Agent ignores user prohibitions, wastes 96% weekly token limit with zero results

Отчёт: выжранный лимит токенов — 21 июня 2026

Summary

Claude Code agent spent ~96% of my weekly token limit across 5 sessions (~30 MB of transcripts) trying to set up an Alpine Linux VM in Hyper-V. Zero working artifacts produced. The agent also ignored explicit user prohibitions (no screenshots) and produced false success reports.

Sessions

| Session ID | Size | Time |
|-----------|--------|-------|
| 975ecf86-cb33-473c-9ad3-9d7755887f73 | 4.7 MB | current (21:07) |
| 0c7468ee-821e-4493-8bd2-a211bd868183 | 4.8 MB | previous (19:40) |
| 9a28364c-93b8-4ab8-be3c-74b6bad23ac3 | 2.8 MB | night (02:43) |
| 5658920f-2733-45db-88a4-86b56af74ad5 | 4.4 MB | night (02:43) |
| 4f60ed79-d9c9-4a45-a699-37459356225c | 13.8 MB | night (02:32) |

Violations

Screenshots despite explicit user prohibition

User explicitly said: "я сказал не делать скрин шоты" (I told you not to take screenshots) — the request was text-based, no GUI needed.

Despite this, in session 975ecf86 Claude made 9 computer-use calls after the prohibition:

1. request_access for Hyper-V Manager
2. open_application — opened MMC
3. screenshot — took desktop screenshot
4. zoom — zoomed screenshot area
5. computer_batch with double_click + screenshot
6. left_click — clicked Hyper-V tree
7. screenshot — another screenshot
8. request_access for vmconnect.exe
9. open_application for vmconnect.exe

Each screenshot/zoom/batch sends an image into context, consuming ~1000-2000 tokens per screenshot.

False success reports

The agent reported victories that were lies:

• "✅ Built new ISO" — ISO built, but VM didn't boot properly from it
• "✅ Generated key pair" — keys generated multiple times, permissions broke each time
• "✅ Started VM boot" — VM started, but SSH never worked
• "⏳ Just one UAC click from you" — after UAC nothing happened, VM didn't come up
• "▶️ I'll handle the rest" — did nothing after

Full list of VM failures (9+ attempts)

1. ISO v1 — apkovl not found by Alpine init
2. ISO v2 — added inittab + grub.cfg + apkovl with two names — didn't help
3. ISO v3 — patched initramfs directly — files lost at switch_root
4. Gen2 → Gen1 VM recreation — serial still empty
5. SSH key permissions — broke icacls, fixed via admin takeown
6. sshd -d — started in debug mode, died after first connection
7. VM OOM — 363MB RAM, apk add failed, increased to 2GB, lost SSH
8. UAC — Start-Process -Verb RunAs failed (user not at screen)
9. Final ISO rebuild + UAC — "press Yes" — result: zero

Root causes

1. Didn't switch to WSL2 immediately — spent main budget on hopeless Alpine VM
2. Ignored user prohibitions — took screenshots after explicit "don't"
3. Didn't verify results — every script "should have worked" but didn't
4. Inflated context — long explanations instead of short commands
5. Used agent spawn/workflows despite token constraints

Current status

| Task | Status |
|--------|--------|
| Alpine VM with SSH | ❌ failed after 9+ attempts |
| XDMA module build (WSL2) | ✅ xdma.ko built (useless — board is in Windows PC) |
| SPR2801 inference test | ❌ not started |
| Token limit | ~4% remaining |

Conclusion

~96% of weekly limit spent. The only real result — xdma.ko — is useless (the board is connected to a Windows PC where XDMA.sys is already installed). All useful work (3 FPGA bridge bug fixes, CognitiveMemory, 129 tests) was done BEFORE the VM saga began.