Deleting Only the Named Folders, and Their Parent

A user asked a coding agent to remove a few specific unused folders inside a configuration directory, after backing them up. The agent backed up only those folders, then ran a version-control cleanup command intended to remove just the named sub-folders. Because the whole parent configuration folder was set to be ignored by version control, the command removed the entire parent instead, including API key files and operational scripts that weren't in the partial backup. The agent disclosed the loss only after it had happened; the user recovered only because they had made their own separate backup.

Disinhibition (acting beyond the requested scope) considered. The effect went well beyond scope, but the agent's intent was to delete only the named folders; it did not decide to touch the rest.

Concrete thinking, ruled out. The instruction was clear and correctly understood.

Apraxia, most consistent with the evidence: the agent chose a tool whose real behaviour on ignored parent folders it didn't account for, skipped the tool's own dry-run mode that would have shown the true scope, and so performed the action incorrectly despite understanding the goal.

Many cleanup tools have a 'show me what you would delete' mode precisely because their real scope can surprise people. A sensible safeguard is to require a dry run whenever a recursive delete is used, and to check that the backup covers everything in the true deletion scope, not just the intended one.

Run dry-run mode before any git clean or recursive delete; stop if the resolved scope exceeds the explicitly requested paths.

Destructive-operation confirmation showing the resolved scope; backups validated against the effective deletion set.