Version parsing crash: Invalid Version with date suffix (2.1.0 (2026-01-07))

Bug Description

Claude Code crashes on startup with ERROR Invalid Version: 2.1.0 (2026-01-07) when version cache contains version strings with date suffixes.

Environment

• OS: Linux (WSL2 on Windows)
• Node.js: v24.8.0
• Claude Code Version: 2.1.0
• Install Method: npm global + previously had Bun installation

Error Output

ERROR  Invalid Version: 2.1.0 (2026-01-07)

file:///home/gabe/.nvm/versions/node/v24.8.0/lib/node_modules/@anthropic-ai/claude-code/cli.js:869:8900

- iT (file:///...cli.js:869:8900)
- SJ8 (file:///...cli.js:869:14028)
- Object.dJ8 (file:///...cli.js:869:14584)
-  (file:///...cli.js:3091:4240)
-     at Array.sort (<anonymous>)
- de2 (file:///...cli.js:3091:4224)

Root Cause

The version cache in ~/.claude/statsig/ and ~/.local/share/claude/versions/ contained version strings like 2.1.0 (2026-01-07) with a date suffix. When Claude Code tries to sort versions using semver parsing, it fails because 2.1.0 (2026-01-07) is not a valid semver string.

Cached data showed:

"version":"2.1.0","versionBase":"2.1.0","buildTime":"2026-01-07T02:42:37Z"

The version string 2.1.0 (2026-01-07) appears to be constructed somewhere combining version + date, but the version sorting code doesn't strip the date suffix before parsing.

Workaround

Clearing these directories fixed the issue:

rm -rf ~/.local/share/claude
rm -rf ~/.claude/cache
rm -rf ~/.claude/statsig
hash -r

Suggested Fix

1. Strip date suffixes before semver parsing in version comparison logic
2. Use versionBase instead of the full display version for sorting
3. Add try-catch around version parsing to handle malformed versions gracefully
4. Consider validating/cleaning cached version data on startup

Steps to Reproduce

1. Have multiple Claude Code installations (e.g., Bun + npm)
2. Have cached version data with date suffixes in statsig cache
3. Run claude - crashes before showing UI

🤖 Generated with Claude Code