Claude Code does not launch because of old version

Status Fixed / completed
Maintainer reply ✓ Yes — ashwin-ant
Activity 10 comments · opened Jun 24, 2025 · closed Jun 25, 2025
💡 Likely answer: A maintainer (ashwin-ant, collaborator) responded on this thread — see the highlighted reply below.

Environment

  • Platform (select one):

Ubuntu 20.04

Bug Description

Claude code does not start and give the following message:
It looks like your version of Claude Code (1.0.22) needs an update.
A newer version (1.0.24 or higher) is required to continue.
To update, please run:
claude update

When Tried to update by this command I got:
Current version: 1.0.22
Checking for updates...
Failed to check for updates

When I try to update by npm there is no version 1.0.24 just 1.0.22

View original on GitHub ↗

10 Comments

ashwin-ant collaborator · 1 year ago

1.0.24 is in the list here: https://www.npmjs.com/package/@anthropic-ai/claude-code?activeTab=versions. Are you able to update to any other version?

castilla · 1 year ago

No, when I try to install with:
npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code@1.0.24
I got the error:
npm error code ETARGET
npm error notarget No matching version found for @anthropic-ai/claude-code@1.0.24.
npm error notarget In most cases you or one of your dependencies are requesting
npm error notarget a package version that doesn't exist.

exileskim · 1 year ago

Same issue for me

ashwin-ant collaborator · 1 year ago

Are you able to install 1.0.34 (the current version)?

muhsin-k · 1 year ago

Uninstalling and reinstalling the package fixed the issue for me.

castilla · 1 year ago

Have to uninstall node completly and install claude-code again to make it work.

ignornce · 1 year ago

delted and re intsalled claude and sued node 20 it worked. if you do nvm use switch node versions it might help

peterbenoit · 1 year ago

Uninstalling Node wasn't an option I wanted to explore, so I dug into my related issue with this further.

which claude
/opt/homebrew/bin/claude
claude --version
0.2.54 (Claude Code)
brew uninstall claude
Error: Cask 'claude' is not installed.

At this point I'm uncertain how claude ended up in homebrew, so I decided to remove it.

rm -f /opt/homebrew/bin/claude
which claude
/Users/[redacted]/.nvm/versions/node/v20.19.1/bin/claude
claude --version
1.0.59 (Claude Code)

Claude now correctly opens from the node version, not the older brew version.

jzambrano12 · 1 year ago
Uninstalling Node wasn't an option I wanted to explore, so I dug into my related issue with this further. which claude /opt/homebrew/bin/claude claude --version 0.2.54 (Claude Code) brew uninstall claude Error: Cask 'claude' is not installed. At this point I'm uncertain how claude ended up in homebrew, so I decided to remove it. rm -f /opt/homebrew/bin/claude which claude /Users/[redacted]/.nvm/versions/node/v20.19.1/bin/claude claude --version 1.0.59 (Claude Code) Claude now correctly opens from the node version, not the older brew version.

It works for me, thanks

github-actions[bot] · 1 year ago

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.