[BUG] Cowork: "Claude Code process exited with code 1" on every session — macOS Apple Silicon, clean reinstall, no fix

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?

Every Cowork session crashes immediately with "Claude Code process exited with code 1." The crash is instant — no VM boot, no response. Chat mode works fine. The issue began around April 16, 2026. After the April 15th Anthropic outage and persists after services recovered.

Troubleshooting already attempted (none resolved it):

• Unset ANTHROPIC_API_KEY — no change
• Deleted ~/.claude/ and ~/.claude.json — no change
• Attempted shell wrapper on the Claude binary — blocked by macOS code signing even with sudo
• Deleted Cowork-specific cache (com.anthropic.claude/cowork, ~/.cowork) — no change
• Full uninstall (app + all Library support/cache/log directories) — no change
• Clean reinstall from claude.ai/download — same error

The binary loads but the VM never boots. cowork_vm_swift.log shows no entries after initial load. Likely related to #36419, #39270, #46029, #46161.

What Should Happen?

Cowork session starts, the VM boots, and the Claude Code process responds to messages normally.

Error Messages/Logs

UI error: "Claude Code process exited with code 1"

cowork_vm_swift.log: no entries after initial session load
main.log: Session query error — Claude Code process exited with code 1 (0s, hadFirstResponse=false)

Steps to Reproduce

1. Install Claude Desktop (latest, clean install from claude.ai/download)
2. Log in via claude.ai OAuth
3. Open the Cowork tab
4. Start any new session
5. Observe: "Claude Code process exited with code 1" appears instantly

No specific project or prompt needed — crash is immediate and 100% reproducible.

Claude Model

None

Is this a regression?

Yes, this worked in a previous version

Last Working Version

_No response_

Claude Code Version

Binary version: 2.1.111 (confirmed via ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude-code/ directory) Run claude --version to confirm CLI version if installed.

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

macOS

Terminal/Shell

Terminal.app (macOS)

Additional Information

• ANTHROPIC_API_KEY is unset in the environment
• CLAUDE_CODE_OAUTH_TOKEN is present and valid (login succeeds)
• Chat mode in Claude Desktop works normally
• Crash is deterministic — 0 seconds, no first response, every attempt
• macOS code signing prevented binary wrapper workaround (sudo was insufficient)
• Issue persists across multiple fresh installs on the same machine