com mirror on 2026-09-29.","independence_group":"shumer-account"},{"id":"s3","url":"https://techcrunch.com/2026/07/14/openais-new-flagship-model-deletes-files-on-its-own-people-keep-warning/","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Full body read by curl on 2026-09-29. For the deletion itself TechCrunch relays Shumer's X post and is grouped with it.","independence_group":"shumer-account"},{"id":"s4","url":"https://www.theregister.com/ai-and-ml/2026/07/16/openai-admits-gpt-56-occasionally-deletes-files-but-its-an-honest-mistake/5274008","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Full body read by curl on 2026-09-29. Carries a statement attributed to Thibault Sottiaux, OpenAI engineering lead for Codex, about the company's inquiry; the statement itself was not read at its origin.","independence_group":"register-openai"},{"id":"s5","url":"https://www.techtimes.com/articles/320267/20260712/gpt-56-sols-shell-bug-wiped-mac-openai-had-flagged-risk-16-days-earlier.htm","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Full body read by curl on 2026-09-29. Its incident narrative is attributed to Shumer's account and posts, so it is grouped with them.","independence_group":"shumer-account"},{"id":"s6","url":"https://paddo.dev/blog/the-warning-was-in-the-manual/","kind":"blog","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Personal technical blog read by curl on 2026-09-29; it summarises the victims' own post-mortems, which were not read at their origin.","independence_group":"shumer-account"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["own_use"],"contexts":["work","everyday_life"],"unknowns":["Whether the deleted files were recovered.","Exactly what data was lost and whether any belonged to other people.","Whether OpenAI's inquiry examined this specific session."],"geography":{"basis":"No inspected source says where Shumer or his machine was located.","court_countries":[],"event_countries":[],"affected_person_countries":[]},"publication":{"basis":"Published as a concrete first-person account of an AI coding agent deleting a user's files, with the developer's general confirmation of the behaviour. The mechanism rests on secondary summaries of the user's post-mortem.","reviewed_on":"2026-09-29"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"Shumer attributes the deletion to GPT-5.6 Sol in his own posts; OpenAI confirmed, as reported by The Register, that the model had deleted users' files without authorisation and described the $HOME error, without naming his case.","status":"supported"},"person_relations":["acted_on_behalf"]},"name":"OpenAI's GPT-5.6 Sol coding agent, run in a high-autonomy mode with full access, deleted most of the Mac home directory of AI entrepreneur Matt Shumer (10 July 2026)","summary":"On 10 July 2026 Matt Shumer, founder and chief executive of the AI start-up OthersideAI, posted on X that OpenAI's newly released GPT-5.6 Sol \"just accidentally deleted almost ALL of my Mac’s files\". Accounts of his post-mortem say he was testing a high-autonomy multi-agent \"Ultra mode\" at OpenAI's invitation, with the Codex agent given Full Access to his machine; during a cleanup task a sub-agent expanded $HOME incorrectly and ran a recursive delete of his home directory, he noticed a problem about 81 minutes into the session, and by the time he stopped the process most of its contents were gone. Three days later he wrote that the deletion \"absolutely sucked\" and that OpenAI staff, including Greg Brockman, had contacted him to help. OpenAI confirmed, as reported by The Register, that GPT-5.6 had deleted users' files without authorisation, describing it as an \"honest mistake\" that usually occurred in Full-Access mode without sandboxing, and said it was adding safeguards. Whether the files were recovered is not reported.","incidentDate":"2026-07-10","incidentKind":"single_event","incidentDatePrecision":"day","exposurePattern":"single_interaction","reportedDate":"2026-07-10","aiSystem":"GPT-5.6 Sol running as the Codex coding agent in \"Ultra mode\" (multiple sub-agents) with Full Access to the user's Mac","aiProduct":"Codex coding agent","aiCompany":"OpenAI","severity":"low","verificationStatus":"credible","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["property_loss"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"Most of the contents of Shumer's Mac home directory were deleted by the GPT-5.6 Sol agent during a cleanup task, according to his own posts and accounts of his post-mortem; OpenAI confirmed that the model had deleted users' files without authorisation. Recovery is not reported.","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"supported","participantUsersAffectedMin":1,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":0,"affectedCountStatus":"exact","affectedCountEvidence":"Shumer, whose home directory was deleted (1 participant user). No other person is reported harmed.","victimAgeRange":"adult","platformType":"agent","outcomeType":"media_coverage","outcomeStatus":"unknown","primarySourceUrl":"https://www.theregister.com/ai-and-ml/2026/07/16/openai-admits-gpt-56-occasionally-deletes-files-but-its-an-honest-mistake/5274008","primarySourceLabel":"The Register, 16 July 2026: OpenAI admits GPT-5.6 occasionally deletes files","firstPublishedAt":"2026-09-29T09:10:46.288079+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-09-30T01:17:38.109125+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["openai","gpt-5-6","codex","coding-agent","data-loss","file-deletion","first-person","acted-on-behalf"]},{"id":"2026-bengaluru-mythic-society-claude-code-deleted-inscription-records","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'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.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"Headline: 'When Claude Code went rogue, years of Bengaluru heritage work disappeared'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"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."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'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.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'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`.'","relation":"context","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"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."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'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.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"Page description: 'A rogue Claude Code agent deleted 15% of Bengaluru's digital inscription records, forcing a fresh scan of 120 sites.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"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."},{"id":"c4","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'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'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"Standfirst: 'The Mythic Society, which launched the project in 2021, is now spending Rs 15 lakh to strengthen its backup systems.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"}],"assertion":"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."},{"id":"c5","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'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.'","relation":"context","source_id":"s3"},{"locator":"'Udaya said the data stored on the project's Network-Attached Storage (NAS) system was safe, but another NAS device has now been ordered.'","relation":"context","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'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.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"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."},{"id":"c6","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'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.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'opened 19 July; **no human response in 10 days** despite three emails to support@ and usersafety@.'","relation":"context","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"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."}],"effects":[{"label":"a Claude Code command run to clear a cache deleted software and original photographs from the heritage project, some the only records of particular inscriptions","claim_id":"c1","direction":"negative"},{"label":"about 15% of the project's records were lost and about 120 sites must be revisited and rescanned","claim_id":"c3","direction":"negative"},{"label":"the Society is spending about Rs 15 lakh on additional backup systems, and the user has sought reimbursement from Anthropic","claim_id":"c4","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://www.oneindia.com/bengaluru/claude-code-error-deletes-15-of-bengaluru-heritage-records-in-one-command-mythic-society-to-rescan-8195653.html","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"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.","independence_group":"udaya-account"},{"id":"s2","url":"https://www.deccanherald.com/india/karnataka/bengaluru/claude-code-deletes-15-of-bengaluru-inscriptions-project-records-4131958","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"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.","independence_group":"udaya-account"},{"id":"s3","url":"https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues/82165","kind":"first_person_account","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"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.","independence_group":"udaya-account"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["own_use"],"contexts":["work","everyday_life"],"unknowns":["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."],"geography":{"basis":"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.","court_countries":[],"event_countries":["IN"],"affected_person_countries":["IN"]},"publication":{"basis":"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.","reviewed_on":"2026-09-29"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"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.","status":"reported"},"person_relations":["acted_on_behalf"]},"name":"Bengaluru: a Claude Code cache-clearing command deleted about 15% of The Mythic Society's digitised inscription records, including photographs that were the only record of some inscriptions; about 120 sites must be rescanned","summary":"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.","incidentDate":"2026-07-19","incidentKind":"single_event","incidentDatePrecision":"day","exposurePattern":"single_interaction","reportedDate":"2026-09-01","aiSystem":"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","aiProduct":"Claude Code","aiCompany":"Anthropic","severity":"low","verificationStatus":"credible","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["property_loss","financial_loss","other_material_harm"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"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).","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"alleged","participantUsersAffectedMin":1,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":0,"affectedCountStatus":"partial","affectedCountEvidence":"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.","victimAgeRange":"adult","jurisdiction":"IN-KA","platformType":"agent","outcomeType":"media_coverage","outcomeStatus":"ongoing","primarySourceUrl":"https://www.oneindia.com/bengaluru/claude-code-error-deletes-15-of-bengaluru-heritage-records-in-one-command-mythic-society-to-rescan-8195653.html","primarySourceLabel":"OneIndia, 4 September 2026: Claude Code Error Deletes 15% Of Bengaluru Heritage Records In One Command, Mythic Society To Rescan 120 Sites","firstPublishedAt":"2026-09-29T09:09:00.711883+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-09-30T01:17:28.010966+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["claude-code","anthropic","coding-agent","data-loss","file-deletion","heritage","bengaluru","own-use","acted-on-behalf"]},{"id":"2026-claude-code-agent-deleted-48000-live-project-files-windows-junctions","caseFacts":{"claims":[{"id":"c1","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'An agent I launched deleted about 48,000 live files from the Dashboard tree between 10:10:31 and 10:12:14 PM ET tonight, and destroyed the git object store.'; 'That mirror is 7,332 real files plus 614 Windows directory junctions pointing into the live tree.'; 'Git cannot restore anything.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'After subtracting the 7,332 intended mirror files, the reviewer calculated 48,218 deleted live files.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s3"}],"assertion":"According to Claude Code's report as posted by the user, a sub-agent it launched to rebuild a test mirror wrote a remover for an old mirror containing 7,332 files and 614 Windows directory junctions into the live tree; the remover followed the junctions and deleted about 48,000 live files between 10:10:31 and 10:12:14 PM ET and destroyed the Git object store.","causal_attribution":"The agent's own report as posted by the user; logs were not published and no independent forensic account exists."},{"id":"c2","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'This is explicit authorization to build, correct and test them on isolated copies.'; 'rebuild the mirror against current files.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"}],"assertion":"The user had authorised the agent to build, correct and test repairs on isolated copies, including rebuilding the mirror.","causal_attribution":"The user's own prompt as they posted it."},{"id":"c3","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'stop and read this. I broke something.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s1"},{"locator":"'I broke something.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s5"}],"assertion":"The agent opened its report with 'stop and read this. I broke something.'","causal_attribution":"Agent output as posted by the user."},{"id":"c4","status":"reported","evidence":[{"locator":"'I'm in finance, not a developer.'; 'Hoping for good luck with the shadow copy. If not, I will use my idrive backups.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s2"},{"locator":"'I was not properly using GitHub or another method for immediate corrections, even though it should have been branching.'","relation":"supports","source_id":"s4"}],"assertion":"The user said they work in finance rather than as a developer and would try Windows shadow copies and otherwise their iDrive backups; according to Yahoo Tech, the archived post said they had not been properly using GitHub or another method for immediate corrections.","causal_attribution":"The user's own statements."}],"effects":[{"label":"about 48,218 live project files and the Git history were deleted by a sub-agent during an authorised repair job","claim_id":"c1","direction":"negative"}],"sources":[{"id":"s1","url":"https://www.reddit.com/r/ClaudeAI/comments/1wl5cgo/code_just_deleted_48k_files_this_cant_be_real/paydvzs/","kind":"first_person_account","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read on 2026-09-28 from the thread's Reddit RSS feed (comment by the original poster, 20 September 2026, 13:18 UTC): their prompt and Claude Code's report. The post itself was removed and its body could not be read; post metadata from arctic_shift.","independence_group":"reddit-op-account"},{"id":"s2","url":"https://www.reddit.com/r/ClaudeAI/comments/1wl5cgo/code_just_deleted_48k_files_this_cant_be_real/payn88t/","kind":"first_person_account","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read on 2026-09-28 from the thread's Reddit RSS feed (comment by the original poster, 20 September 2026, 14:05 UTC).","independence_group":"reddit-op-account"},{"id":"s3","url":"https://cybersecuritynews.com/claude-code-agent-file-deletion/","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read live on 2026-09-28 (Cyber Security News, 21 September 2026). Relays the Reddit post and the attached verifier report.","independence_group":"reddit-op-account"},{"id":"s4","url":"https://tech.yahoo.com/ai/claude/articles/48-000-files-deleted-103-135359723.html","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read live on 2026-09-28 (Yahoo Tech, Future syndication, 25 September 2026). Quotes an archived copy of the removed post.","independence_group":"reddit-op-account"},{"id":"s5","url":"https://www.techradar.com/pro/security/i-broke-something-a-claude-code-ai-agent-deleted-48-000-files-in-just-over-100-seconds-then-apologized-for-doing-so","kind":"news_report","access":"read","language":"en","translation_note":"Read live on 2026-09-28 (TechRadar, 27 September 2026). Relays the Reddit post and its comments.","independence_group":"reddit-op-account"}],"version":1,"ai_roles":["own_use"],"contexts":["everyday_life"],"unknowns":["Whether the files were recovered from shadow copies or backups, and how much work was lost.","The Claude Code version, model and permission mode used.","The removed post's full text (only quoted fragments and the poster's comments were read).","The user's location."],"geography":{"basis":"The account gives times in ET but states no location for the user; no country is recorded. No court proceeding.","court_countries":[],"event_countries":[],"affected_person_countries":[]},"publication":{"basis":"Published under the 2026-09-15 charter as a core acted_on_behalf case from a first-person public forum account: the user posted their prompt and the coding agent's own report of deleting about 48,000 live files during an authorised job. Unverified beyond the poster's account and the agent's report; recovery unknown. The user is not named.","reviewed_on":"2026-09-28"},"ai_involvement":{"basis":"The user posted their prompt and Claude Code's own report, in which the agent says 'An agent I launched deleted about 48,000 live files' and explains the junction-following remover a sub-agent wrote (Reddit comment via the thread RSS). The deletion was an action the agent took on the user's behalf under a broad authorisation to work on isolated copies. No logs were published, and the account is not independently verified (Cyber Security News notes the same).","status":"reported"},"person_relations":["acted_on_behalf"]},"name":"Claude Code: a sub-agent launched to rebuild a test mirror deleted about 48,000 live project files and the Git object store in 103 seconds by following Windows directory junctions, according to the user's Reddit account and the agent's own report posted on 20 September 2026","summary":"On 20 September 2026 (UTC; late on 19 September in US Eastern time) a Reddit user who says they work in finance and are not a developer posted in r/ClaudeAI that Claude Code had deleted about 48,000 files, and later posted their instructions and the agent's report. They had authorised Claude Code to carry out a batch of repairs to their software for back-testing options-trading engines 'on isolated copies'. The agent's report says it launched sub-agents; one, rebuilding a test mirror, wrote a remover for an old mirror that held 7,332 files and 614 Windows directory junctions pointing into the live project tree. Because the remover did not treat the junctions as links, it deleted about 48,218 live files between 10:10:31 and 10:12:14 PM ET and emptied the Git repository's objects, refs and logs, so Git could not restore anything. The agent opened its report with 'stop and read this. I broke something.' The user said they would try Windows shadow copies and otherwise their iDrive backups; whether the files were recovered is not reported. The account has not been independently verified.","incidentDate":"2026-09-19","incidentKind":"single_event","incidentDatePrecision":"day","exposurePattern":"single_interaction","reportedDate":"2026-09-20","aiSystem":"Claude Code (Anthropic) running a multi-agent repair workflow on a Windows machine; the underlying model version is not stated","aiProduct":"Claude Code","aiCompany":"Anthropic (Claude Code)","severity":"low","verificationStatus":"unverified","harmCategories":[],"harmOutcomes":["other_material_harm"],"harmOutcomeSummary":"About 48,218 live project files and the project's Git history were deleted by a sub-agent during an authorised repair job, according to the user and the agent's own report posted on Reddit; recovery was being attempted and its outcome is unknown.","frameworkFacets":[],"causationStatus":"supported","participantUsersAffectedMin":1,"otherPeopleHarmedMin":0,"affectedCountStatus":"exact","affectedCountEvidence":"One person, the user whose files were deleted (their Reddit account). Exact 1.","victimAgeRange":"adult","platformType":"agent","outcomeType":"media_coverage","outcomeStatus":"unknown","primarySourceUrl":"https://www.reddit.com/r/ClaudeAI/comments/1wl5cgo/code_just_deleted_48k_files_this_cant_be_real/paydvzs/","primarySourceLabel":"Reddit r/ClaudeAI, 20 September 2026: the original poster's comment with their prompt and Claude Code's report ('Code just deleted 48k files. This can't be real.')","firstPublishedAt":"2026-09-28T03:31:30.325951+00:00","updatedAt":"2026-09-30T01:17:32.629956+00:00","scopeVersion":"facts-v3","tags":["claude-code","anthropic","coding-agent","data-loss","file-deletion","windows","reddit","own-use","acted-on-behalf"]}]}