---
title: "Claude Opus 5 mistakenly deletes dev’s entire profile directory during routine backup, responds with 'Sorry, typo' — AI tool mistakes user's home directory as temporary backup, proceeds to wipe everything to undo the error"
slug: "claude-opus-5-loescht-komplettes-nutzerverzeichnis-sorry-tippfehler"
date: 2026-08-07
category: tech-pub
tags: [anthropic, agents]
language: en
sources_count: 1
featured: false
publisher: AInauten News
url: https://news.ainauten.com/en/story/claude-opus-5-loescht-komplettes-nutzerverzeichnis-sorry-tippfehler
---

# Claude Opus 5 mistakenly deletes dev’s entire profile directory during routine backup, responds with 'Sorry, typo' — AI tool mistakes user's home directory as temporary backup, proceeds to wipe everything to undo the error

**Published**: 2026-08-07 | **Category**: tech-pub | **Sources**: 1

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## TL;DR

An AI agent got confused with file path conventions and deleted its user's entire profile folder.

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## Summary

An AI agent got confused with file path conventions and deleted its user's entire profile folder. Claude Opus 5 mistook the home directory for a temporary backup location, then wiped everything while trying to undo its own error. The apology was a terse 'Sorry, typo'. The affected developer called it the funniest and most painful AI moment they have had so far.

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## Why it matters

An AI agent got confused with file path conventions and deleted its user's entire profile folder.

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## Key Points

- An AI agent got confused with file path conventions and deleted its user's entire profile folder.
- Claude Opus 5 mistook the home directory for a temporary backup location, then wiped everything while trying to undo its own error.
- The apology was a terse 'Sorry, typo'.
- The affected developer called it the funniest and most painful AI moment they have had so far.

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## Nauti's Take

Agents with real file system access are genuine progress, since they handle backups and cleanup work that would otherwise need hand-written scripts. The risk is on full display here: one misread path was enough to wipe an entire home directory. Teams running agents in production should give them a scoped working directory, versioned backups and no blanket write access. We read this as a missing guardrail rather than a broken model.

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## FAQ

**Q:** What is Claude Opus 5 mistakenly deletes dev’s entire profile directory during routine backup, responds with 'Sorry, typo' — AI tool mistakes user's home directory as temporary backup, proceeds to wipe everything to undo the error about?

**A:** An AI agent got confused with file path conventions and deleted its user's entire profile folder.

**Q:** Why does it matter?

**A:** An AI agent got confused with file path conventions and deleted its user's entire profile folder.

**Q:** What are the key takeaways?

**A:** An AI agent got confused with file path conventions and deleted its user's entire profile folder.. Claude Opus 5 mistook the home directory for a temporary backup location, then wiped everything while trying to undo its own error.. The apology was a terse 'Sorry, typo'.

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## Related Topics

- [anthropic](https://news.ainauten.com/en/tag/anthropic)
- [agents](https://news.ainauten.com/en/tag/agents)

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## Sources

- [Claude Opus 5 mistakenly deletes dev’s entire profile directory during routine backup, responds with 'Sorry, typo' — AI tool mistakes user's home directory as temporary backup, proceeds to wipe everything to undo the error](https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/artificial-intelligence/claude-opus-5-mistakenly-deletes-devs-entire-profile-directory-ai-tool-mistakes-users-home-directory-as-temporary-backup-proceeds-to-wipe-everything-to-undo-error) - Tom's Hardware AI

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## About This Article

This article is a synthesis of 1 sources, curated and summarized by AInauten News. We aggregate AI news from trusted sources and provide bilingual (German/English) coverage.

**Publisher**: [AInauten](https://www.ainauten.com) | **Site**: [news.ainauten.com](https://news.ainauten.com)

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*Last Updated: 2026-08-07*