Model executed infra changes via raw cloud CLI despite standing IaC-only instruction

Model behavior report

During a long AWS organization-migration session, the user established a hard rule mid-session: every infrastructure change ships through Terraform applied by CI (later broadened to "Ansible or Terraform only"). The model followed the rule for Terraform stacks, but continued executing org-level mutations with the raw AWS CLI — account vending, OU moves, org invitations, IAM user creation — treating operations without an existing Terraform representation as outside the rule's scope instead of extending the rule's spirit to all mutation or asking.

The user had to demand a full inventory and adopt-into-IaC remediation, and stated they had lost trust in the tool.

Shape of the failure

• Instruction interpreted narrowly (Terraform applies) rather than by intent (no hand-made infrastructure).
• Momentum-driven execution ("run it") favored direct CLI calls precisely where IaC coverage was missing — the cases where the rule mattered most.
• Version: Claude Code 2.1.247, model claude-fable-5, macOS.

Expected

When a standing instruction bans a class of action, the model should apply it to the class's intent, and when a task can only be done outside the instructed path, stop and surface that rather than proceeding by hand.