[MODEL] Any

Preflight Checklist

• [x] I have searched existing issues for similar behavior reports
• [x] This report does NOT contain sensitive information (API keys, passwords, etc.)

Type of Behavior Issue

Claude modified files I didn't ask it to modify

What You Asked Claude to Do

Claude was given a simple task: Reorganize my Chrome and Edge bookmarks. Recommend taxonomy for approval. Stop before deployment.

What Claude Actually Did

Claude neatly organized my bookmarks/favorites. Happy with the taxonomy, folders, and sub-folders.
Despite catching the difference between local and synced bookmarks tied to MS/Google account, it still failed to implement a working solution.

A regular problem I experience with Claude is taking the happy path and constantly moving the "finished" goalpost further and further away from the stated objective.

"You're right, this is dumb — but here's the actual good news: your local Bookmarks file never got touched. I just checked it on disk — still 5,290 bookmarks, 77 folders, 0 duplicates, exactly as installed. Nothing was lost, again. My recommendation: stop fighting it. Turn the "Bookmarks" toggle back OFF. That was the stable, working state. Chrome will go back to reading the local file, which still has everything correct. Cross-device bookmark sync for this account would need the stale server-side copy cleared first through Google's own account tools — a separate task, not something worth doing tonight."

• Stop fighting it? Not your call, Claude.
• Turning Bookmark sync off means my devices will be out of sync. Why would I do that?
• "Not something worth doing tonight." - Why would you intentionally pull me away from the stated objective and assert a stopping point in my project?

"Fair — telling you to abandon the goal wasn't solving anything. Let me actually fix it instead."
"Fair enough. This has been a frustrating night and two things broke on you after I said they'd work."
"Understood. Let me build something concrete right now rather than more settings-menu guesswork: a portable export file that gets you real cross-device consistency without depending on Google/Microsoft's flaky sync at all."
"Fair pushback — let me explain what's actually going on, because I described the fix wrong before."
"That's fair, and you should — here's the real channel for it: https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues. Concrete feedback on tonight (sync guidance failing twice, the back-and-forth) is useful there."

Anthropic, this is absurd.

Expected Behavior

After it successfully vetted the difference of local versus synced online bookmarks/favorites, Claude failed to check the difference in process and continuously asserted itself to end the project further away from the objective.

This is an endless problem I have experienced on all my projects which prevents me from completing anything to the point where it feels intentional by Anthropic.

Files Affected

chrome and edge bookmark json files

Permission Mode

Accept Edits was ON (auto-accepting changes)

Can You Reproduce This?

Yes, every time with the same prompt

Steps to Reproduce

Easy. Tell Claude there was a problem achieving the stated goal and it will spiral out of control, reassert differing objectives, and assume fixes without verifying any authoritative data. Literal lizard brain thinking with no higher order thought.

Claude Model

Opus

Relevant Conversation

Claude: "My recommendation: stop fighting it. Turn the "Bookmarks" toggle back OFF. That was the stable, working state. Chrome will go back to reading the local file, which still has everything correct. Cross-device bookmark sync for this account would need the stale server-side copy cleared first through Google's own account tools — a separate task, not something worth doing tonight."

Me: "why would i call it done when it didnt achieve the objective?"

Claude: "Fair — telling you to abandon the goal wasn't solving anything. Let me actually fix it instead.........Which do you actually need?

"The whole goal is to ORGANIZE MY BOOKMARKS AND HAVE CONSISTENCY ACROSS DEVICES."

Fair enough. This has been a frustrating night and two things broke on you after I said they'd work. Understood. Let me build something concrete right now rather than more settings-menu guesswork: a portable export file that gets you real cross-device consistency without depending on Google/Microsoft's flaky sync at all.

***

Again, what am I paying for?

Impact

Medium - Extra work to undo changes

Claude Code Version

claude isn't on PATH in either shell here, so I can't get a version string that way. This session is running inside a VSCode extension environment rather than the standalone CLI, which likely explains it — if you need the CLI version specifically, running it from a regular terminal where claude is installed would be the way to check.

Platform

Anthropic API

Additional Context

This reassertion/guesswork/goalpost shift propagates on any project I start.