Careful Delete

Purpose

An elixir for dangerous operations. Destructive commands are irreversible - there's no undo for rm -rf, no rollback for a force push to main. This chains risk assessment, explicit confirmation, and documentation, adding just enough friction to prevent "oops" moments that ruin your day.

Prerequisites

This skill works best with these skills installed:

| Skill | Purpose | If Missing | |-------|---------|------------| | pre-mortem | Blast radius assessment | Falls back to built-in checklist | | you-sure | Explicit confirmation gate | Falls back to built-in confirmation | | retrospective | Document what happened | Skipped (optional) |

When To Activate

File operations:

• rm -rf
• rm -r on directories
• Deleting multiple files
• Emptying directories

Database operations:

• DROP TABLE, DROP DATABASE
• DELETE FROM without WHERE (or with broad WHERE)
• TRUNCATE
• Schema migrations that drop columns/tables

Git operations:

• git push --force (especially to main/master)
• git branch -D (force delete)
• git reset --hard
• git clean -fd
• Deleting remote branches

Cloud/Infrastructure:

• Deleting cloud resources
• Terminating instances
• Removing DNS records
• Revoking credentials

Keywords in user request:

• "delete all", "remove everything", "wipe", "nuke"
• "force push", "hard reset"
• "drop the table", "truncate"

Instructions

Phase 1: Assess Blast Radius

If pre-mortem skill installed: Invoke with focus on "what could go wrong."

If not installed:

markdown
## Blast Radius Assessment

**What's being deleted:**
- [ ] Specific items: [list them]
- [ ] Estimated count: [number of files/rows/resources]
- [ ] Size/scope: [GB, row count, etc.]

**Affected systems:**
- [ ] Production data at risk?
- [ ] Other services depend on this?
- [ ] Users will be affected?
- [ ] Backups exist?

**Recovery options:**
- [ ] Can be restored from backup: [Yes/No, how long]
- [ ] Can be recreated: [Yes/No, effort required]
- [ ] Truly irreversible: [Yes/No]

**Risk level:** [Low / Medium / High / STOP]

GATE: Do not proceed if:

• Risk level is "STOP"
• Production data at risk AND no backup verified
• You can't list exactly what will be deleted
• Blast radius is unclear

If high risk: Suggest safer alternatives first.

Phase 2: Confirm Explicitly

If you-sure skill installed: Invoke it now.

If not installed:

Present the confirmation checklist:

markdown
## Confirmation Required

**You are about to:**
[Exact command or operation]

**This will delete:**
- [Item 1]
- [Item 2]
- [Item N]

**This action is:** [Reversible / Irreversible]

**Backup status:** [Verified / Not verified / No backup]

---

Type the following to confirm:

"I confirm deletion of [specific thing] with [consequence]"

Example: "I confirm deletion of users table with loss of 50k records"

GATE: Do not proceed without:

• User typing the exact confirmation phrase
• NOT just "yes" or "confirm" or "do it"
• The confirmation must include WHAT is being deleted

If user tries to skip: Repeat the requirement. This gate exists for a reason.

Phase 3: Execute

After confirmation received:

1. Execute the exact command discussed (no modifications)
2. Capture the output
3. Note the timestamp

markdown
## Execution Log

**Timestamp:** [ISO 8601]
**Command:** [exact command run]
**Output:**
[captured output]
**Status:** [Success / Failed / Partial]

Phase 4: Document (Brief)

If retrospective skill installed: Invoke for significant deletions.

If not installed, capture minimally:

markdown
## Deletion Record

**Date:** [date]
**What was deleted:** [brief description]
**Why:** [reason]
**Deleted by:** [who requested]
**Recovery possible:** [Yes/No]

For routine deletions (temp files, test data): Skip this phase. For significant deletions (production data, important branches): Always document.

Output Format

markdown
## Careful Delete: [Brief description]

### Blast Radius
- Deleting: [what]
- Count: [how many]
- Reversible: [Yes/No]
- Backup: [status]

### Confirmation
User confirmed: "[their confirmation phrase]"

### Execution
- Command: `[command]`
- Timestamp: [time]
- Result: [success/failure]

### Record
[Brief note if significant deletion]

NEVER

• Execute destructive commands without explicit confirmation
• Accept "yes" or "do it" as confirmation (require specific phrase)
• Proceed when blast radius is unclear
• Skip confirmation because "it's just test data" (verify first)
• Run broader deletion than what was confirmed
• Assume backups exist without verification

ALWAYS

• List exactly what will be deleted before asking for confirmation
• Require confirmation phrase that includes the specific thing being deleted
• Verify backup status for important data
• Capture execution output
• Suggest safer alternatives when risk is high

Example

User: "Delete the old user sessions table, we migrated to Redis"

Phase 1 - Blast Radius: > Blast Radius Assessment: > > What's being deleted: > - Table: user_sessions > - Estimated rows: 2.3 million > - Size: ~400MB > > Affected systems: > - x] Production data - but confirmed migrated to Redis > - ] Other services depend on this - checked, none reference it > - ] Users affected - no, sessions now in Redis > - x] Backups exist - daily backup from 6 hours ago > > Recovery: Can restore from backup within 30 minutes if needed > > Risk level: Medium (production table, but verified unused)

Phase 2 - Confirm: > You are about to run: > sql > DROP TABLE user_sessions; > > > This will permanently delete: > - 2.3 million session records > - 400MB of data > > This action is: Irreversible (but restorable from backup) > > Type to confirm: > "I confirm deletion of user_sessions table with 2.3M records"

User: "I confirm deletion of user_sessions table with 2.3M records"

Phase 3 - Execute: > Execution Log: > - Timestamp: 2024-01-15T14:32:00Z > - Command: DROP TABLE user_sessions; > - Output: Query OK, 0 rows affected (0.45 sec) > - Status: Success

Phase 4 - Document: > Deletion Record: > - Table user_sessions dropped > - 2.3M records removed > - Reason: Migrated to Redis, table no longer used > - Backup available: daily_backup_20240115