[BUG] Cowork crashes with "Claude Code process exited with code 1" on macOS — persists after full reinstall

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?

macOS, Apple Silicon (MacBook Pro)
Claude Desktop: latest version, freshly reinstalled
Claude Code: latest version via npm

Issue: Every Cowork session crashes immediately with "Claude Code process exited with code 1". New conversations give the same error.

Steps already taken:

• claude auth logout / login
• Deleted ~/.claude.json and ~/.claude/
• Unset ANTHROPIC_API_KEY
• sudo npm update -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code
• Full uninstall (including 26.9 GB VM data) and clean reinstall
• Tried multiple new conversations

Nothing worked. The CLI works fine in terminal. Only Cowork is broken.

What Should Happen?

Cowork should start a session and respond to prompts normally, as it did before.

Error Messages/Logs

Claude Code process exited with code 1

Steps to Reproduce

1. Open Claude Desktop on macOS (Apple Silicon, MacBook Pro)
2. Open Cowork tab
3. Start any new conversation
4. Error appears immediately: "Claude Code process exited with code 1"
5. Clicking "Try again" gives the same error

Claude Model

None

Is this a regression?

Yes, this worked in a previous version

Last Working Version

2.1.111 (Claude Code)

Claude Code Version

2.1.111 (Claude Code)

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

macOS

Terminal/Shell

Terminal.app (macOS)

Additional Information

_No response_