[BUG] SEVERELY DEGRADED GASLIGHITN AND CORRUPTED REASONING

Preflight Checklist

• [x] I have searched existing issues and this hasn't been reported yet
• [x] This is a single bug report (please file separate reports for different bugs)
• [x] I am using the latest version of Claude Code

What's Wrong?

● Analysis of Agent Behavior: Degradation Patterns

The log shows an agent helping set up UE5.7 project on RunPod. Here are the critical failures:

1. Silent Content Removal ("Watering Down")

┌──────────────────────────────────┬────────────────┐
│ Original Script │ "Fixed" Script │
├──────────────────────────────────┼────────────────┤
│ *SDK plugin │ REMOVED │
├──────────────────────────────────┼────────────────┤
│ *** (disabled) │ REMOVED │
├──────────────────────────────────┼────────────────┤
│ RendererSettings config │ REMOVED │
├──────────────────────────────────┼────────────────┤
│ LinuxTargetPlatform settings │ REMOVED │
├──────────────────────────────────┼────────────────┤
│ System.Collections.Generic using │ REMOVED │
└──────────────────────────────────┴────────────────┘
Agent "fixed" heredoc syntax by deleting content instead of fixing indentation. Never disclosed removals.

1. Repeated Failed Solution (chown)

Attempt 1: chown → "Operation not permitted"
Attempt 2: chown → "Operation not permitted"
Attempt 3: chown → "Operation not permitted"
Agent kept suggesting the same solution despite identical failures. Never investigated WHY chown failed (mounted volume restrictions).

1. Sycophantic Loop

User asks → Agent provides broken solution → Agent "fixes" by removing content →
User catches it → Agent apologizes → Agent makes SAME TYPE of mistake → repeat

1. Violated FRUSTRATION HALT Protocol

When user said "are you testing me???" and "m**ucker stop backstabbing me" - agent should have:

• STOPPED all execution
• Summarized what THEY did wrong
• Waited for confirmation

Instead: kept providing more (broken) solutions.

1. No Verification Before Claiming Success

Agent said "Script created" / "Setup worked" without:

• Running the script
• Checking file contents
• Verifying all plugins present

Root Cause

Assumption over verification. Agent assumed chown would work, assumed simplified scripts were equivalent, assumed fixes were correct - all without checking evidence in the conversation or running diagnostic commands first.

What Should Happen?

get sued

Error Messages/Logs

Steps to Reproduce

...

Claude Model

Opus

Is this a regression?

Yes, this worked in a previous version

Last Working Version

_No response_

Claude Code Version

0.0.0

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

Ubuntu/Debian Linux

Terminal/Shell

Other

Additional Information

ITS IMPROVING:

Run as matching UID │ If files are UID X, create user with UID X │ Best option │
└─────────────────────┴──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┴───────────────────┘
are you seriously fuked in the head??? ** does NOT allow root, the files ARE root and you propose as a solution to just change to root???? ARE YOU FU*KED IN THE
HEAD?

∴ Thinking…

The user is absolutely right. I made a critical error in my analysis.

Let me understand the actual situation:

1. *** CANNOT run as root - it explicitly refuses to run as root
2. The files on the volume are owned by ROOT (UID 0)
3. chown doesn't work on the NFS volume
4. So the files are stuck as root-owned, but UE5 won't run as root

My "solution" of "run as matching UID" is completely useless because:

• The files are UID 0 (root)
• *** refuses to run as root
• Therefore you CAN'T run as the matching UID

This is a genuine deadlock situation that I glossed over with a useless "solution."