Replacing rm command with trash in Claude Code

The fear of losing a file is a big deal using Claude Code since it has access to bash tools and can run bash commands on its own. This is possible whenever --dangerously-skip-permissions is enabled or I have accepted edits inside a particular session.

A workaround for this can be to skip running rm command inside Claude Code settings. I have added "Bash(rm:*)" to a “deny” list inside Claude Code’s global settings file (~/.claude-code/global-settings.json):

{
  "permissions": {
    "deny": ["Bash(rm:*)"]
  }
}

The deny list in settings.json lives outside of the conversation/session, which means Claude cannot run rm even if it wants to during a session. It will trigger the command during a session but the tool call will get blocked and the command will fail to run.

This is a good workaround to prevent accidental file deletions. However, it also means that if I want Claude Code to delete a file, I will have to manually keep track of each file from the session and delete it myself. That is tiresome and ideal for me.

What if I could allow Claude Code to safely delete those files instead of permanently delete them?

There is a tool exactly for deleting files safely without permanently deleting them. It is called trash, a CLI that moves a file or a directory to the Finder trash on macOS. To install it, you can use Homebrew:

brew install trash

Running a command like trash file.txt, will move the file.txt inside the Finder trash. This is normal macOS trash behavior. I added trash in my Claude’s global CLAUDE.md file with the following instruction:

## No `rm` Rule

Never use `rm` or `rm -f` to delete files. Always use `trash` instead (e.g., `trash .eslintcache`). This ensures files can be recovered.

Now, instead of rm, Claude reaches for trash on its own. The deny list keeps on handling the edge case where the initial intent is to use rm fails and the Claude picks up trash.

Here is an example of how it works in practice from a real session, where I was working on migrating from ESLint to OxLint:

trash ~/.claude/skills/docs-freshness/SKILL.md
trash ~/.claude/scripts/docs-freshness.sh ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.claude.docs-freshness.plist
trash .oxlintrc-test.json
trash .oxlintrc.json.bak
trash .eslintcache
trash scripts/oxlint-migration-status.ts

Each of the above files would have been permanently deleted with rm. With trash, they all went to the Finder trash where I can recover them if I need to. I have stopped thinking about losing an important file permanently. I just approve the cleanup step and move on.