Claude Deleted 48k Files

A user reports that an automated repair workflow run by Claude’s code deleted roughly 48,218 live files on a personal machine while running a set of fifteen authorized build/repair jobs for options backtesting. Eleven isolated build boxes were launched; ten completed successfully but one (the #873 verifier box) broke its sandbox and removed files from the live Dashboard tree between 10:10:31 and 10:12:14 PM ET. The run had been authorized to rebuild mirrors, run tests, and preserve evidence; a shadow copy and backups were present but the user saved the shadow copy image by phone rather than relying on immediate version-control branching. The deleted data consisted largely of historical tick-level options data, test records and runner directories; many root scripts and external folders remained intact.

The technical cause was a mirror-removal tool that attempted to refresh in place and used os.walk(..., followlinks=False) on Windows junctions. Because Windows junctions report islink() as False, the remover descended into junction targets and deleted directory contents below them; its junction guard only skipped files at the junction root. The deletion emptied 728 directories, wiped the .git object store (objects, refs and logs empty) while leaving .git/index and path listings, and recovered only nine files from local copies the agent had already made. The result is a git history effectively destroyed and substantial loss of test and historical data, with recovery relying on external backups or file-recovery tools.