[Bug] Critical Memory Leak in Claude CLI - Grows to 8.5GB+ During Code Generation

Bug Report: Critical Memory Leak in Claude CLI

Summary

Claude CLI experiences a severe memory leak during code generation and codebase analysis tasks, growing from ~560MB to 8.5GB+ in under 10 minutes. Memory continues growing even when idle, eventually causing system-wide swap thrashing and performance degradation.

System Information

• OS: Pop!_OS (Ubuntu-based)
• RAM: 16GB
• Swap: 19GB
• Claude CLI Version: 2.1.44 (Claude Code)
• Installation Method: curl

Reproduction Steps

1. Start Claude CLI with system monitoring active
2. Execute simple query (e.g., "What's the capital of France?")

• Memory: ~560MB (baseline - normal)

1. Request code generation (e.g., "Write a Python script that finds all .txt files in a directory and counts words")

• Memory: Begins climbing

1. Ask Claude to analyze a large codebase (e.g., Laravel project)

• Memory: Escalates rapidly to 6.4GB+

1. Leave Claude CLI idle (no prompts) for 2 minutes

• Memory: Continues growing to 8.5GB+

Expected Behavior

• Memory usage should stabilize at reasonable levels (500MB-1.5GB)
• Memory should not grow while idle
• Memory should be released after completing tasks

Actual Behavior

• Memory grows continuously: 562MB → 6,464MB → 8,545MB
• Growth continues even when no operations are being performed
• No memory is released until process is killed
• Eventually causes:
• RAM exhaustion (14GB/16GB consumed)
• Heavy swap usage (17GB+ swap)
• System-wide performance degradation (thrashing)

Impact/Severity

CRITICAL - Makes Claude CLI unusable for:

• Code generation tasks
• Large project analysis
• Extended work sessions
• Systems with limited RAM

Without frequent restarts, the leak renders the entire system unresponsive within minutes.

Additional Observations

1. Leak triggers:

• Code generation requests
• Large codebase/file analysis
• Multiple consecutive operations

1. Memory growth pattern:

• Starts during second prompt
• Escalates rapidly with code/project analysis
• Continues growing autonomously while idle (indicates background process leak)

1. Workaround:

• Restart Claude CLI after every major task
• Kill process if memory exceeds 1.5GB
• Avoid large codebase analysis

Monitoring Evidence

Memory progression over ~10 minutes:

Time      Memory    Task
10:43     562 MB    Initial startup
10:53     6,464 MB  After code generation + project analysis
10:59     8,545 MB  After 2 minutes idle (no prompts)

System impact:

RAM:  13Gi / 16Gi (81% utilization)
Swap: 2Gi active (system thrashing)

Request

Please investigate garbage collection and memory management in Claude CLI, particularly around:

• Code generation operations
• File/project analysis
• Background processes that continue after task completion

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Environment Info

• Platform: linux
• Terminal: gnome-terminal
• Version: 2.1.44
• Feedback ID: 0c7c3142-6c60-426c-a858-ca2b12a91f8f

Errors

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