[BUG] `claude install` breaks on OpenBSD
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?
On a working claude 2.1.38 w/ Opus 4.6 Pro:
❯ what operating system are you running on?
● Based on the environment info, I'm running on OpenBSD 7.8.
❯ Does 'claude install' work on OpenBSD? When I tried it earlier, it yielded a non-executable Linux ELF binary
● claude-code-guide(Research claude install OpenBSD)
⎿ Done (9 tool uses · 22.0k tokens · 18s)
● No, claude install (the native installer via curl -fsSL https://claude.ai/install.sh | bash) does not properly support OpenBSD. The install script
doesn't account for OpenBSD and falls back to downloading a Linux ELF binary, which obviously won't run on OpenBSD's kernel.
OpenBSD is not an officially supported platform. The native installer only targets:
- macOS
- Linux (Ubuntu, Debian, Alpine)
- Windows
Since you're clearly running Claude Code right now on OpenBSD 7.8, I assume you installed it via npm (npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code),
which works because it's Node.js-based and doesn't depend on a platform-specific binary.
What you can do:
- Stick with the npm install method, which works fine
- File an issue at https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues requesting that the install script either support OpenBSD or fail gracefully
with a clear error instead of silently downloading an incompatible binary
What Should Happen?
claude install should not destroy an nodejs install on non-target or unsupported platforms.
An error should be returned instead.
Error Messages/Logs
Steps to Reproduce
- Install
nodejsvariant of Claude on OpenBSD - Take Claude's advice and run
claude install - See Claude break.
Claude Model
Opus
Is this a regression?
No, this never worked
Last Working Version
_No response_
Claude Code Version
2.1.38
Platform
Anthropic API
Operating System
Other
Terminal/Shell
Other
Additional Information
_No response_
4 Comments
Found 3 possible duplicate issues:
This issue will be automatically closed as a duplicate in 3 days.
🤖 Generated with Claude Code
This is not
platform:linux:) which made me laugh out loud.Dup of #20202
This issue has been automatically locked since it was closed and has not had any activity for 7 days. If you're experiencing a similar issue, please file a new issue and reference this one if it's relevant.