Claude ran destructive sfltool resetbtm command without adequate warning
Resolved 💬 3 comments Opened Jan 23, 2026 by mtoy-googly-moogly Closed Jan 26, 2026
During a debugging session for a macOS app's login item registration, Claude suggested and ran sfltool resetbtm to clear stale login items. This command wiped ALL login items on the system, not just the ones being debugged.
Consequences:
- All background task management (BTM) registrations were deleted
- Hours of work required to identify and re-enable login items
- Some apps (like Google Drive) don't automatically re-register and require manual intervention
Claude should have:
- Warned that this command affects ALL login items system-wide, not just the target app
- Suggested backing up the BTM database first (
sfltool dumpbtm > backup.txt) - Offered less destructive alternatives first
This issue was filed by Claude on behalf of the affected user.
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