[BUG] Cowork "Failed to create bridge sockets after 5 attempts" after update to 1.3036.0 (cf521c) — macOS Sonoma 14.6.1

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?

Version: 1.3036.0 (cf521c)
OS: macOS Sonoma 14.6.1, Apple Silicon
socat: 1.8.1.1 installed via Homebrew, symlinked to /usr/local/bin/socat
VM bundle: fresh re-download, same result

Error: vm-stderr: Error: Failed to create bridge sockets after 5 attempts
Every task exits code=1 in ~900ms after update. Was working before update.

What Should Happen?

Co-Work should work instead of instantly kicking back a code 1 error

Error Messages/Logs

Error: vm-stderr: Error: Failed to create bridge sockets after 5 attempts
Every task exits code=1 in ~900ms after update. Was working before update.



Last login: Thu Apr 16 13:13:35 on ttys000
sjr@Samuels-MBP ~ % osascript -e 'quit app "Claude"'
sleep 3
open -a Claude
sleep 5
cat ~/Library/Logs/Claude/cowork_vm_node.log | tail -15
2026-04-16 13:28:03 [info] [Process:920fcaeb-d3c9-4eb9-a37c-c83e6567878c] Created, name=admiring-modest-albattani, total active=1
2026-04-16 13:28:03 [info] [Process:920fcaeb-d3c9-4eb9-a37c-c83e6567878c] Buffering stdin (spawn not yet confirmed): 51445 bytes
2026-04-16 13:28:03 [info] [Process:920fcaeb-d3c9-4eb9-a37c-c83e6567878c] Buffering stdin (spawn not yet confirmed): 630 bytes
2026-04-16 13:28:03 [info] [Spawn:vm] id=920fcaeb-d3c9-4eb9-a37c-c83e6567878c OAuth token approved with MITM proxy
2026-04-16 13:28:03 [info] [Process:920fcaeb-d3c9-4eb9-a37c-c83e6567878c] Spawn confirmed, flushing 2 buffered stdin chunks
2026-04-16 13:28:03 [info] [Spawn:vm] id=920fcaeb-d3c9-4eb9-a37c-c83e6567878c Spawn succeeded in 50ms
2026-04-16 13:28:03 [warn] [vm-stderr 920fcaeb] Error: Failed to create bridge sockets after 5 attempts
2026-04-16 13:28:03 [info] [Process:920fcaeb-d3c9-4eb9-a37c-c83e6567878c] Exited, code=1, signal=null, duration=922ms, oom=false
2026-04-16 13:28:03 [info] [Process:920fcaeb-d3c9-4eb9-a37c-c83e6567878c] Cleaned up, remaining active=0
2026-04-16 13:29:02 [info] [VM:shutdown] App quit, stopping VM (instance: 979083b1-b199-4170-ace2-f681aeaa7673)...
2026-04-16 13:29:02 [info] [Keepalive] Stopping
2026-04-16 13:29:02 [info] [VM] Guest connection changed: false
2026-04-16 13:29:02 [info] [VM] Guest disconnected during graceful quit, cleanly exiting 0 active processes
2026-04-16 13:29:05 [warn] [VM] VM stopped
2026-04-16 13:29:05 [info] [VM:shutdown] Completed in 3411ms
sjr@Samuels-MBP ~ % osascript -e 'quit app "Claude"'
sleep 3
rm -rf ~/Library/Application\ Support/Claude/vm_bundles
rm -rf ~/Library/Application\ Support/Claude/claude-code-vm
sjr@Samuels-MBP ~ % ls -la ~/Library/Application\ Support/Claude/vm_bundles/
ls -la ~/Library/Application\ Support/Claude/claude-code-vm/ 2>/dev/null || echo "no claude-code-vm dir"
cat ~/Library/Logs/Claude/cowork_vm_node.log | tail -20
total 0
drwx------@  3 sjr  staff    96 Apr 16 13:30 .
drwx------@ 42 sjr  staff  1344 Apr 16 13:32 ..
drwx------@ 11 sjr  staff   352 Apr 16 13:32 claudevm.bundle
total 8
drwx------@  4 sjr  staff   128 Apr 16 13:31 .
drwx------@ 42 sjr  staff  1344 Apr 16 13:32 ..
-rw-------@  1 sjr  staff     7 Apr 16 13:31 .sdk-version
drwx------@  4 sjr  staff   128 Apr 16 13:31 2.1.111
2026-04-16 13:32:23 [info] [Spawn:vm] id=091ccb0f-3849-4a90-bf54-3dc5707de020 OAuth token approved with MITM proxy
2026-04-16 13:32:23 [info] [Process:091ccb0f-3849-4a90-bf54-3dc5707de020] Spawn confirmed, flushing 2 buffered stdin chunks
2026-04-16 13:32:23 [info] [Spawn:vm] id=091ccb0f-3849-4a90-bf54-3dc5707de020 Spawn succeeded in 105ms
2026-04-16 13:32:24 [warn] [vm-stderr 091ccb0f] Error: Failed to create bridge sockets after 5 attempts
2026-04-16 13:32:25 [info] [Process:091ccb0f-3849-4a90-bf54-3dc5707de020] Exited, code=1, signal=null, duration=1123ms, oom=false
2026-04-16 13:32:25 [info] [Process:091ccb0f-3849-4a90-bf54-3dc5707de020] Cleaned up, remaining active=0
2026-04-16 13:32:43 [info] [startVM] VM already connected
2026-04-16 13:32:43 [info] [postConnect] Installing SDK: subpath=Users/sjr/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude-code-vm, version=2.1.111
2026-04-16 13:32:43 [warn] [Keepalive] Already running
2026-04-16 13:32:43 [info] [Spawn:config] Creating spawn function for process=busy-friendly-goldberg, isResume=false, mounts=8 (SIMO, .claude, .auto-memory, .claude/skills, .cowork-lib, .cowork-perm-req, .cowork-perm-resp, uploads), allowedDomains=23
2026-04-16 13:32:43 [info] [Spawn:create] id=d23cf44a-e711-461b-a074-d4de6a2325c5 name=busy-friendly-goldberg cmd=/usr/local/bin/claude args=--output-format stream-json --verbose --input-format stream-json --max-thinking-tokens 31999 --effort medium --model claude-sonnet-4-6 --permission-prompt-tool stdio --allowedTools Task,Bash,Glob,Grep,Read,Edit,Write,NotebookEdit,WebFetch,TodoWrite,TaskCreate,TaskUpdate,TaskGet,TaskList,TaskStop,WebSearch,Skill,REPL,JavaScript,ToolSearch,mcp__mcp-registry__search_mcp_registry,mcp__mcp-registry__suggest_connectors,mcp__plugins__search_plugins,mcp__plugins__suggest_plugin_install,mcp__scheduled-tasks__list_scheduled_tasks,mcp__computer-use,mcp__cowork__present_files,mcp__cowork__list_artifacts,mcp__session_info__list_sessions,mcp__session_info__read_transcript,Edit(//sessions/busy-friendly-goldberg/mnt/.auto-memory/**),Write(//sessions/busy-friendly-goldberg/mnt/.auto-memory/**) --tools Task,Bash,Glob,Grep,Read,Edit,Write,NotebookEdit,WebFetch,TodoWrite,TaskCreate,TaskUpdate,TaskGet,TaskList,TaskStop,WebSearch,Skill,REPL,JavaScript,AskUserQuestion,ToolSearch --setting-sources=user --permission-mode default --allow-dangerously-skip-permissions --include-partial-messages --add-dir /sessions/busy-friendly-goldberg/mnt/SIMO --replay-user-messages cwd=/sessions/busy-friendly-goldberg
2026-04-16 13:32:43 [info] [Process:d23cf44a-e711-461b-a074-d4de6a2325c5] Created, name=busy-friendly-goldberg, total active=1
2026-04-16 13:32:43 [info] [Process:d23cf44a-e711-461b-a074-d4de6a2325c5] Buffering stdin (spawn not yet confirmed): 51346 bytes
2026-04-16 13:32:43 [info] [Process:d23cf44a-e711-461b-a074-d4de6a2325c5] Buffering stdin (spawn not yet confirmed): 630 bytes
2026-04-16 13:32:44 [info] [Spawn:vm] id=d23cf44a-e711-461b-a074-d4de6a2325c5 OAuth token approved with MITM proxy
2026-04-16 13:32:44 [info] [Process:d23cf44a-e711-461b-a074-d4de6a2325c5] Spawn confirmed, flushing 2 buffered stdin chunks
2026-04-16 13:32:44 [info] [Spawn:vm] id=d23cf44a-e711-461b-a074-d4de6a2325c5 Spawn succeeded in 52ms
2026-04-16 13:32:44 [warn] [vm-stderr d23cf44a] Error: Failed to create bridge sockets after 5 attempts
2026-04-16 13:32:44 [info] [Process:d23cf44a-e711-461b-a074-d4de6a2325c5] Exited, code=1, signal=null, duration=916ms, oom=false
2026-04-16 13:32:44 [info] [Process:d23cf44a-e711-461b-a074-d4de6a2325c5] Cleaned up, remaining active=0
sjr@Samuels-MBP ~ %

Steps to Reproduce

<img width="595" height="639" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/40d4d414-4a44-4be7-9f3a-09533a647bee" />

Claude Model

Sonnet (default)

Is this a regression?

Yes, this worked in a previous version

Last Working Version

_No response_

Claude Code Version

1.3036.0

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

macOS

Terminal/Shell

Terminal.app (macOS)

Additional Information

Was working great then updated to the new version 1.3036.0 typed in a task then it instantly kicked back that error. Used chat to problem solve and it finally told me to log this with you.