A ChatGPT Dot's files vanished overnight
He says his Dot's whole workspace was suddenly recreated empty on the evening of Nov 7 (UTC), and his original work was gone. Missing were a large handoff package and three project folders, some of which he had not saved anywhere else. He emailed OpenAI support with timestamps and file details and asked them to preserve the old disk, but says the only reply so far was automated. He also points to other users reporting wiped or rolled-back workspaces. Whatever the cause, an agent's computer is not a backup.
The lesson: Copy anything an agent creates to your own storage. Its workspace can be reset without warning.
Copy this prompt
At the end of each work session, list every file you created or changed today, then copy them to my [GOOGLE DRIVE / DROPBOX / GITHUB] folder [FOLDER]. Confirm the copy by listing the file names and sizes at the destination. If a copy fails, tell me before you do anything else.
Our own prompt, written from what the source describes. We haven't run it ourselves. Text in [BRACKETS] is what you replace.
Watch out for
- Keep the backup outside the agent's own computer, in a service you control.
- If files disappear, ask support to preserve the old data in writing straight away, with dates and times.
Where this comes from
Original post by @jerry_ying42171 on X, Nov 8, 2026. We rewrote it in our own words. Check the original for the full context.
Read the originalGuides for this job
Turn a messy inbox into a 5-minute daily summary
Paste in today's emails and get back what needs a reply today, what can wait, what to ignore, and a one-line reply for each. It also flags emails that look like scams.