[BUG] Memory leak: RSS grows continuously (~1GB/min) with zero user interaction after session start

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?

Environment

• OS: Ubuntu, Linux 6.8.0-101-generic
• Display: Wayland (GNOME)
• Claude Code version: 2.1.69

## Behaviour
After starting a new Claude Code session, the process RSS grows continuously
and without stopping even when the user is completely idle (no typing, no tool

calls, no interaction of any kind).

## Measurements
Observed growth over ~2 minutes of zero interaction:

• Fresh session start: ~860 MB RSS
• After 1 minute idle: ~7 GB RSS
• After 2 minutes idle: ~11.8 GB RSS
• Process: fully idle, no user input, no tool calls

Memory profile at time of measurement:

• Anonymous heap: 7,066 MB (nearly all RSS is anonymous — not file-backed)
• Swap used: 0 MB
• Open file descriptors: 63
• TCP connections: ~10
• Child processes: 1

## Impact
System became unresponsive. Swap began filling. Required manual kill of
process.
Previous session (same behaviour) consumed 60% of 14 GB RAM before being
killed.

## Reproduction

1. Start a Claude Code session (claude --resume or fresh session)
2. Start a conversation (e.g. read a large file)
3. Stop interacting entirely
4. Watch RSS with: `watch -n 2 'ps -p $(pgrep -f "^claude" | head -1) -o

pid,rss --no-headers'`

1. RSS climbs continuously with no user action

## Notes

• Killing and restarting the process reclaims all memory immediately
• No hooks active
• Growth occurs regardless of whether the session has prior conversation

history

What Should Happen?

No memory leaks :)

Error Messages/Logs

Steps to Reproduce

Start a session.

Claude Model

None

Is this a regression?

Yes, this worked in a previous version

Last Working Version

_No response_

Claude Code Version

2.1.69

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

Ubuntu/Debian Linux

Terminal/Shell

Other

Additional Information

_No response_