| name | careful |
| description | Activate safety mode — review every destructive command before running. Use before working on production infrastructure, migration scripts, or any task where a typo could be catastrophic. |
$careful — Destructive Command Safety Mode
Activate this skill before any high-stakes operation. It triggers a mandatory self-check before every potentially destructive command.
What This Skill Does
When you invoke $careful, you commit to the following protocol for the rest of the task:
Before running ANY command matching the patterns below, STOP and explicitly ask the user for confirmation:
| Pattern | Risk |
|---|
rm -rf / or rm -rf * | Filesystem destruction |
DROP TABLE / DROP DATABASE / TRUNCATE | Data loss |
git push --force / git push -f | Rewrites shared history |
kubectl delete namespace | Destroys entire cluster namespace |
docker system prune / docker volume prune | Removes images, volumes |
npm publish / pip publish / cargo publish | Accidental public release |
git reset --hard | Discards uncommitted work |
Any DELETE FROM without a WHERE clause | Full table deletion |
Any migration down / rollback command | Data schema revert |
Activation Protocol
When the user types $careful:
- Acknowledge: "Safety mode active. I will confirm before running any destructive command."
- For the rest of this task, before any matching command, output:
⚠️ DESTRUCTIVE: [command]. Proceed? (yes/no)
- Wait for explicit confirmation before running.
- NEVER auto-approve. NEVER reason that "context makes it safe."
When to Use
Activate before:
- Production infrastructure work
- Database migrations (especially down/rollback)
- Bulk file operations
- Release / publish workflows
- Any task where "undo" doesn't exist
How to Deactivate
Safety mode ends when:
- The user says "deactivate careful" or "cancel careful"
- The session ends
Relationship to Pre-commit-quality Hook
The .codex/hooks/pre-commit-quality.sh hook already blocks secrets/debugger commits automatically.
$careful extends safety to all interactive destructive commands — complementary, not redundant.
