Gemini CLI lost a user's files during a failed file move on Windows
Asked to organize the files in its working folder, Gemini CLI (gemini-2.5-pro, on Windows) lost all of them, a user reported. "I have failed you completely and catastrophically," the agent said.
On July 21, 2025, a user opened issue #4586 on the gemini-cli repository: "I asked Gemini CLI to organize my files within the folder it was running and it 'lost' all my files." He was running version 0.1.13 with gemini-2.5-pro on Windows1.
The user, Anuraag Gupta, a product lead at Cyware, had asked the agent to move the files from his Claude coding experiments into a new folder. Its "mkdir command to create the destination folder likely failed silently," so "every moved filed ended up overwriting the previous file," and only the last file survived. The agent then told him: "I have failed you completely and catastrophically," "I have lost your data," and "This is an unacceptable, irreversible failure"2.
Google didn't comment to Mashable2. In May 2026 an automated bot on the issue called it "a bug in core file management on Windows," and the issue was closed as "not planned" on May 13, 20261.
On July 21, 2025, GitHub user anuraag2601 opened issue
“I asked Gemini CLI to organize my files within the folder it was running and it 'lost' all my files.”
The issue lists CLI version 0.1.13, model gemini-2.5-pro, no sandbox, and OS win32.
“gemini-2.5-pro”
The reporter said he expected the tool to fail gracefully.
“I expected it to fail gracefully and not hallucinate 'losing' the files and causing an alarm.”
Slashdot, citing Mashable, identified the user as Anuraag Gupta, a product lead at Cyware, and said he had asked Gemini CLI to move files from his Claude coding experiments into a new folder.
“a simple request to move all the files from his Claude coding experiments to a new folder”
According to Slashdot's summary of Mashable, the agent's mkdir command to create the destination folder likely failed silently, and each subsequent move overwrote the previous file, so only the last file survived.
“Only the last file survived, the blog post explains, since every moved filed ended up overwriting the previous file”
Slashdot's summary quotes the agent saying "I have failed you completely and catastrophically," "I have lost your data," and "This is an unacceptable, irreversible failure."
“I have failed you completely and catastrophically.”
Google did not respond to Mashable's request for comment by publication time.
“Google did not respond to Mashable's request for comment by the time of publication.”
On May 9, 2026, an automated gemini-cli bot comment described the issue as a core file-management bug on Windows. The issue was closed as "not planned" on May 13, 2026, with no Google maintainer comment visible on the page.
“This is a bug in core file management on Windows.”
All 8 claims with their quotes (1 not linked to a sentence above)
- On July 21, 2025, GitHub user anuraag2601 opened issue1
“I asked Gemini CLI to organize my files within the folder it was running and it 'lost' all my files.”
- The issue lists CLI version 0.1.13, model gemini-2.5-pro, no sandbox, and OS win32.1
“gemini-2.5-pro”
- The reporter said he expected the tool to fail gracefully.1
“I expected it to fail gracefully and not hallucinate 'losing' the files and causing an alarm.”
- Slashdot, citing Mashable, identified the user as Anuraag Gupta, a product lead at Cyware, and said he had asked Gemini CLI to move files from his Claude coding experiments into a new folder.2
“a simple request to move all the files from his Claude coding experiments to a new folder”
- According to Slashdot's summary of Mashable, the agent's mkdir command to create the destination folder likely failed silently, and each subsequent move overwrote the previous file, so only the last file survived.2
“Only the last file survived, the blog post explains, since every moved filed ended up overwriting the previous file”
- Slashdot's summary quotes the agent saying "I have failed you completely and catastrophically," "I have lost your data," and "This is an unacceptable, irreversible failure."2
“I have failed you completely and catastrophically.”
- Google did not respond to Mashable's request for comment by publication time.2
“Google did not respond to Mashable's request for comment by the time of publication.”
- On May 9, 2026, an automated gemini-cli bot comment described the issue as a core file-management bug on Windows. The issue was closed as "not planned" on May 13, 2026, with no Google maintainer comment visible on the page.1
“This is a bug in core file management on Windows.”
Sources
- [1]Gemini CLI 'lost' files during a failed file move operation. [Windows] (#4586)
- [2]Google Gemini Deletes User's Files, Then Just Admits "I Have Failed You Completely and Catastrophically"
Editor notes
Mashable (mashable.com/article/google-gemini-deletes-users-code) could not be fetched, so the mkdir/overwrite mechanism, the user's identity, and the agent quotes are attributed to Slashdot's summary of Mashable. Gupta's original blog post (anuraag2601.github.io/gemini_cli_disaster.html) returns 404. The PowerShell transcript attached to the issue was not read. The GitHub page hid about 22 timeline items behind "Load more", so a maintainer comment may exist that was not seen. The Slashdot quote "every moved filed" reproduces a typo in the source. Exact incident date is unknown beyond the issue filing on 2025-07-21.