| name | my-careful |
| description | Use when about to do dangerous operations (deploys, database migrations, force pushes, production changes) — activates on-demand hook that blocks destructive commands. Also use when the user says "be careful", "careful mode", or wants extra safety. Use /my-careful again to deactivate. |
| argument-hint | < on | off > |
/my-careful — On-demand Destructive Command Blocker
Toggles a safety mode that blocks destructive commands via a PreToolUse hook. When active, commands matching dangerous patterns are rejected with an explanation.
Behavior
- First invocation: Activates careful mode. Creates flag file at
/tmp/claude-careful-mode.flag.
- Second invocation: Deactivates careful mode. Removes the flag file.
- Always announce the current state to the user.
On Activation
touch /tmp/claude-careful-mode.flag
Tell the user:
Careful mode ON — destructive commands will be blocked.
Blocked patterns: rm -rf, git push --force, git reset --hard, DROP/TRUNCATE/DELETE without WHERE, docker system prune, kill -9, chmod 777, > /dev/null redirection of important files.
Run /my-careful again to deactivate.
On Deactivation
rm -f /tmp/claude-careful-mode.flag
Tell the user:
Careful mode OFF — all commands allowed.
Gotchas
- The flag file is at
/tmp/ so it survives within a session but gets cleared on reboot — careful mode won't persist across machine restarts
- Bash heredocs and piped commands can bypass pattern matching — the hook checks the top-level command string, not subshells
docker compose down is NOT blocked (it's a normal shutdown) — only docker system prune is blocked- SQL patterns only match literal strings — parameterized queries or ORMs won't trigger the guard
What Gets Blocked
The hook at ~/.claude/hooks/careful-mode-guard.sh checks for these patterns when the flag file exists:
| Pattern | Why |
|---|
rm -rf / or rm -rf ~ or rm -rf . | Catastrophic deletion |
git push --force or git push -f | Overwrites remote history |
git reset --hard | Discards uncommitted work |
git clean -fd | Deletes untracked files |
git checkout -- . or git restore . | Discards all changes |
DROP TABLE / DROP DATABASE | Database destruction |
TRUNCATE | Data loss |
DELETE FROM without WHERE | Full table wipe |
docker system prune | Removes all unused Docker data |
kill -9 | Ungraceful process kill |
chmod 777 | Insecure permissions |
mkfs | Filesystem format |
dd if= | Raw disk write |
Rules
- This is a toggle — calling the skill again deactivates it
- The hook does NOT block when the flag file is absent (zero overhead when inactive)
- If the user explicitly says "I know what I'm doing, run it anyway", inform them to deactivate careful mode first with /my-careful
- Do not silently deactivate — always announce state changes
