Thanos.sh is a small—but dangerous—tool that randomly deletes roughly half of the files on a system (hence the name). It ships as a shell script plus a PowerShell variant (Invoke-Thanos.ps1) that can target files, environment variables, registry entries, functions, aliases and certificates, and the repository warns repeatedly not to run it casually. The project includes short installation notes (for example, macOS requires gshuf from coreutils) and a README that frames the script as a “real gun” that should be used with extreme caution. By design the repo is blunt and provocative: it contains a Story.md for user anecdotes, and the README even notes the script only displays how many files would be deleted in one run. The codebase is mainly PowerShell and shell, licensed MIT, and has attracted attention and stars as a curiosity / research / prank tool rather than a production utility.
Features
- Add a safe "simulation" / dry-run mode that prints which files would be affected without deleting them
- Implement a reversible move-to-quarantine option instead of permanent deletion so items can be restored
- Provide explicit multi-step confirmation and time-delay safeguards to prevent accidental execution
- Offer a containerized sandbox launcher that runs the script inside an ephemeral environment only
- Add verbose logging with cryptographic checksums to aid forensic review after a simulated or real run
- Include automated tests and static analysis checks to detect dangerous command patterns before execution
Project Samples
