[BUG] (VSZ 72GB, RSS 6.5GB and growing, version 2.1.50, failed updates to 2.1.51/2.1.52):

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?

pasting this as reported by Claude code. Think it would be more useful

Found the root cause. This is a genuine memory leak in the Claude Code process:

VSZ: 71.9 GB (virtual memory — should be ~100-200MB for a CLI tool)
RSS: 6.5 GB (physical RAM — and still growing)
CPU: 202% (running hot on 2 cores)

The virtual memory at 72GB is completely abnormal. This is a bug in Claude Code itself, not in your project.

Why it started today: Auto-updates to 2.1.51 and 2.1.52 both failed (0-byte files), leaving you on 2.1.50 but possibly with a broken update mechanism causing it to spin.

Immediate fix — kill the runaway process and free swap:

# Kill the leaking claude process
kill -9 4959

# Free swap (takes ~30-60 seconds)
sudo swapoff -a && sudo swapon -a

Then try to manually update Claude Code:

# Try updating via npm
npm update -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code

# Or via the claude updater
claude update

Workaround while waiting for a proper fix:

Add a memory cap via systemd or ulimit before launching:

# Limit Claude to 2GB RAM max
ulimit -v 4000000 && claude

Report the bug with these exact numbers (VSZ 72GB, RSS 6.5GB and growing, version 2.1.50, failed updates to 2.1.51/2.1.52):
https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues

This is definitely something Anthropic needs to fix — a CLI tool should never consume 72GB of virtual memory.

What Should Happen?

no memory leak

Error Messages/Logs

Steps to Reproduce

just ran claude code, and ask to check memory usage

Claude Model

Sonnet (default)

Is this a regression?

Yes, this worked in a previous version

Last Working Version

_No response_

Claude Code Version

2.1.52 (Claude Code)

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

Ubuntu/Debian Linux

Terminal/Shell

VS Code integrated terminal

Additional Information

_No response_