[BUG] claude.exe 2.1.114 consumes ~40 GB virtual memory on Windows 10, triggers system-wide OOM

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?

During a normal coding session, claude.exe grows unbounded until Windows reports
virtual-memory exhaustion. The OOM pressure crashes the graphics stack (DWM,
NVIDIA Display Container, Intel igfxEM.exe) and Chrome, after which
RuntimeBroker.exe triggers an unplanned reboot.

## Environment

• OS: Windows 10 Pro 22H2 (build 19045)
• Claude Code: 2.1.114 (latest at time of report)
• Node.js: v22.21.1
• npm: 10.9.4
• Hardware: ASUS H110M-K, Intel HD + NVIDIA GeForce GT 1030, 16 GB RAM
• Shell: Git Bash
• MCP servers active (7): claude-in-chrome, context7, exim-ssh, figma,

playwright, claude_ai_Gmail, claude_ai_Google_Calendar, claude_ai_Google_Drive

What Should Happen?

claude.exe memory usage should stabilize, or at least be bounded by a
configurable ceiling, so that exhausting system virtual memory is not possible
from normal use.

Steps to Reproduce

Long-running session with:

• several large file reads (2000+ line CLAUDE.md, log files)
• 7 MCP servers connected
• one or two subagent dispatches
• a few bash commands with moderate stdout output

Memory climbs monotonically and is never released.

## Evidence — Windows Event Log, Event ID 2004
(Microsoft-Windows-Resource-Exhaustion-Detector)

2026-04-20 17:52:21 claude.exe (PID 4680) allocated 40,068,931,584 bytes (~37.3 GB)
2026-04-20 18:01:16 claude.exe (PID 14744) allocated 43,341,262,848 bytes (~40.4 GB)

Chrome in both samples held < 800 MB — claude.exe is the sole offender.

## Resulting cascade (17:52 sample)

| Time | Event |
|------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------|
| 17:52:21 | Virtual memory exhausted (Event 2004, claude.exe ≈ 37 GB) |
| 17:52:33 | NVDisplay.Container.exe crash (0xc0000005 access violation) |
| 17:52:33 | igfxEM.exe crash (0xc00000fd stack overflow in ntdll.dll) |
| 17:52:34 | DWM exits with 0xc00001ad, restart count 1 |
| 17:52:35 | Service "NVIDIA Display Container LS" terminated unexpectedly |
| 17:53:19 | RuntimeBroker.exe initiates unplanned shutdown, Kernel-Power 109 |

Reproduces every 30–60 min of active use. No Minidump is generated — this is
an OOM-driven graphics-stack crash, not a BSOD.

Claude Model

Opus

Is this a regression?

I don't know

Last Working Version

_No response_

Claude Code Version

2.1.114 (Claude Code)

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

Windows

Terminal/Shell

Cursor

Additional Information

## Likely related

• #4953, #11315, #22188, #26528, #33356 (reported fixed in 2.1.74), #33735

Behaviour persists in 2.1.114 — the fix from #33356 does not cover this
allocation pattern (MCP-heavy sessions on Windows).