[BUG] Cowork VM root disk (9.6GB) too small for real projects — mounted folder competes with OS for space
Resolved 💬 3 comments Opened Mar 23, 2026 by marimbashome Closed Mar 26, 2026
Description
The Cowork VM root partition is only 9.6GB total (~8.6GB available after OS). The user-mounted folder maps to /sessions/<id>/mnt/ on this same small root disk. For real-world projects with multiple repos, node_modules, and data files, this space fills up instantly — causing ENOSPC errors that break the session.
Environment
- Product: Claude Desktop (Cowork mode)
- OS: macOS (host), Ubuntu 22 (VM)
- VM Disk: 9.6GB root (
/dev/sda1), no separate data partition - Session path:
/sessions/<session-id>/(on root disk) - Mount path:
/sessions/<session-id>/mnt/(also on root disk)
Steps to Reproduce
- Open Cowork and select a project folder with moderate size (>2GB)
- Start working — install npm packages, run builds, create files
- Run
df -h /to see disk usage - Within minutes, disk fills to 100% with ENOSPC errors
Observed Behavior
df -h /shows 9.6GB total, fills to 100% quickly- npm install fails, file writes fail, even mkdir fails
- Only fix is manually deleting VM caches (
/vm_bundles/Cache/Code Cache/) - Session becomes unusable until cleanup
- Mounted project folder competes with OS/tools for the same 9.6GB
Expected Behavior
- VM should have enough disk for real development work (at least 20-30GB)
- OR mounted folders should be on a separate volume
- OR Cowork should auto-cleanup caches when disk is >90% full
Disk Analysis
Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on
/dev/sda1 9.6G 8.6G 996M 90% /
Key space consumers:
/vm_bundles/— VS Code server + caches (~3-4GB)/sessions/<id>/mnt/— user mounted project- No separate /data or /home partition
Suggested Fixes
- Increase VM disk to 20-30GB
- Separate partition for user data
- Auto-cleanup daemon — monitor disk, clear caches at 85%
- Lazy mount — FUSE/NFS instead of copying project into VM
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