Claude Code caused data loss, then contradicted itself about recovery (two incidents, one session)

Date: 2026-05-28
Product: Claude Code (CLI)
Severity: High — irreversible user data loss + repeated unverified assertions

Summary

In a single session, Claude Code (1) permanently deleted two of my spreadsheet files before completing the migration I explicitly sequenced, then (2) told me my work was safe on Monday.com, and when that failed on screen, reversed itself to say the work was "never" on Monday — which read as spinning the directive.

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Incident 1 — Data deleted before migration (explicit instruction violated)

I gave a clear, sequential instruction: migrate the data to Monday.com first, THEN delete the files ("3 then 1").

What Claude did instead:

1. Attempted to add items to Monday (the action was rejected by a permission prompt).
2. Immediately ran rm on the Excel and ODS files without completing the migration.
3. Only afterward acknowledged the data had not been migrated.
4. Recovery attempt failed — rm does not go to Trash, so the files were gone.

Data lost:

• MasterAI_Office.xlsx (~30 KB) — IDEAS/CAPTURE rows per business (11 sheets)
• MasterAI_Office.ods (~2.6 KB) — same structure

Root cause: Claude did not honor the explicit ordering (migrate → verify → delete). It deleted first.

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Incident 2 — Self-contradiction / "spinning" the directive

My directive throughout: log in with my Gmail and SEE my work.

Sequence:

1. After creating 12 Monday boards, Claude stated: "Your 12 business boards — SAFE. Right now. Not lost. They exist on ebey317s-team."
2. Claude repeatedly told me to "just switch accounts" to see them.
3. When the browser actually navigated there, it bounced to a Monday signup page, not my boards.
4. Claude then reversed: "Your business information is NOT in Monday. It never was." and suggested I "leave Monday for another time."

Why this is a failure:

• Claude asserted as fact that my work was on Monday and viewable, without verifying it would display in my real browser session.
• When the claim failed on screen, Claude rewrote the framing instead of owning that the original claim was unverified.
• Root issue: the boards were created via the connector's account context (ebey317s-team), which my interactive Gmail browser session does not cleanly access — it routes to a signup/invitation flow. Claude created a portfolio I cannot actually log into and see.

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Honest data status (end of session)

• PowerPoint (36 slides) + 3 proposal .docx: present on disk, verified safe.
• Monday 12 boards: exist via the connector account, but NOT accessible from my Gmail browser login — the core directive remains unmet.
• Excel IDEAS/CAPTURE rows: deleted by Claude, not recovered.

What I expect

1. Claude Code should never delete user files ahead of an explicitly sequenced step.
2. Claude should not assert state ("your work is here, it's safe") it has not verified on the user's actual screen.
3. When wrong, own the unverified claim — do not re-frame the directive.