[BUG] infinite cloudflare loop

Preflight Checklist

• [x] I have searched existing issues and this hasn't been reported yet
• [x] This is a single bug report (please file separate reports for different bugs)
• [x] I am using the latest version of Claude Code

What's Wrong?

● Found the problem. This is a rate limit death spiral:

What's Happening

main.log shows this loop:

1. Navigation to https://claude.ai/claude-code-desktop failed with status code 429
2. Turnstile iframe detected. Removing error overlay.
3. Reloading current URL...
4. → 429 again (within 1 second!)
5. Repeat forever

HTTP 429 = Too Many Requests (rate limited)

Claude Desktop is detecting the Cloudflare challenge and immediately reloading, but each reload triggers another 429,
causing an infinite loop. It's making multiple requests per second, which just makes the rate limit worse.

Root Cause

This appears to be a bug in Claude Desktop - it doesn't have proper backoff when getting 429'd. It just keeps
hammering the server.

Report this bug to Anthropic - This reload loop without exponential backoff is a client-side bug. File at:
https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues

The 429 rate limit is being triggered by the app itself spamming reloads, not by your normal usage.

What Should Happen?

I should be able to access claude code

Error Messages/Logs

Logs (%APPDATA%\Claude\logs\main.log)

  2026-01-18 07:38:53 [info] Navigation to https://claude.ai/claude-code-desktop failed with status code 429:
  2026-01-18 07:38:53 [info] Turnstile iframe detected. Removing error overlay.
  2026-01-18 07:38:53 [info] Reloading current URL: 'https://claude.ai/claude-code-desktop'
  2026-01-18 07:38:53 [info] Navigation to https://claude.ai/claude-code-desktop failed with status code 429:
  2026-01-18 07:38:53 [info] Turnstile iframe detected. Removing error overlay.
  2026-01-18 07:38:53 [info] Reloading current URL: 'https://claude.ai/claude-code-desktop'
  2026-01-18 07:38:54 [info] Navigation to https://claude.ai/claude-code-desktop failed with status code 429:
  2026-01-18 07:38:54 [info] Turnstile iframe detected. Removing error overlay.
  2026-01-18 07:38:54 [info] Reloading current URL: 'https://claude.ai/claude-code-desktop'
  (continues indefinitely...)

Steps to Reproduce

Steps to Reproduce

1. Get rate-limited by Cloudflare (unclear exact trigger)
2. Open Claude Desktop
3. Observe infinite reload loop in logs

Impact

• App is completely unusable
• Constant requests may extend the rate limit duration
• Only workaround is to wait 15-30+ min or change IP

Suggested Fix

Add backoff logic before reloading when Turnstile is detected:
if (statusCode === 429) {
// Don't auto-reload on rate limit - show message to user
return;
}

Claude Model

Opus

Is this a regression?

I don't know

Last Working Version

_No response_

Claude Code Version

4.5

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

Windows

Terminal/Shell

Other

Additional Information

I can go to link on brownser but not on app itself claude desktop