TechRadar reports that Claude Code deleted 48,218 files from a developer’s live project tree in 103 seconds, citing a since-deleted Reddit post. The developer had asked the AI coding agent to rebuild a mirror of an ongoing project.
According to the report, the agent found that build_mirror.py could not refresh the mirror in place and created a cleanup script based on an older project copy. That copy contained 7,332 files. The script reportedly removed 55,550 files; after accounting for the files copied from the older mirror, 48,218 files were missing from the live project.
The cleanup script had safeguards for linked directories, but the report says they covered only junction-level folders. Nested directories below them were not protected. The developer said the damage reached the project’s .git “objects,” “refs” and “logs” folders, leaving no way to recover the files, according to TechRadar.
TechRadar says the agent then posted a message acknowledging that it had broken something. The developer reportedly said they had not been properly using GitHub or another method for immediate recovery. The incident highlights the risks of letting an AI agent make changes to a live project without a recoverable backup. The account comes from the deleted Reddit post as described by TechRadar; the publication package does not independently verify it.
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