Code tab unresponsive on macOS Tahoe 26.3 — shellPathWorker crash

What's Wrong?

The Code tab in Claude Desktop opens and renders the UI correctly, but does not respond when messages are sent. Typing "hi" and pressing Enter/Send produces no response — the message appears to be silently dropped. The UI remains functional (can type, click buttons) but Claude never processes the input.

Cowork tab, VS Code extension, and CLI all work correctly. Only the Desktop Code tab is affected.

Error Messages/Logs

When launching the Claude Desktop binary directly from terminal to capture stderr, this crash is logged:

/Applications/Claude.app/Contents/Resources/app.asar/.vite/build/shell-path-worker/shellPathWorker.js:13036
if (!electron.app.isPackaged && false) ;
                  ^

TypeError: Cannot read properties of undefined (reading 'isPackaged')
    at Object.<anonymous> (/Applications/Claude.app/Contents/Resources/app.asar/.vite/build/shell-path-worker/shellPathWorker.js:13036:19)
    at Module._compile (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1820:14)
    at Module._extensions..js (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1953:10)
    at Module.load (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1540:32)
    at Module._load (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1342:12)
    at c._load (node:electron/js2c/node_init:2:18047)
    at wrapModuleLoad (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:262:19)
    at loadCJSModuleWithModuleLoad (node:internal/modules/esm/translators:334:3)
    at ModuleWrap.<anonymous> (node:internal/modules/esm/translators:235:7)
    at ModuleJob.run (node:internal/modules/esm/module_job:430:25)

Node.js v24.14.0

The shellPathWorker is a worker thread that cannot access electron.app, causing the crash. This appears to break the Code tab's backend while the UI stays up.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Install Claude Desktop v1.569.0 on macOS Tahoe 26.3.1 (M3 Ultra Mac Studio)
2. Open the app — Code tab loads with UI visible
3. Type any message and press Enter/Send
4. No response — message is silently dropped

What Should Happen?

Claude should process the message and respond, as it does in the CLI, VS Code extension, and Cowork tab.

Troubleshooting Attempted (all unsuccessful)

• Deleted config.json, window-state.json
• Cleared Session Storage, Local Storage, Cache, GPUCache
• Moved entire ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/ and let app recreate
• Deleted preferences plist and caches
• Cleaned 9 stale git worktrees + reset git-worktrees.json
• Signed out and back in
• Reinstalled from claude.ai/download (same v1.569.0)
• Launched with --disable-gpu and --disable-gpu-compositing flags
• Launched with env -i (clean environment) — same crash
• Enabled Reduce Transparency in Accessibility settings
• Attempted to force "sidebarMode": "chat" in config (app overwrites it)

Environment

• Claude Desktop: v1.569.0
• Embedded Claude Code: 2.1.87
• OS: macOS 26.3.1 Tahoe (Build 25D771280a)
• Hardware: Mac Studio, Apple M3 Ultra (60 GPU cores)
• Displays: 4x 4K (1x Samsung Odyssey G7 @ 165Hz, 3x Samsung U32R59x @ 60Hz)
• Shell: zsh, British keyboard layout
• Node.js (system): v25.8.0 (Homebrew)
• Node.js (Electron bundled): v24.14.0

Is this a regression?

Unknown — first time using the Code tab on this machine/OS combination.

Claude Model

Opus 4.6 1M

Platform

Claude.ai (Pro)

Operating System

macOS

Terminal/Shell

Zsh