[BUG] Claude Desktop Windows — 9 processes consuming 1.18 GB RAM with no conversations open

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?

Immediately after launching Claude Desktop, with no conversations open, the application spawns 9 separate claude.exe processes consuming approximately 1.18 GB of RAM in total.

PID Mem Usage Window Title
------ ----------- ----------------
7208 405,768 K (main process)
3948 214,148 K Claude (main window)
2548 114,292 K N/A
7660 114,136 K N/A
6360 86,176 K N/A
3516 79,184 K OleMainThreadWndName
1708 78,084 K N/A
1628 59,860 K N/A
9040 30,152 K N/A
------ -----------
TOTAL ~1,181 MB across 9 processes

What Should Happen?

A desktop application with no active content should consume significantly less memory at idle. The number of renderer processes spawned before any conversation is opened should be reduced.
An Electron-based chat application with no active session should consume
significantly less memory at idle. Comparable apps (Slack, Discord, etc.)
typically use 200–400 MB at idle on the same hardware.

On an 8 GB system, a 1 GB+ baseline footprint from a single idle app
represents ~12.5% of total system RAM, which is unacceptable for background
use.

Suggested improvements:

1. Reduce the number of pre-spawned renderer processes at launch
2. Check for Sentry log directory existence before attempting creation
3. Use appropriately sized buffers for file metadata queries to avoid repeated BUFFER OVERFLOW results

Error Messages/Logs

This is measured cold — no prior usage, no open tabs, no active conversations.

**Process list output (`tasklist /fi "imagename eq claude.exe" /v`):**


PID     Mem Usage    Window Title
------  -----------  ----------------
7208    405,768 K    (main process)
3948    214,148 K    Claude (main window)
2548    114,292 K    N/A
7660    114,136 K    N/A
6360     86,176 K    N/A
3516     79,184 K    OleMainThreadWndName
1708     78,084 K    N/A
1628     59,860 K    N/A
9040     30,152 K    N/A
------  -----------
TOTAL ~1,181 MB across 9 processes

Steps to Reproduce

1. Launch Claude Desktop
2. Wait for the app to fully load (no conversation open)
3. Open Task Manager → Details tab → filter by "claude.exe"
4. Observe memory usage

Observed behavior

• 6 to 10 separate claude.exe processes running
• Total RAM consumption: over 1 GB
• CPU: idle / near 0%
• This occurs constantly, from launch, with no user activity

This is measured cold — no prior usage, no open tabs, no active conversations.

Claude Model

Sonnet (default)

Is this a regression?

No, this never worked

Last Working Version

app-1.1.9493

Claude Code Version

app-1.1.9493

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

Windows

Terminal/Shell

Other

Additional Information

Neither "Launch at startup" nor "Run in background when closed" are enabled in settings

• Sentry logging directory (AppData\Roaming\Claude\sentry) is written to continuously even at idle
• App attempts to create the Sentry log directory on every launch without checking if it already exists, generating repeated NAME COLLISION errors visible in Process Monitor
• A BUFFER OVERFLOW result is also observed on QueryAllInformation calls from claude.exe, suggesting undersized read buffers for file metadata queries

Impact:
On systems with moderate RAM, this baseline consumption makes the app feel sluggish from the moment it launches, before any conversation is started.