[BUG] 2.1.36: --continue freezes in specific repo while -v works

Preflight Checklist

• [x] I have searched existing issues
• [x] This is a single bug report
• [x] I am using the latest version available to me for this repro path

What's Wrong?

claude -c (--continue) freezes in a specific project directory, even though the same binary works for -v.

Exact Repro

# Works
$HOME/.local/share/claude/versions/2.1.36 -v
# => 2.1.36 (Claude Code)

cd /path/to/affected-project

# Works
$HOME/.local/share/claude/versions/2.1.36 -v

# Freezes: no output, 0% CPU, process stays alive
$HOME/.local/share/claude/versions/2.1.36 --dangerously-skip-permissions -c

In ~, the same -c command exits quickly with:

No conversation found to continue

What Should Happen?

-c should either resume successfully or return an error; it should not freeze indefinitely.

Debug Findings

With --debug-file, startup proceeds and then stalls at rendering:

[render] initLayout starting
Layout engine: yoga

During startup, it attempts to resume from this session:

• 3dcb5d2e-1da6-42ce-827e-9dbf9baf3bfc
• file: ~/.claude/projects/<redacted-project-key>/3dcb5d2e-1da6-42ce-827e-9dbf9baf3bfc.jsonl (~12MB)

If that session file is temporarily moved aside, -c no longer freezes and exits with No conversation found to continue.

Is this a regression?

Unknown.

Claude Code Version

2.1.36

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

macOS (arm64)

Terminal/Shell

zsh (Terminal)

---

Related Issue / Why Separate

Related: #24324

Filed separately because this report is a 2.1.36 runtime freeze path:

• TUI renders but input becomes unresponsive / --continue can freeze in specific context
• behavior is resume/session-state sensitive

In contrast, #24324 is a 2.1.37 startup/install blocker where even --version/--help hang before normal CLI flow.