[BUG] Cowork "Failed to create bridge sockets" — every spawn exits code 1, persists after full VM rebuild (v1.3036.0, macOS)

Resolved 💬 3 comments Opened Apr 16, 2026 by jasonsantos-cc Closed Apr 17, 2026

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?

On Claude Desktop v1.3036.0 (cf521c) on macOS, every Cowork process spawn fails with Error: Failed to create bridge sockets after 5 attempts and exits with code 1 within ~1 second of spawning. This happens on both resumed sessions and brand new sessions.
The VM itself boots cleanly — SDK installs successfully (v2.1.111), API is reachable, OAuth approves, and the process spawns. The failure is strictly at the bridge socket setup step inside the VM after spawn.
Related to but distinct from #19503 (resume-only) and #23746 (post-update regression) — this reproduces on both new and resumed sessions after a complete VM bundle rebuild.

What Should Happen?

Cowork sessions should spawn and run normally.

Error Messages/Logs

2026-04-16 13:14:10 [info] [Spawn:create] id=f528c171... name=clever-modest-gates cmd=/usr/local/bin/claude args=... --resume ff1bc88e-ad4c-4beb-ad2f-5a8d3ffd701d ...
2026-04-16 13:14:10 [info] [Spawn:vm] id=f528c171 OAuth token approved with MITM proxy
2026-04-16 13:14:10 [info] [Spawn:vm] id=f528c171 Spawn succeeded in 45ms
2026-04-16 13:14:11 [warn] [vm-stderr f528c171] Error: Failed to create bridge sockets after 5 attempts
2026-04-16 13:14:11 [info] [Process:f528c171] Exited, code=1, signal=null, duration=1042ms, oom=false

Steps to Reproduce

Every spawn follows this exact pattern: spawn succeeds → bridge socket error → exit 1 after ~1 second.

Every session — new or resumed — crashes with "Claude Code process exited with code 1" and is unusable.

Claude Model

Sonnet (default)

Is this a regression?

Yes, this worked in a previous version

Last Working Version

_No response_

Claude Code Version

v1.3036.0 (cf521c)

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

macOS

Terminal/Shell

Terminal.app (macOS)

Additional Information

Environment

Claude Desktop: 1.3036.0 (cf521c), built 2026-04-16
macOS: Apple Silicon MacBook Pro
socat: installed and verified working
TMPDIR: /var/folders/.../T/, exists and writable

Troubleshooting completed (none resolved)

Cleared ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/Cache, Code Cache, HTTPStorages, Caches
Deleted /tmp/claude-* socket files
Verified TMPDIR exists and is writable
Verified socat is installed and functional
Tried fresh sessions (not just resume) — same error
Fully rebuilt VM bundle (rm -rf ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/vm_bundles/) — same error after re-download
Full app quit (Cmd+Q) between each attempt

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