[BUG] Executing `/clear` in Team Lead session kills all running teammates without graceful shutdown

Resolved 💬 2 comments Opened Mar 3, 2026 by nightsailer Closed Mar 8, 2026

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 a Team Lead (TL) executes /clear during an active team session, all spawned teammate tmux panes are destroyed and their processes terminated immediately — without invoking the graceful shutdown protocol (shutdown_requestshutdown_response).

After /clear:

| Item | Before /clear | After /clear |
|------|-----------------|----------------|
| tmux panes in TL window | 2 (TL + worker-1) | 1 (TL only) |
| worker-1 pane (%3) | Active | Destroyed (can't find pane) |
| worker-1 process | Running | Terminated |
| TL status bar | 1 teammate | Still shows 1 teammate (stale) |
| ~/.claude/teams/<team>/config.json | worker-1 listed, active | worker-1 still listed, isActive: false |

This causes:

  1. No graceful shutdown — teammate panes are destroyed without shutdown_request/shutdown_response protocol
  2. Inconsistent team state — config file retains the teammate entry, TL status bar still shows 1 teammate, but the actual process and pane are gone
  3. Data loss risk — any in-progress work by the teammate is lost without warning

What Should Happen?

/clear should only reset the TL's conversation history. Running teammates should not be affected — their tmux panes, processes, and team membership should all remain intact, allowing them to continue working normally and accept new messages from the TL after the clear.

Error Messages/Logs

No explicit error messages. The teammate pane silently disappears. The only observable indicators:

- `tmux list-panes` shows the teammate pane is gone
- Team config file shows `isActive: false` for the terminated teammate
- TL status bar still displays stale `1 teammate` count

Steps to Reproduce

  1. Start Claude Code: claude --dangerously-skip-permissions
  2. Create a team with at least one teammate:

``
Create a team called 'clear-test' with one teammate named 'worker-1' (general-purpose type).
``

  1. Wait for the teammate to start and confirm it is active (status bar shows 1 teammate)
  2. Verify the tmux layout has 2 panes (TL + worker-1)
  3. Execute /clear in the TL's input
  4. Observe: worker-1's tmux pane is destroyed, process terminated, but TL status bar still shows 1 teammate

Claude Model

None

Is this a regression?

I don't know

Last Working Version

_No response_

Claude Code Version

2.1.63 (Claude Code)

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

macOS

Terminal/Shell

iTerm2

Additional Information

  • Claude Code version: 2.1.63
  • OS: macOS (Darwin 24.6.0)
  • Model: claude-opus-4-6
  • Team feature flag: CLAUDE_CODE_EXPERIMENTAL_AGENT_TEAMS=1 (set automatically when spawning teammates)
  • This behavior was not observed in earlier versions of Claude Code team functionality. The /clear command previously only cleared the conversation history without affecting teammate processes.

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