project-safety

# Project Safety Skill **CRITICAL RULE: Never delete data or code files. Never.** Use legacy/ folder for originals. Copy, don't move. > Establish safety rules and structures before Claude makes changes to research projects. ## Purpose Based on Scott Cunningham's workflow: prevent accidental data loss by establishing rules and using legacy folders before Claude reorganizes or modifies project files. ## When to Use - Starting a new research project folder - Before asking Claude to reorganize files - When Claude will be running code or modifying data - Setting up a project for collaborative work --- ## Safety Rules Template Add this to any project's CLAUDE.md file: ```markdown ## Safety Rules 1. **Never delete data files** — No .csv, .dta, .xlsx, .parquet, or any data format 2. **Never delete code files** — No .py, .R, .do, .tex, .md or scripts 3. **Use legacy/ folder** — If reorganizing, move originals to legacy/ first 4. **Copy from legacy, don't move** — Always preserve the original ### If you need to reorganize: 1. Create a legacy/ folder if it doesn't exist 2. Move ALL original files into legacy/ 3. Copy (not move) needed files into new structure 4. Never modify anything in legacy/ ``` --- ## Directory Structure After safety setup: ``` project/ ├── CLAUDE.md ← Safety rules + project context ├── README.md ← Project documentation ├── legacy/ ← PROTECTED: original files │ └── [all originals] ├── code/ │ ├── R/ │ ├── python/...