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Claude Haiku 5.5 (effort default (no --effort flag) · thinking on) on Write a robust backup rotation script (dry-run, spaces, exit codes, safe deletion)

AClaude Haiku 5.5default · thinking on · Claude Code 2.1.299 (headless -p) · cloud · 2026-10-16 · by @bobsiopener

Trust 80%Fully autonomoussuccess · first try
Estimated cost
$0.01
Wall time
1m
Human step-ins
0
Outcome
Pass

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Summary

Exact prompt

# Task: write a robust backup-rotation shell script Write `rotate.sh` (bash, coreutils + tar/gzip only) implementing: ``` rotate.sh [--keep N] [--dry-run] SRC_DIR DEST_DIR ``` - Creates `DEST_DIR/backup-YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS.tar.gz` containing SRC_DIR's contents (paths inside the archive relative to SRC_DIR, i.e. `./file`), excluding any `*.tmp` files and any directory named `.cache` (at any depth). Use the timestamp from env `BACKUP_NOW` (format `YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS`) if set, else the current UTC time. Creates DEST_DIR if missing. - Then keeps only the N newest backups (default 5, ordered by the timestamp in the filename), deleting older ones. Never delete files in DEST_DIR that don't match `backup-????????-??????.tar.gz`. - `--dry-run`: change nothing on disk; print one line per action: `CREATE <path>` and `DELETE <path>`. - Must handle file/dir names with spaces, newlines are not required. - Exit codes: 0 ok; 2 usage error (unknown option, missing args, N not a positive integer); 3 SRC_DIR does not exist. Errors go to stderr. - `rotate.sh --help` prints usage to stdout and exits 0. Make it executable. No network.

15 scenario checks incl. names with spaces, excluded .cache/*.tmp, dry-run with no side effects, only deleting pattern-matching files, exact exit codes. Original benchmark task written for usecaserank.com (not based on a specific public post). Headless, offline run on a reproducible fixture. Each run's notes say how its cost was measured (estimates are marked).

Success criteria: 1. 15 scenario checks in a private temp dir, all must pass: 2. --help exits 0; no args, --keep 0, and an unknown option each exit 2; missing SRC exits 3. 3. Archive created as backup-<BACKUP_NOW>.tar.gz; it contains './sub dir/my file.txt' and './a/keep.log' and no *.tmp or .cache entries. 4. --dry-run --keep 3 changes nothing on disk, prints the exact CREATE line and exactly 5 DELETE lines. 5. Real run with --keep 3 leaves exactly the 3 newest pattern-matching backups. 6. Non-matching files (notes.txt, 'backup-old copy.tar.gz') are never deleted. 7. Destination path with a space works; without BACKUP_NOW a correctly-named timestamped archive is created.

Setup notes: Use Case Scout batch 4 case d07-bash-backup-rotation (offline fixture). Prepared with batch4/prepare.sh; hidden key/tests kept outside the agent's work dir. Prompt = TASK.md verbatim. Scored with the scout's scorer: `bash score.sh WORKDIR`. Tools: Read/Write/Edit/Glob/Grep/Bash, web disabled. Single run, no retries. Claude Code's own reported cost for claude-haiku-5.5: $0.012264. Score: 15/15. Cost is an ESTIMATE: measured tokens x pricing.json list price (Claude Pro subscription, nothing billed); input_tokens include cache reads and writes. Single run.

Estimated cost List-price estimate; not actually billed.

Metrics

Estimated cost
$0.01
Wall time
1m
Human step-ins
0
Turns
5
Model usage
ModelInput tokOutput tokCost
AClaude Haiku 5.5anthropic/claude-haiku-5.5effort default (no --effort flag) · thinking on86,10814,428$0.01

Reproduce this run

  1. Use the use case prompt on the use case page.
  2. Same setup: Claude Haiku 5.5 (anthropic/claude-haiku-5.5, effort default (no --effort flag) · thinking on) via Claude Code 2.1.299 (headless -p), cloud.
  3. It counts as a success only if it meets every success criterion: 1. 15 scenario checks in a private temp dir, all must pass: 2. --help exits 0; no args, --keep 0, and an unknown option each exit 2; missing SRC exits 3. 3. Archive created as backup-<BACKUP_NOW>.tar.gz; it contains './sub dir/my file.txt' and './a/keep.log' and no *.tmp or .cache entries. 4. --dry-run --keep 3 changes nothing on disk, prints the exact CREATE line and exactly 5 DELETE lines. 5. Real run with --keep 3 leaves exactly the 3 newest pattern-matching backups. 6. Non-matching files (notes.txt, 'backup-old copy.tar.gz') are never deleted. 7. Destination path with a space works; without BACKUP_NOW a correctly-named timestamped archive is created.
  4. Log model, tokens, wall time, human step-ins and the evidence log, then submit it as a reproduction. A different model? Submit a head-to-head rerun.

How runs are scored: Methodology.

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Automated checks

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Evidence log
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  "result": "`rotate.sh` is written, executable, and passes the behaviour checks I ran. It's at `./usecase-runner/runs/d07-claude-haiku/work/rotate.sh`. The directory is not a git repo, so I did not commit.\n\nWhat I verified:\n- **Usage errors (exit 2):** no args, one arg, unknown option, `--keep 0`, `--keep x`, and `--keep` with no value.\n- **Missing source (exit 3):** a nonexistent `SRC_DIR` fails with exit 3.\n- **`--help`:** prints usage to stdout and exits 0.\n- **Archive contents:** entries are `./`-relative and names with spaces work. `*.tmp` files and `.cache` directories are excluded at every depth. The archive is created with mode 0644.\n- **Retention:** with six older backups and `--keep 5`, the oldest is deleted. Files like `notes.txt`, `backup-bad.tar.gz`, and a matching-named directory are left alone.\n- **Dry-run:** prints `CREATE` and `DELETE` lines and changes nothing on disk.\n- **Destination inside source:** the archive excludes the destination directory, so it doesn't back up its own output.\n\nChoices I made where the spec was open:\n- An empty `BACKUP_NOW` counts as unset. A non-empty value that isn't `YYYYMMDD-HHMMSS` is a usage error (exit 2), because a malformed name would never match the retention pattern.\n- Runtime failures (tar, mv, mkdir) exit 1. The spec didn't assign a code to these.\n- `DEST_DIR` is created only in real runs, so `--dry-run` leaves no trace.\n- Retention includes the backup about to be created. If `BACKUP_NOW` is older than the N newest existing backups, the new file is deleted right away. That follows the \"keep only the N newest\" rule literally.\n- Only the `.cache` directory is excluded. A regular file named `.cache` is still archived.\n- Symlinks are stored as links, not followed.\n\nThe script uses GNU tar options (`--no-recursion`, `--null`, `--files-from=-`), so it needs GNU tar.",
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]

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