[BUG] 953 empty [] files in ~/.claude/todos/ causes ECONNRESET on every API request

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?

When ~/.claude/todos/ accumulates a large number of empty JSON files (containing only []),
Claude Code starts throwing ECONNRESET errors on every API request, making it completely unusable.

The todos folder had 953 files, most of them empty (2 bytes, containing only []).

What Should Happen?

Claude Code should either clean up stale/empty todo files automatically,
or ignore them gracefully without affecting API connectivity.

Error Messages/Logs

API Error: Unable to connect to API (ECONNRESET)
Retrying in 1 seconds… (attempt 1/10)
...all 10 attempts fail

Steps to Reproduce

1. Use Claude Code heavily over time, allowing todos to accumulate
2. Check: ls ~/.claude/todos/ | wc -l → shows 953 files
3. Most files contain only [] (empty arrays)
4. Launch Claude Code → every request fails with:

API Error: Unable to connect to API (ECONNRESET)

Claude Model

Not sure / Multiple models

Is this a regression?

I don't know

Last Working Version

2.1.50 (Claude Code)

Claude Code Version

2.1.50 (Claude Code)

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

macOS

Terminal/Shell

Terminal.app (macOS)

Additional Information

The fix was instant — no restart required. This suggests Claude Code is loading/parsing
all todo files on every request rather than at startup only.

Related issues about large .jsonl files causing similar hangs: #22365, #21022
But this is different — the trigger is quantity of empty files, not file size.