[BUG] Tried to Download Claude Desktop for the first time in OS Tahoe 26.3 and keep getting Failure to Launch error message

Found 3 possible duplicate issues:

1. https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues/28353
2. https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues/28470
3. https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues/28448

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+1. seeing the same issue.

I don't have the toggle at the top of my Calude app in OS 26.3 Tahoe, so I can select between, chat, co-working and code. It says to download every time and I'm on the most recent version of Claude as when I downloaded again this morning I had the three at the top, closed out, reopened and it was gone.

Im having the same issue. Ive tried all the recommended fixes i can find incl deleting the app and associated library, restarting and reinstalling fro the website. Having just paid fro pro it is frustrating.
Ive also been waiting days for a response from anthropic support.

Same issue — additional diagnostic details

Environment:

• MacBook Pro 16-inch, 2023
• Apple M2 Pro | 32GB RAM
• macOS Tahoe 26.3 (Build 25D125)
• Claude Desktop: latest (downloaded from claude.ai/download)

Symptoms:

• App launches but immediately freezes with "Application Not Responding"
• No UI ever appears
• ~/Library/Application Support/Claude folder is never created
• No logs generated in ~/Library/Logs/Claude

Technical findings from deep diagnostic:

• Process sample shows app stuck at _dyld_start during dynamic library loading — never runs its own code
• Physical memory footprint stays at 96K (never fully initializes)
• Only 3 file descriptors open: stdin/stdout/stderr all pointing to /dev/null
• No network connections established by the Claude Desktop process
• Binary images description not available in sample output
• App is notarized and accepted by Gatekeeper ✅
• No MDM profiles installed
• SIP enabled
• Quarantine flag removed — no change
• dyld shared cache rebuilt — no change

Cloudflare theory ruled out:

• Tested on mobile hotspot (bypassing corporate network) — same result
• curl https://claude.ai returns 403 Cloudflare challenge but this appears to be unrelated as the app never even reaches the network call stage

Key observation:

• A co-worker with the identical macOS Tahoe 26.3 setup does NOT have this issue
• Claude Code (VS Code extension v2.1.63) works perfectly on the same machine
• No VM bundle issue (~/.claude/ is only 19MB, no vm_bundles directory)

This appears to be a dyld/library loading failure specific to certain configurations on macOS Tahoe 26.3. Happy to provide any additional diagnostics if helpful.

I found the issue and fix.
I was able to launch Claude desktop on a different user account on my Mac. So I went back Claude on the browser and followed the following from Claude:

_Try this in Terminal — it will show us exactly what's happening at launch:_
open /Applications/Claude.app --args --enable-logging

_Then immediately check:_
cat ~/Library/Logs/Claude/main.log

_If that log is empty or doesn't exist, try:_
/Applications/Claude.app/Contents/MacOS/Claude
This launches Claude directly from its binary rather than through macOS's normal launch process — any error will print right there in the Terminal window instead of silently failing.

_Can you paste whatever appears in Terminal when you run that direct binary launch command? That output should tell us exactly where it's dying._

That showed me somehow my User Documents folder couldnt be found and was given a fix.

@karl-Scot

Thanks again for your help with this! I wanted to follow up with an update.

I tried the steps you suggested, but unfortunately the issue still isn't resolved. Here's the terminal output I got:

1. Running open /Applications/Claude.app --args --enable-logging launched the app (or attempted to), but when I checked for the log file with cat ~/Library/Logs/Claude/main.log, it returned: "No such file or directory" — so no log file was created.

1. Running /Applications/Claude.app/Contents/MacOS/Claude directly from the binary didn't produce any visible output in the terminal window.

Any idea what the next step might be? I'm happy to run additional diagnostics if helpful.

Thanks!

same issue here, no support from Athropic support :-(

Unfortunately, I can't find the complete transcript of the chat that I used to guide me. What got things moving four me was asking Claude specific questions about why the app wouldn't launch and pasting in the logs from Console after trying to launch the app. Claude then walked me step-by-step through many different actions, pasting commands into Terminal until finally reached a resolution. The issue apparently was in ability to locate my user Documents folder. I'm sorry I'm not much further use – it did take me some perseverance and frustration. But I can't say it's worth it in the end as the desktop app gives greater functionality.
Good luck

Thanks @karl-Scot - if you happen to stumble across it sometime soon, please LMK. And I can check on your last sentence - is Claude Desktop worth it, or not?

Hi,

I have just used Claude to solve its own issue. My issue was that I use Dropbox and that there wasn’t a Documents folder outside of Dropbox, once this was created I was able to load Claude Desktop.

This is what solved it in the end. Good Luck!

The symlink is still there — the rm ~/Documents command didn't take effect. You can see it's still pointing to the Dropbox path. This is likely because macOS is protecting it.
Try removing it with elevated permissions:
sudo rm ~/Documents
It will ask for your Mac login password (you won't see characters as you type — that's normal). Then:
mkdir ~/Documents
Then check it worked:
ls -la ~ | grep Documents
This time you should see drwx at the start of the line rather than lrwx, confirming it's a real folder.

Kind regards,

Paul Helsby
HR Consultant
As a Consultant I work flexibly. I am sending this message now because it suits me, but I don't expect that you will read, respond to, or action it outside your regular work hours.

M +44 (0)7850 651 520
@.*** |

PR-HR Solutions Ltd
Registered in England and Wales. Registration No: 7841738.
Registered Office: Marine House, 151 Western Road, Haywards Heath, RH16 3LH. VAT Registration Number: 126073534
On 13 Mar 2026 at 11:02 +0000, Mark Collard @.***>, wrote:

playmeo left a comment (anthropics/claude-code#28590) Thanks @karl-Scot - if you happen to stumble across it sometime soon, please LMK. And I can check on your last sentence - is Claude Desktop worth it, or not? — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub, or unsubscribe. You are receiving this because you authored the thread.Message ID: @.***>

Paul, this is similar issue I had.
I definitely think it’s worth persevering as Claude desktop is much better than browser version.

Thanks @karl-Scot - if you happen to stumble across it sometime soon, please LMK. And I can check on your last sentence - is Claude Desktop worth it, or not?

Yes, def worth it

Thank you @PaulHelsbyHR - you have been super kind and this FIXED the issue. TBH, I had no clue what any of your code was about, but I simply fed it into Claude, and it held my hand step by step all of the way! I've been able to successfully install Claude Desktop on my Mac OS :-)

<html><head></head><body><h1>[BUG] Claude Desktop fails to launch on macOS Tahoe 26.4 — "Failed to get 'logs' path"</h1>
<h2>Preflight Checklist</h2>
<ul>
<li>[x] I have searched existing issues and this hasn't been reported for macOS Tahoe 26.4</li>
<li>[x] This is a single bug report</li>
</ul>
<h2>What's Wrong?</h2>
<p>Claude Desktop crashes immediately on launch with an uncaught JavaScript exception in the main process. The app never opens — the error dialog appears instantly and the app is completely unusable.</p>
<h2>Error Message</h2>
<pre><code>Uncaught Exception:
Error: Failed to get 'logs' path
at Object.&lt;anonymous&gt; (/Applications/Claude.app/Contents/Resources/app.asar/.vite/build/index.pre.js:62:3901)
at Module._compile (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1769:14)
at Module._extensions..js (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1902:10)
at Module.load (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1488:32)
at Module._load (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1307:12)
at c._load (node:electron/js2c/node_init:2:17999)
at node:electron/js2c/browser_init:2:145394
at node:electron/js2c/browser_init:2:145603
at node:electron/js2c/browser_init:2:145607
at BuiltinModule.compileForInternalLoader (node:internal/bootstrap/realm:398:7)
</code></pre>
<h2>Environment</h2>

Field | Details
-- | --
macOS Version | Tahoe 26.4
Hardware | MacBook Pro 16-inch 2023
Chip | Apple M2 Pro (ARM64)
Memory | 16 GB
Claude App Version | Latest (freshly downloaded from claude.ai/download)
Download Source | Official — claude.ai/download

<h2>Steps to Reproduce</h2>
<ol>
<li>Download the latest Claude Desktop from claude.ai/download</li>
<li>Install the .dmg and move Claude.app to /Applications</li>
<li>Launch Claude.app</li>
<li>Error dialog appears immediately — app never loads</li>
</ol>
<h2>What I've Already Tried</h2>
<ul>
<li>Full uninstall and clean reinstall multiple times</li>
<li>Deleted all leftover data: <code>~/Library/Application Support/Claude</code>, <code>~/Library/Logs/Claude</code>, <code>~/Library/Caches/Claude</code></li>
<li>Manually created <code>~/Library/Logs/Claude</code> with correct permissions (<code>chmod 755</code>)</li>
<li>Fixed ownership with <code>sudo chown -R $(whoami) ~/Library/Logs/Claude</code></li>
<li>Reset TCC permissions: <code>tccutil reset SystemPolicyAllFiles com.anthropic.claudefordesktop</code></li>
<li>Updated macOS from Tahoe 26.3 → 26.4 and tried again</li>
<li>None of the above resolved the issue</li>
</ul>
<h2>Expected Behavior</h2>
<p>Claude Desktop should launch successfully.</p>
<h2>Actual Behavior</h2>
<p>App crashes instantly with "Failed to get 'logs' path" JavaScript error in the main process. The error appears to occur before the app even attempts to create the logs directory.</p>
<h2>Additional Notes</h2>
<p>This appears to be a known issue on macOS Tahoe (see related issues #28590, #30717). The app is unable to resolve the logs path on Tahoe, suggesting an incompatibility with how macOS Tahoe handles <code>app.getPath('logs')</code> in Electron. The web app at claude.ai works fine as a workaround.</p></body></html>

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