Claude Code CLI Unusable: APIErrorterminated + Offline Flickering + Extreme Execution Delays
Status Closed — not planned
Maintainer reply None cached
Activity 15 comments · opened Jun 21, 2025 · closed Jan 3, 2026
Environment
- Platform (select one):
- [x] Claude Code
- [ ] Anthropic API
- [ ] AWS Bedrock
- [ ] Google Vertex AI
- [ ] Other: <!-- specify -->
- Claude CLI version:
claude --version→claude-code v0.2.8 - Operating System: Windows 11 Pro (via WSL2 Ubuntu 22.04)
- Terminal: VS Code integrated terminal and Windows Terminal
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Bug Description
Claude Code frequently stalls on basic prompts. The CLI flashes the error:
APIErrorterminated… (113s · ↓ 1 tokens · esc to interrupt)and flickers “offline” repeatedly. Execution eventually completes after 1–2+ minutes, but responses are often partial, extremely slow, or limited to just a few tokens. This significantly disrupts usage and productivity.
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Steps to Reproduce
- Start Claude Code via CLI in WSL
- Enter any prompt (e.g., “Write a Python script to parse a CSV file”)
- Wait 60–120+ seconds
- Watch for:
APIErrorterminatedmessage- “Offline” flickering status
- Delayed output (usually 1–5 tokens at first)
- Completion after excessive wait time
---
Expected Behavior
- Claude should respond within seconds
- Full prompt should execute smoothly
- Terminal should not flicker or show API errors
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Actual Behavior
- Long delays (1–2+ minutes per prompt)
APIErrorterminatedappears almost every time- “Offline” status flashes repeatedly
- Responses eventually return, but often very limited or delayed
---
Additional Context
- Issue is present across multiple sessions and terminals
- Internet is stable and system resources are not maxed out
- CLI is unusable for productive work due to the lag
- Began worsening mid-June 2025
15 Comments
Its almost unuasble at this point it was not like this for the past few weeks but I have seen this issue before
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Super frustrating don't know why there are so many issues lately I keep getting api errors time our request non stop
sessions are not compacting
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All day the same issue if this continues will be canclelling my max plan which will be really sad don't get why there are so many issues today
I had endless issues on WSL, decided to create dual boot my Windows 11 with Ubuntu <latest version>...Hardly ever now get these errors, I highly recommend to do that. I reckon WSL has a lot of issues trying to get do low-level kernel linux commands, so eliminate that layer by dual booting with Ubuntu. Am about ~800-900k lines of code into my application, API times outs now happen very rarely.. It is not the Max plan, it is WSL.
<img width="751" height="379" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/fdfd65ff-fb98-46f9-a894-2b7ef94d28ae" />
even /auth reset can not work.
keep offline for no reason
<img width="719" height="425" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/c37eccec-b78a-4939-b371-efd832a8fc18" />
300+seconds and only 12 tokens
downgrade to 1.0.41, see if that helps, I was having similar issues on Ubuntu: npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code@1.0.41
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