# Remove Brain

> Deprovision a Horizon AIOS brain — removes its OS user account, per-brain group, workspace folder, profile config, and stored credential, leaving the shared brains group intact. Use when the user types /remove-brain, asks to "remove a brain", "delete a brain account", "deprovision a brain", or "tear down a brain user".

- Skill: `horizonbrute/remove-brain` (Agent Skill)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add horizonbrute/remove-brain`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/horizonbrute/remove-brain/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Coding & Dev Tools
- Author: HorizonBrute (https://skillmd.com/u/horizonbrute)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/horizonbrute/remove-brain

---


# Skill: /remove-brain

**Model preference:** `#highcap` (per `horizon_aios_model_prefs.md`; overridable by a prompt directive).

Deprovision a brain with `horizon_aios_remove_brain.py` — the counterpart to `horizon_aios_create_brain.py`. Removes the brain's OS user account, its per-brain group, its workspace folder, its user-profile config, and its stored credential. The shared `brains` group is left intact (other brains use it).

---

## When to invoke

The user types `/remove-brain`, or asks to "remove a brain", "delete a brain account", "deprovision a brain", or "tear down a brain user".

---

## Arguments

`/remove-brain <brain-name> [--yes] [--keep-credential] [--horizon-root PATH] [--dry-run]`

- `<brain-name>` — **required** positional; must match `^[a-z][a-z0-9_]{1,31}$`. The script refuses reserved names (`brains`, `root`, `administrator`, the invoking user, etc.).
- `--yes` / `-y` — skip the interactive confirmation prompt.
- `--keep-credential` — do not delete the stored OS-keystore credential.
- `--horizon-root PATH` — explicit root; otherwise derived from the script location.
- `--dry-run` — print what would be removed without changing anything.

---

## Step-by-step execution

### Step 1 — Check elevation

This **hard-requires** the administrative context — the script exits with an error if not run as Administrator (Windows) or root (Unix). (Privileges are checked only on a real run, not `--dry-run`.) If the session is not elevated and the user did NOT pass `--dry-run`, do not run it: tell the user to re-run from an elevated terminal (or with `sudo`) and stop.

### Step 2 — Confirmation

Without `--yes`, the script prompts interactively and requires the user to **type the brain name** to confirm. A non-interactive agent session cannot answer that prompt — if you intend to run it unattended and the user has clearly confirmed the destructive removal, pass `--yes`. Otherwise surface that confirmation is required.

### Step 3 — Run

```
python "$HORIZON_SYSTEM/sbin/horizon_aios_remove_brain.py" <brain-name>
```

Append `--yes` / `--keep-credential` / `--horizon-root` / `--dry-run` as requested.

### Step 4 — Report

Relay the removal output and the final "Verify removal" result. If anything is still present after removal (exit code 2), surface what remained so the user can clean it up.

Exit 2 means the teardown did **not** finish and the residue will make the next `create-brain` mint a suffixed profile. Do not paper over it — never rename the profile directory aside to free the name, which reads as success and leaves an untracked profile behind. If the blocker is a live handle the script could not name, a reboot then a re-run is the remedy; the re-run finishes from the ProfileList row.

---

## Notes for the executing agent

- Destructive and irreversible — it deletes the OS account, workspace, profile, and credential. Confirm intent before running with `--yes`.
- The Windows profile directory is resolved from `ProfileList\<SID>\ProfileImagePath`, never constructed as `C:\Users\<brain>`: Windows suffixes a colliding profile (`C:\Users\<brain>.LEATHERDECK`, then `.000`), and a run that deletes the constructed path misses the real profile and still exits 0. The script removes every profile directory **and** ProfileList row belonging to the brain, including residue whose account is already gone. A `--dry-run` prints the resolved path — if it shows a bare `C:\Users\<brain>` for a brain you know is suffixed, stop and report it.
- Links (home `~/.claude` → workspace, workspace `.claude/skills` → `skills_bin`) are removed as reparse points (rmdir/unlink) BEFORE any recursive delete, so `skills_bin` is never followed/destroyed — do not work around this; just run the script.
- The shared `brains` group is intentionally kept. Only the per-brain group is removed.