[BUG] Claude Desktop v1.3109.0 crashes on launch (V8 OOM) — macOS 26.5 beta

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?

<h2>Environment</h2>

Detail | Value
-- | --
App version | 1.3109.0
macOS | 26.5 beta (Build 25F5042g)
Hardware | Mac Mini, Apple Silicon M2, 24 GB RAM

<h2>Description</h2>
<p>Claude Desktop crashes with a V8 out-of-memory error every time the app launches Code mode. Regular chat mode works fine. The crash occurs within ~8-12 seconds of the VM initializing, consistently hitting ~3.2-3.3 GB of V8 heap before dying.</p>
<p>This is a <strong>fully clean install</strong> — all app data, caches, MCP servers, IndexedDB, and vm_bundles were deleted before reproducing. The crash occurs with zero configuration.</p>

<h2>Additional Observations</h2>
<ul>
<li><strong>Regular chat mode works</strong> — the app is stable as long as Code/Cowork is not activated</li>
<li><strong><code>NODE_OPTIONS="--max-old-space-size=6144"</code> has no effect</strong> — Electron appears to ignore the flag; heap still caps at ~3.2 GB</li>
<li><strong><code>BuddyBleTransport</code> errors fire on every launch</strong> regardless of crash, possibly a Bluetooth companion feature incompatible with macOS 26.5 beta APIs</li>
<li><strong><code>MaxListenersExceededWarning</code></strong> appears on every launch — potential EventEmitter memory leak contributing to the OOM</li>
<li><strong>IndexedDB LevelDB lock errors</strong> also appear on launch (<code>LOCK: File currently in use</code>) but are non-fatal</li>
<li><strong>vm_bundles had ballooned to 7.9 GB</strong> on the previous install before cleanup; the fresh install begins rebuilding the VM bundle (<code>sessiondata.img created</code>) immediately before crashing</li>
</ul>
<h2>Troubleshooting Already Attempted</h2>
<p>All of the following were tried with no improvement to Code/Cowork stability:</p>
<ul>
<li>Full app reinstall (twice — including deleting /Applications/Claude.app and redownloading)</li>
<li>Deleted all caches: Cache/, Code Cache/, GPUCache/, DawnGraphiteCache/, DawnWebGPUCache/, Crashpad/</li>
<li>Deleted vm_bundles/ (was 7.9 GB)</li>
<li>Deleted IndexedDB and removed stale LOCK file</li>
<li>Removed all MCP server configuration (claude_desktop_config.json set to empty mcpServers)</li>
<li>Deleted Preferences, Saved Application State, WebKit, and Caches plist files</li>
<li>Set <code>NODE_OPTIONS="--max-old-space-size=6144"</code> before launch</li>
<li>80%+ system memory free at time of crash</li>
</ul>
<h2>Related Issues</h2>
<ul>
<li>#48261 — V8 OOM / JavaScript heap out of memory (macOS 26.3.1, M5)</li>
<li>#32170 — Claude Desktop crashing on opening (macOS 26.3, M4)</li>
<li>#29625 — Crashes on launch (macOS 26.4 beta, M2)</li>
<li>#26646 — Freezing, API 500 errors, 12GB VM bundle (macOS 26.3)</li>
</ul>

What Should Happen?

<p>Code and Cowork modes should launch without exhausting the V8 heap.</p></body></html>

Error Messages/Logs

(node:23687) [DEP0040] DeprecationWarning: The `punycode` module is deprecated.
(node:23687) MaxListenersExceededWarning: Possible EventEmitter memory leak detected.
  11 change listeners added to [RAr]. MaxListeners is 10.

Error occurred in handler for '$eipc_message$_..._claude.buddy_$_BuddyBleTransport_$_reportState':
  Error: No handler registered for '..._BuddyBleTransport_$_reportState'

<--- Last few GCs --->
[23687:0x10400500000]  5940 ms: Mark-Compact (reduce) 3180.0 (3299.0) -> 3180.0 (3217.3) MB,
  pooled: 0.0 MB, 13.28 / 0.00 ms (average mu = 0.562, current mu = 0.322) last resort;
  GC in old space requested
[23687:0x10400500000]  5954 ms: Mark-Compact (reduce) 3180.0 (3217.3) -> 3180.0 (3207.8) MB,
  pooled: 0.0 MB, 13.66 / 0.00 ms (average mu = 0.381, current mu = 0.001) last resort;
  GC in old space requested

[23687:0416/174420.707885:ERROR:electron/shell/common/node_bindings.cc:185]
  OOM error in V8: CALL_AND_RETRY_LAST Allocation failed - JavaScript heap out of memory

Steps to Reproduce

<ol>
<li>Fresh install of Claude Desktop 1.3109.0 from claude.ai/download</li>
<li>Delete all app data:
<pre><code>rm -rf ~/Library/Application\ Support/Clauderm -rf ~/Library/Caches/com.anthropic.claudefordesktoprm -rf ~/Library/Preferences/com.anthropic.claudefordesktop
</code></pre></li>
<li>Launch from Terminal: <code>/Applications/Claude.app/Contents/MacOS/Claude</code></li>
<li>Regular chat loads successfully</li>
<li>Navigate to Code or Cowork → crash within seconds</li>
</ol>

Claude Model

None

Is this a regression?

Yes, this worked in a previous version

Last Working Version

_No response_

Claude Code Version

v1.3109.0

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

macOS

Terminal/Shell

Terminal.app (macOS)

Additional Information

_No response_