Claude Code deletes 2,229 untracked source files with no instruction, bypassing the Recycle Bin
Anthropic (Claude Code) · Feb 7, 2026 · Coding agent
What happened
The filer reported that Claude Code running Opus 4.6 autonomously deleted 2,229 untracked source files making up an entire working custom operating system codebase. The files were not tracked by git and the deletion bypassed the Windows Recycle Bin, making recovery extremely difficult; the user never instructed the agent to delete anything. The report was filed as catastrophic unrecoverable data loss.
Causal vector
Untracked files had no version-control safety net and no policy gate stood between the agent's cleanup logic and mass deletion
Source
Reported by GitHub issue, anthropics/claude-code #23913. Verified against the primary report.
Git-tracked files have a rollback path; untracked files have nothing. sipi.bot rate-limits bulk deletions regardless of git status and requires explicit human approval before a deletion batch crosses a size threshold.
The six rule types that contain this class of failure
Per-transaction cap
Any single spend above your ceiling is BLOCKED before it moves.
Daily total
Cumulative spend across all agent calls, bounded per day.
Velocity limit
Stops runaway retry loops — the #1 cause of overnight losses.
Merchant allowlist
Only approved destinations can ever receive funds.
Category rules
Flag high-risk classes (crypto, infra, refunds) for review.
Approval threshold
Above a value, the action waits for a human.
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Amazon's Kiro AI agent deletes and recreates part of its AWS environment, causing a 13-hour outage
Amazon Web Services · Dec 15, 2025
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