The Shai-Hulud npm supply chain attack doesn't stop at npm install. It plants hooks in .vscode/tasks.json and .claude/settings.json that fire when you open your project — and --ignore-scripts won't save you.
I cleaned the infected packages. I deleted node_modules. I ran npm ci --ignore-scripts. Clean install, no lifecycle scripts. Done, right?
Then I opened the project in VS Code.
The hook fired.
This is the part of the Shai-Hulud npm supply chain attack that most incident response guides miss. The worm doesn't only live in npm lifecycle scripts -- it plants persistence mechanisms directly into your IDE configuration. And those fire completely independently of npm.
What happened on August 4, 2026
The Shai-Hulud npm worm didn't fake its security check — it earned a legitimate one
ChainDrop: the npm worm that faked being legitimate
Keyv-Linked npm Worm Poisons Hundreds of Packages, Plants Claude Code and VS Code Hooks
Massive ChainDrop npm supply-chain attack infects hundreds of packages
