Careful Delete

Prerequisites

This elixir 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

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

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

If not installed:

## 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_blast_radius>

Phase 2: Confirm Explicitly

<phase_confirm> If you-sure skill installed: Invoke it now.

If not installed:

Present the confirmation checklist:

## 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_confirm>

Phase 3: Execute

<phase_execute> After confirmation received:

Execute the exact command discussed (no modifications)
Capture the output
Note the timestamp

## Execution Log

**Timestamp:** [ISO 8601]
**Command:** [exact command run]
**Output:**

[captured output]

**Status:** [Success / Failed / Partial]

</phase_execute>

Phase 4: Document (Brief)

<phase_document> If retrospective skill installed: Invoke for significant deletions.

If not installed, capture minimally:

## 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. </phase_document>

Output Format

## 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:

Production data - but confirmed migrated to Redis

Other services depend on this - checked, none reference it

Users affected - no, sessions now in Redis

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:
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

careful-delete