[BUG] Auto-update breaks claude.exe on Windows (NVM for Windows)

Found 3 possible duplicate issues:

1. https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues/9418
2. https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues/9445
3. https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues/9436

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🤖 Generated with Claude Code

I've hit this same issue repeatedly over several months (npm global install, not NVM — standalone Node v22.13.1 in C:\Tools). Same pattern every time: auto-updater renames claude.exe to claude.exe.old.<timestamp>, fails to copy the new binary from the platform package, wrapper script points at nothing.

Rather than disabling the auto-updater, I replaced the claude.ps1 wrapper with a self-healing version that detects the missing binary and recovers from the platform package before launching. Drop-in replacement — auto-updates stay enabled, and when the updater fails, the next launch fixes itself automatically.

Replace your claude.ps1 (wherever npm installed it) with:

#!/usr/bin/env pwsh
$basedir=Split-Path $MyInvocation.MyCommand.Definition -Parent
$binExe = "$basedir\node_modules\@anthropic-ai\claude-code\bin\claude.exe"
$platformExe = "$basedir\node_modules\@anthropic-ai\claude-code\node_modules\@anthropic-ai\claude-code-win32-x64\claude.exe"

# Self-heal: if the auto-updater left claude.exe missing, recover from platform package
if (-not (Test-Path $binExe)) {
  if (Test-Path $platformExe) {
    Write-Host "[fix-claude] claude.exe missing - recovering from platform package..." -ForegroundColor Yellow
    Copy-Item $platformExe $binExe -Force
    Get-ChildItem (Split-Path $binExe) -Filter "claude.exe.old.*" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue | Remove-Item -Force
    Write-Host "[fix-claude] Restored. Launching..." -ForegroundColor Green
  } else {
    Write-Error "[fix-claude] claude.exe missing and no platform binary found. Run: npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code"
    exit 1
  }
}

if ($MyInvocation.ExpectingInput) {
  $input | & $binExe $args
} else {
  & $binExe $args
}
exit $LASTEXITCODE

And the claude.cmd equivalent:

@ECHO off
GOTO start
:find_dp0
SET dp0=%~dp0
EXIT /b
:start
SETLOCAL
CALL :find_dp0

SET "binExe=%dp0%node_modules\@anthropic-ai\claude-code\bin\claude.exe"
SET "platformExe=%dp0%node_modules\@anthropic-ai\claude-code\node_modules\@anthropic-ai\claude-code-win32-x64\claude.exe"

IF NOT EXIST "%binExe%" (
  IF EXIST "%platformExe%" (
    echo [fix-claude] claude.exe missing - recovering from platform package...
    copy /Y "%platformExe%" "%binExe%" >nul
    del /Q "%dp0%node_modules\@anthropic-ai\claude-code\bin\claude.exe.old.*" 2>nul
    echo [fix-claude] Restored. Launching...
  ) ELSE (
    echo [fix-claude] claude.exe missing and no platform binary found.
    echo Run: npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code
    exit /b 1
  )
)

"%binExe%" %*

Hope this helps others until the updater is fixed properly.

This issue was fixed as of version 2.1.153.

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