Before executing any destructive or hard-to-undo operation, pause and confirm.
Checklist:
- State explicitly what you are about to do and why.
- Identify what cannot be undone if this goes wrong.
- Ask the user to confirm if the action is significant.
- Prefer dry-run or preview modes when available (
git diff,--dry-run, staging environments).
Examples of irreversible actions: rm -rf, git push --force, DROP TABLE, sending an email, publishing a post.
Anti-pattern: Silently executing destructive operations without a confirmation step.