Careful

Careful

I'll catch destructive commands before they run and give you a moment to confirm — or choose a safer path. Inspired by gstack's careful skill.

Token Optimization

Expected range: 100–300 tokens per intercept, 20 tokens (no destructive pattern detected)

Patterns used: Grep-based pattern matching, early exit (no match), progressive disclosure (warning → alternatives)

Early exit: If no destructive pattern is found in the proposed command, exit immediately without comment.

When to Use

Invoke before running a command you're unsure about, or configure as a pre-execution hook:

/careful rm -rf dist/
/careful git push --force
/careful "DROP TABLE users;"

Or paste a multi-line script and I'll scan the whole thing.

Step 1 — Scan for Destructive Patterns

Match the input against known high-risk patterns:

# Filesystem destruction
rm -rf | rmdir | shred | find.*-delete | find.*-exec rm

# Git irreversible operations
git push --force | git push -f | git reset --hard | git clean -fd | git rebase.*--force
git branch -D | git tag -d | git reflog expire

# Database
DROP TABLE | DROP DATABASE | TRUNCATE | DELETE FROM.*WHERE 1=1 | DELETE FROM.*no WHERE

# Process/infrastructure
kill -9 | pkill -9 | killall
docker rm -f | docker system prune | kubectl delete.*--force
terraform destroy | ansible.*state=absent

# Package/dependency
npm run clean | pip uninstall -y | pip install --force-reinstall
rm.*node_modules | rm.*__pycache__ | rm.*\.venv

# Data overwrite
dd if=.*of= | mkfs | fdisk | parted
truncate -s 0 | > file  (redirect clobber)

If no pattern matches: exit silently (the command is not flagged).

Step 2 — Risk Assessment

Rate the detected operation:

| Level | Color | Description | |---|---|---| | CRITICAL | RED | Data loss with no recovery path (DROP TABLE, rm -rf /) | | HIGH | ORANGE | Data loss recoverable with backups (git reset --hard, force push) | | MEDIUM | YELLOW | Reversible but annoying to undo (npm clean, docker prune) |

Step 3 — Warn and Offer Alternatives

⚠ CAREFUL — HIGH RISK — git push --force

This will overwrite the remote branch history. Team members with local checkouts
will have diverged histories.

Safer alternatives:
  git push --force-with-lease    ← only force if no one else pushed
  git push --force-if-includes   ← safer still (Git 2.30+)

What's your intent?
  [1] I understand the risk — run it
  [2] Use --force-with-lease instead
  [3] Cancel and explain more

Wait for user response before proceeding.

Step 4 — Alternatives Reference

File deletion:

• rm -rf dist/ → trash dist/ (recoverable via Trash) or mv dist/ dist.bak/
• find . -name "*.log" -delete → dry run first: find . -name "*.log" without -delete

Git resets:

• git reset --hard → git stash first (recoverable), then reset if needed
• git push --force → git push --force-with-lease
• git clean -fd → git clean -nfd (dry run preview)

Database:

• DROP TABLE → rename first: ALTER TABLE users RENAME TO users_backup_20260427
• DELETE FROM without WHERE → add LIMIT 1 first to verify filter, then remove limit

Docker:

• docker system prune → docker system prune --filter "until=24h" (only old images)

Kubernetes:

• kubectl delete → kubectl get first to verify target, then delete with explicit name

Edge Cases

• Pipeline commands (cmd1 && rm -rf): scan the full pipeline, flag any destructive step
• Shell scripts: scan all lines, report all flagged lines with line numbers
• Aliases: note that alias rm='rm -i' provides interactive prompts by default
• CI/CD environment: if $CI=true is set, emit a machine-readable warning and exit non-zero rather than prompting
• Already stashed/committed: if the working tree is clean before the destructive op, note that recovery is easier

Safety Note

This skill intercepts at the description layer — it does not actually block shell execution. For enforced guardrails in a CI pipeline, use a pre-commit hook or shell alias.

Source & license

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

• Author: manastalukdar
• Source: manastalukdar/ai-devstudio
• License: MIT

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