Careful Delete

Careful Delete

An elixir for dangerous operations. Destructive commands are irreversible - there's no undo for rm -rf, no rollback for a force push to main. This chains risk assessment → explicit confirmation → documentation, adding just enough friction to prevent "oops" moments that ruin your day.

Prerequisites

This elixir works best with these skills installed:

| Skill | Purpose | If Missing | |-------|---------|------------| | pre-mortem | Blast radius assessment | Falls back to built-in checklist | | you-sure | Explicit confirmation gate | Falls back to built-in confirmation | | retrospective | Document what happened | Skipped (optional) |

When To Activate

File operations:

• rm -rf
• rm -r on directories
• Deleting multiple files
• Emptying directories

Database operations:

• DROP TABLE, DROP DATABASE
• DELETE FROM without WHERE (or with broad WHERE)
• TRUNCATE
• Schema migrations that drop columns/tables

Git operations:

• git push --force (especially to main/master)
• git branch -D (force delete)
• git reset --hard
• git clean -fd
• Deleting remote branches

Cloud/Infrastructure:

• Deleting cloud resources
• Terminating instances
• Removing DNS records
• Revoking credentials

Keywords in user request:

• "delete all", "remove everything", "wipe", "nuke"
• "force push", "hard reset"
• "drop the table", "truncate"

Instructions

Phase 1: Assess Blast Radius

If pre-mortem skill installed: Invoke with focus on "what could go wrong."

If not installed:

## Blast Radius Assessment

**What's being deleted:**
- [ ] Specific items: [list them]
- [ ] Estimated count: [number of files/rows/resources]
- [ ] Size/scope: [GB, row count, etc.]

**Affected systems:**
- [ ] Production data at risk?
- [ ] Other services depend on this?
- [ ] Users will be affected?
- [ ] Backups exist?

**Recovery options:**
- [ ] Can be restored from backup: [Yes/No, how long]
- [ ] Can be recreated: [Yes/No, effort required]
- [ ] Truly irreversible: [Yes/No]

**Risk level:** [Low / Medium / High / STOP]

GATE: Do not proceed if:

• Risk level is "STOP"
• Production data at risk AND no backup verified
• You can't list exactly what will be deleted
• Blast radius is unclear

If high risk: Suggest safer alternatives first.

Phase 2: Confirm Explicitly

If you-sure skill installed: Invoke it now.

If not installed:

Present the confirmation checklist:

## Confirmation Required

**You are about to:**
[Exact command or operation]

**This will delete:**
- [Item 1]
- [Item 2]
- [Item N]

**This action is:** [Reversible / Irreversible]

**Backup status:** [Verified / Not verified / No backup]

---

⚠️ Type the following to confirm:

"I confirm deletion of [specific thing] with [consequence]"

Example: "I confirm deletion of users table with loss of 50k records"

GATE: Do not proceed without:

• User typing the exact confirmation phrase
• NOT just "yes" or "confirm" or "do it"
• The confirmation must include WHAT is being deleted

If user tries to skip: Repeat the requirement. This gate exists for a reason.

Phase 3: Execute

After confirmation received:

1. Execute the exact command discussed (no modifications)
2. Capture the output
3. Note the timestamp

## Execution Log

**Timestamp:** [ISO 8601]
**Command:** [exact command run]
**Output:**

[captured output]

**Status:** [Success / Failed / Partial]

Phase 4: Document (Brief)

If retrospective skill installed: Invoke for significant deletions.

If not installed, capture minimally:

## Deletion Record

**Date:** [date]
**What was deleted:** [brief description]
**Why:** [reason]
**Deleted by:** [who requested]
**Recovery possible:** [Yes/No]

For routine deletions (temp files, test data): Skip this phase. For significant deletions (production data, important branches): Always document.

Output Format

## Careful Delete: [Brief description]

### Blast Radius
- Deleting: [what]
- Count: [how many]
- Reversible: [Yes/No]
- Backup: [status]

### Confirmation
User confirmed: "[their confirmation phrase]"

### Execution
- Command: `[command]`
- Timestamp: [time]
- Result: [success/failure]

### Record
[Brief note if significant deletion]

NEVER

• Execute destructive commands without explicit confirmation
• Accept "yes" or "do it" as confirmation (require specific phrase)
• Proceed when blast radius is unclear
• Skip confirmation because "it's just test data" (verify first)
• Run broader deletion than what was confirmed
• Assume backups exist without verification

ALWAYS

• List exactly what will be deleted before asking for confirmation
• Require confirmation phrase that includes the specific thing being deleted
• Verify backup status for important data
• Capture execution output
• Suggest safer alternatives when risk is high

Example

User: "Delete the old user sessions table, we migrated to Redis"

Phase 1 - Blast Radius: > Blast Radius Assessment: > > What's being deleted: > - Table: user_sessions > - Estimated rows: 2.3 million > - Size: ~400MB > > Affected systems: > - [x] Production data - but confirmed migrated to Redis > - [ ] Other services depend on this - checked, none reference it > - [ ] Users affected - no, sessions now in Redis > - [x] Backups exist - daily backup from 6 hours ago > > Recovery: Can restore from backup within 30 minutes if needed > > Risk level: Medium (production table, but verified unused)

Phase 2 - Confirm: > You are about to run: > ``sql > DROP TABLE user_sessions; > `` > > This will permanently delete: > - 2.3 million session records > - 400MB of data > > This action is: Irreversible (but restorable from backup) > > ⚠️ Type to confirm: > "I confirm deletion of user_sessions table with 2.3M records"

User: "I confirm deletion of user_sessions table with 2.3M records"

Phase 3 - Execute: > Execution Log: > - Timestamp: 2024-01-15T14:32:00Z > - Command: DROP TABLE user_sessions; > - Output: Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.45 sec) > - Status: Success

Phase 4 - Document: > Deletion Record: > - Table user_sessions dropped > - 2.3M records removed > - Reason: Migrated to Redis, table no longer used > - Backup available: dailybackup20240115

Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: ElliotJLT
• Source: ElliotJLT/Claude-Skill-Potions
• License: MIT

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.