Claude Code wiped a Penpot server's data while fixing its backend
Asked to fix a broken Penpot backend on a VPS, Claude ran docker-compose down -v, deleting the volumes holding the database and assets.
Credits
- Reddit poster baykarmehmet Source ↗
Earliest dated source:
Make a backup before letting an AI tool run commands on a server, since one flag can wipe its data volumes.
The full story
A mobile engineer running open source projects on a VPS asked Claude to check and fix a problem with the backend of Penpot, an open-source Figma alternative. About five minutes later all the data was gone.
Claude admitted that running docker-compose down -v had removed the volumes containing the Penpot database and assets, and that it should have checked the data, made a backup and asked first. Penpot was working again, but designs, user accounts and project data were lost. The poster, who does keep backups, warns others to back up before letting an AI tool change a server.
How it was done
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Sources
From a short post by the maker, so the details are as they tell them.
- Reddit: Just Be Careful!Reddit poster: baykarmehmetPosted
The maker's post on r/ClaudeAI.
If it disappears: archived copy of Reddit: Just Be Careful! (opens in a new tab)