[BUG] Claude Desktop auto-quits after 5 minutes idle (SessionIdleManager 300s timeout)

Summary

Claude Desktop automatically terminates after approximately 5 minutes of inactivity due to a SessionIdleManager with a hardcoded 300-second timeout. This behavior can interrupt ongoing background processes, agent work, or long-running operations.

Environment

• App Version: 1.1.1890
• Commit Hash: af393cbac809fe788a4d156cb076b0e3e2b1160e
• Platform: macOS (Darwin)
• OS Version: 25.3.0
• Architecture: arm64 (Apple M4)
• Total Memory: 25.7 GB

Steps to Reproduce

1. Open Claude Desktop
2. Start a conversation or leave the app open
3. Leave the app idle for ~5 minutes (no interaction)
4. App automatically quits

Expected Behavior

• Claude Desktop should remain open until explicitly closed by the user
• At minimum, if an idle timeout is desired, it should:
• Be configurable (or disableable) in preferences
• NOT trigger if there are active/running processes (agents, file operations, API calls)
• Warn the user before quitting

Actual Behavior

App silently quits after 300 seconds of idle time with no warning.

Impact

This behavior can cause:

• Data loss — Unsaved conversation context
• Interrupted operations — Background agents, file operations, or long-running tasks terminated mid-process
• Poor user experience — User returns to find app closed unexpectedly
• Workflow disruption — Users who reference Claude while working on other tasks lose their session

Evidence from Logs

Log location: ~/Library/Logs/Claude/main.log

SessionIdleManager Initialization

2026-02-04 07:33:43 [info] [SessionIdleManager] Initialized with 300s timeout
2026-02-04 07:59:40 [info] [SessionIdleManager] Initialized with 300s timeout
2026-02-04 08:08:55 [info] [SessionIdleManager] Initialized with 300s timeout

Clean Quit Events (not crashes)

2026-02-04 08:13:50 [info] beforeQuit: handler fired, going down
2026-02-04 08:13:50 [info] beforeQuit: handler is not yet run, preventing quit and cleaning things up
2026-02-04 08:13:50 [info] Running onQuitCleanup: mcp-shutdown
2026-02-04 08:13:50 [info] Running onQuitCleanup: cowork-vm-shutdown
...
2026-02-04 08:13:54 [info] [EventLogging] Sending event: lam_vm_shutdown_completed | metadata: {
  ...
  trigger: 'app_quit',
  ...
}

VM Process Terminated

2026-02-04 08:11:25 [info] [EventLogging] Sending event: lam_vm_process_exited | metadata: {
  ...
  exit_code: 0,
  was_killed: true,
  ...
}

Note: was_killed: true indicates the process was intentionally terminated, not crashed.

Suggested Fix

1. Remove or significantly extend the idle timeout (e.g., 30+ minutes or configurable)
2. Add a user preference to disable idle auto-quit entirely
3. Check for active processes before triggering idle quit — if agents, MCP servers, or operations are running, do not quit
4. Display a warning dialog before quitting (e.g., "Claude Desktop will quit due to inactivity in 60 seconds. [Stay Open] [Quit]")

Workaround

Currently none available. The claude_desktop_config.json does not appear to have an option to configure or disable the idle timeout.

Additional Context

This is particularly problematic for users who:

• Use Claude Desktop as a reference while working in other applications
• Run long agent tasks that may have pauses between operations
• Step away briefly and expect their session to persist
• Use Claude Desktop alongside Claude Code (CLI) where the desktop app serves as a companion