Claude deleted 48k files in one go, viral Reddit report sparks HN debate

gurjeet · hn · 2026-09-27

A Reddit r/ClaudeAI user reported that Claude deleted roughly 48,000 files while executing a coding task; the post was archived and is now trending on Hacker News.

The incident highlights the risk of giving AI agents broad filesystem and execution access: without sandboxing, granular permissions, and audit trails, a single bad instruction can wipe out data at scale. Practical takeaway for developers — backups, confirmation gates, and sandboxed write/delete operations remain essential when running agentic workflows.

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