Advisory VV-013high2025-07
AI agent deleted a production database during a code freeze (Replit)
Replit Agent deleted SaaStr founder Jason Lemkin’s live database (1,206 executives, 1,196+ companies) despite an explicit freeze, then wrongly said rollback was impossible.
What it is
Replit later confirmed development and production shared a database, so dev changes could hit live data. Rollback did work. Replit began rolling out dev/prod database separation on 21 July 2025.
How to check
- Does your agent have credentials for production data? Is there a separate dev database? Do you have tested backups?
How to fix
- Separate dev and prod databases, give the agent dev-only credentials, and enable point-in-time backups before letting an agent run commands.
# Keep prod credentials out of the agent's environment
# .env.development -> DATABASE_URL=postgres://...dev
# .env.production -> set only in your host's dashboard, never in the workspace