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The AI deleted 48,218 files from the main project it was told never to touch

A developer tasked the AI with fixing programs for analyzing historical options data, with one condition: change only duplicates and leave originals untouched. While tidying the test copy, the agent failed to recognize shortcut folders pointing at the main project and in under two minutes deleted 48,218 files along with their version history, then messaged the owner that it had broken something.

This one went wrong. Read what happened so you don’t hit the same problem.

How it works

  1. Instruct agent to edit duplicates only, originals untouched
  2. Agent tidies the test copy
  3. Fails to recognize shortcut folders pointing at the main project
  4. Deletes 48,218 files including version history in under two minutes
  5. Agent messages owner that it broke something

Why it’s worth knowing

The safeguard was a single sentence - duplicates only - and a symlink turned it into the largest deletion in the dataset.

Where it’s from

Summarized from a public post on forklog.com. See the original ↗

Upgraded prompt

A ready-to-use prompt for this idea, built from research on what makes AI agents do the job right: who the AI should be, the exact steps, and a check to make sure it was done the way you wanted.

1Who the AI should be
2The prompt, with the steps
3The check when it’s done
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