Killed: 9 (SIGKILL / OOM killer) — page 2
The kernel terminated Claude Code outright, usually for memory pressure.
337 issues · 107 open · 230 resolved (68%) · first seen Feb 25, 2025
First response · local
What to do now
Most likely: The local Claude Code process crashed while parsing or executing.
- Record the Claude Code version and the first stack frame before restarting.
- Try a fresh session with the same minimal input to distinguish corrupted state from a repeatable crash.
- Preserve logs and compare reports from the same version before downgrading.
These are conservative triage steps, not an official Anthropic fix. Use the issue and workaround evidence below before making a destructive configuration change.
Is this getting better or worse?
This class of problem is still growing. 149 new reports in the last 90 days vs 105 in the 90 before — +42%. The open backlog peaked at 107 in 2026-08 and sits at 107 today.
Derived by counting each matching issue from its creation date until it closed. First-party
computation over the anthropics/claude-code tracker — the trend is not published
anywhere upstream.
Which builds report this
227 of these reports name the Claude Code build they were running, spanning 110 releases. Heaviest reporters:
- Claude Code v2.1.220
- Claude Code v2.1.233
- Claude Code v2.1.205
- Claude Code v2.1.231
- Claude Code v2.1.226
- Claude Code v2.1.170
- Claude Code v2.1.160
- Claude Code v2.1.119
Report volume, not a defect count: an issue can mention a build without that build having caused the failure. Versions come from the version string in the bug-report template, matched against real published tags.
Do these get fixed?
Median time to close is 25 days across 230 closures. Of the 230 closures with a recorded reason, 17% were closed as completed and 190 as not-planned or duplicate. The most recent completed fix landed in 2026-08.
Workarounds reported by the community
165 of these issues post a workaround someone says worked. The highest-engagement ones:
- Claude.ai MCP servers auto-injected into Claude Code without opt-in — causes OOM crashes on resource-constrained systems
- …r's Claude.ai account and load them into every CLI session. Workaround Manually editing to set: However, this is a cached flag and may be overwritten on next update/startup. Expected Behavior 1. This should be opt-in, no…
Found in the description of #20412 · resolved - [BUG] Critical memory regression in 2.1.27 - OOM crash on simple input
- …toring during 2.1.27 session 2.1.25 after rollback (stable) Workaround Roll back to 2.1.25: Environment Info - Platform: Linux (Ubuntu 24.04, kernel 6.8.0-90-generic) - Architecture: x86 64 (QEMU/KVM VM) - RAM: 8GB + 4GB…
Found in the description of #22042 · resolved - Claude Code Memory Leak - Process Grows to 120+ GB RAM and Gets OOM Killed
- …d data structures (conversation history, file caches, etc.) Workaround Currently, the only workaround is to periodically restart Claude Code before memory exhaustion occurs, which is highly disruptive to workflow. --- Pr…
Found in the description of #4953 · still open - Critical Memory Leak: Claude Code Consumed 129GB RAM and Caused System Freeze
- …there's unbounded caching 5. Review event listener cleanup Workaround Currently monitoring with: Plan to restart Claude Code when memory usage exceeds safe threshold.
Found in the description of #11315 · still open - [BUG] claude starts and 3 seconds later exits.
- The linked duplicate bug has a workaround that worked for me! Wipe out all your claude stuff in .local and .claude, then: This fixed it for me.
Found in the thread of #11864 · still open
Excerpts are quoted from the linked issue so you can judge relevance before opening it. Threads that only ask for a workaround, or report that there is none, are excluded. These are community suggestions, not official guidance from Anthropic — read the full thread before applying one.
Matching issues 101–200
Ranked by community engagement (reactions weighted over comments). Listing the top 300 of 337 matches; the statistics above cover all 337.
- [BUG] Bundled claude-code CLI binary is unsigned — fails Gatekeeper on managed Mac, breaks Chat/Cowork/Code with "crashed" error
- PowerShell script blocks / subexpressions still bypass allowlist and prompt (re-file of #52926, stale-bot closed)
- SessionEnd hook killed before completing on exit ("Hook cancelled") — EXIT trap never runs, no configurable grace [2.1.187, tui: fullscreen]
- [BUG] Desktop Code tab: /stats scan materializes entire multi-GB transcripts (incl. subagents/) → browser-process V8 heap OOM kills app; CLI handles same sessions fine
- Feature request: AZ5 emergency stop — immediately kill all running tasks and commands
- [BUG] claude rm/stop/reap SIGKILLs background session tree without SIGTERM grace, orphaning git index.lock and similar
- [Enhancement] Reap MCP child processes on parent claude exit — portable-workspace external drives get corrupted by orphan handles
- [BUG] Claude Code escapes systemd transient scope at startup, defeating user-imposed memory caps
- Misleading 'Blocked by endpoint security' popup on personal Mac with no endpoint-security software
- [BUG] Claude Desktop 1.5354.0: stdio MCP servers double-spawn from independent CCD/LAM coordinator registries
- Memory leak: RSS grows to ~6 GB on ARM64 in 2.1.121 (regression similar to #28763)
- Extended thinking burns unlimited tokens on 'continue' with large context — no output, no timeout, requires SIGKILL
- postinstall strips Mach-O code signature on darwin-arm64 → macOS SIGKILLs claude on launch
- [BUG] Channel plugin bun processes orphan on session exit, accumulate indefinitely
- app-server-broker.mjs processes leak when Claude Code session ends abnormally
- claude -p with --output-format text hangs after completing — MCP servers not cleaned up
- Bash-tool snapshot-source wrappers accumulate during subagent dispatch, triggering process-cascade OOM
- [BUG] Unbounded memory usage in LXD VMs where tool calling is used (CLI + VSCode Extension)
- Task output files in tmpfs grow unbounded, can consume all system RAM
- [BUG] Stop button fails to halt runaway agent — requires 5+ clicks and stop messages
- Claude Code crashes with OOM (2.6GB+) — no memory self-monitoring or graceful degradation
- [BUG] Claude Code freezes when Terminal.app menu bar / toolbar is activated (macOS)
- [BUG] Out of memory--ubuntu
- Ctrl+Z sends SIGSTOP to own PID instead of SIGTSTP to process group, breaks job control in containers/sandboxes
- Subagent processes inherit unbounded V8 heap reservation, causing OOM on large-memory systems
- [BUG] Marketplace installation silently fails (SIGKILL) on enterprise machines due to EDR blocking --recurse-submodules
- [BUG] Memory leak: multiple Claude processes accumulate 11GB+ RSS on Ubuntu 25.10 (kernel 6.17)
- Frequent hangs when run from OpenClaw via background PTY
- [BUG] Claude Code installer OOM when run as root during Docker build
- Startup freeze and 100% CPU zombie processes when VS Code extension and CLI versions mismatch
- [BUG] Memory leak - Claude Code 2.1.2 grows to 6-7GB RAM in short conversations
- [BUG] Question Clarification Tool Makes Claude Code Stuck sometimes
- Per-tool-call helper process (claude.exe) leaks to 11.6GB anon RSS and is OOM-killed during a slow sandboxed Bash command
- Runaway anonymous-memory growth (~14.5 GiB in ~5 min) kills the CLI — reproduces on BOTH native (Bun/JSC) and npm (Node/V8) installs
- [BUG] Headless CLI reserves memory from host RAM, leaks to 11-31 GB, and takes down the entire WSL2 VM (2.1.181 / 2.1.215 / 2.1.220)
- Transcript JSONL corruption; records spliced by unsynchronized writers
- [BUG] Claude Desktop (macOS): instances quit silently — clean beforeQuit, no crash report, not memory, active window always survives
- MCP server processes not terminated when Claude Code session exits
- stdio MCP servers spawned via launcher commands (bun run, npx) leave orphaned grandchildren after CLI exit — consider killing the process group
- [BUG] tui: "fullscreen" leaks OSC11/DA1 terminal query-replies to stdout — corrupts piped output and pager navigation
- Deeply-nested subagent fan-out causes unbounded memory growth → host-level OOM
- [BUG] Sandbox recursively enumerates workspace into nested node_modules → unbounded memory → OOM (still repros on 2.1.195; cf #27863)
- [Windows] Auto-updater freezes when child processes (git, node, python) are still running
- Agent teams: teammate never exits on shutdown_request; pane never closed (killPane never called) — v2.1.185
- [BUG] Workflow tool: runner subprocess leaks memory unbounded (~70 MB/s) → OOM-killed on long multi-agent runs
- [BUG] Desktop local agent mode: spawn_task task sessions busy-loop at ~100% CPU and are never reaped (survive 44h+) — macOS 2.1.170
- /mcp reconnect after config-hash-stale spawns literal unexpanded ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT} → -32000
- [BUG] Headless `--output-format stream-json` sessions spawned by desktop-app scheduled tasks (with Task subagent fan-out) fail to retire after completion
- Spawned child process (versioned binary) grew to 12.3 GB RSS and was OOM-killed
- [Behavioral] embedded-ripgrep V8-heap unbounded on file-listing (GH#54394 second spawn route)
- [BUG] Native memory leak (~1.5 GB/min RssAnon) in interactive mode — regression between 2.1.140 and 2.1.150
- `claude remote-control` daemon leaks idle `--print` child sessions (never reaped)
- MCP STDIO subprocess reaped + respawned mid-conversation, no shutdown signal to the server
- claude --print hangs on Sonnet 4-6 at default/high effort with large prompts
- Detached worktrees from subagent isolation accumulate silently with no lifecycle management
- [BUG] Claude Desktop scheduled-tasks runner leaves orphan CLI subprocesses
- Bun runtime SIGKILL's stdio MCP server process group after ~60s idle
- claude -p wedges (600s timeout) when invoked via Python subprocess.run with --model sonnet, --output-format json, and large prompt content (macOS arm64)
- VS Code extension does not reap orphan child claude processes
- /resume picker shows empty after process exit, regardless of /rename, real prompts, or synthesized live PID metadata
- [BUG] skill-creator run_loop.py: --results-dir stays empty when parent session compacts (no per-iteration flush + lost task handle)
- Session JSONL corrupted by non-atomic append when process killed mid-write — `--resume` fails with JSON parse error
- [Proposal] backgroundMaxElapsedSeconds — watchdog for Bash processes left by run_in_background (16 h silent zombie in auto mode)
- [BUG] SIGKILL on older CPU
- [BUG] Claude Code hangs mid-session after extended tool-use; prompt disappears, SIGTERM ignore
- [BUG] Bash tool sends SIGTERM instead of SIGINT when cancelling commands, corrupting build state
- Orphaned Claude Code process enters 100% CPU busy loop when parent terminal is closed
- [BUG] Stale MCP Session ID Cached Permanently
- Code tab unresponsive: Electron env vars (OPERON_SANDBOXED_NETWORK) break bundled CLI
- 2.1.97 binary gets SIGKILL'd on macOS 26.3 (Tahoe beta)
- Telegram plugin leaks orphan bun server.ts processes across session restarts; stuck ones pin a full CPU core indefinitely
- Telegram channel plugin: bun server.ts processes consume ~80% CPU when idle
- Orchestrator crashes on burst of simultaneous background agent completions
- Desktop app leaves orphaned child processes consuming 100% CPU
- SIGWINCH (terminal resize) causes runaway memory allocation → OOM kill
- MCP server processes leak across sessions, exhausting Windows commit charge (0xC000012D)
- [BUG] --json-schema causes infinite loop: model treats StructuredOutput tool as prompt injection
- TaskStop should send SIGTERM before SIGKILL to allow graceful cleanup
- [BUG] SSH Remote: ccd-cli 2.1.78 bundled by Mac app exits with code 1 on every message
- VS Code extension: Renderer OOM crash (code -536870904) and MaxListenersExceeded memory leak in extension host
- MCP server processes not terminated when Agent subprocesses exit
- [BUG] Memory leak: 7.5GB ArrayBuffer accumulation in 3 minutes on Raspberry Pi 5
- OOM kill: Claude Code memory grows to 10-13 GB after just 3 exchanges
- [BUG] Claude Desktop v1.1.5368 Windows: rootfs.vhdx detected as missing but download never initiates, app completely unusable
- Claude Code crashes with SIGKILL on macOS Mojave when processing images (sharp/libvips _aligned_alloc)
- [BUG] Claude Desktop on Windows: Quit takes 10+ seconds with multiple MCP servers configured
- [FEATURE] Graceful shutdown signal for headless/long-running sessions
- [BUG] macOS kills 3rd+ concurrent Claude Code instance with SIGKILL (Taskgated Invalid Signature)
- [FEATURE] Share MCP server processes across concurrent Claude Code sessions
- [BUG] Claude Code process grows to ~14 GB RSS causing OOM kill and full system freeze
- MCP: 'broken pipe' error should indicate server is unreachable, not generic transport failure
- Memory leak: Claude Code process consumes ~58GB RAM, triggers OOM killer
- [Bug] Bash tool hangs indefinitely on git merge command, requires kill -9
- MCP server processes are never cleaned up when sessions end — orphan accumulation causes OOM
- [BUG] Claude Code CLI hangs indefinitely after sending result event in stream-json mode
- Claude Code Process Deadlock/Infinite Loop - Requires SIGKILL
- Claude Code CLI Hangs on Startup with Ollama (Anthropic Messages API)
- [BUG] Long-running Bedrock sessions killed by SIGKILL (signal 9) due to no output during extended thinking
- Memory leak: CLI process grows to 44GB+ RAM with GC thrashing and unresponsive SIGTERM
- System Crashes in Production: Process Explosion & Resource Exhaustion (Ubuntu 22.04, v2.1.30-2.1.32)