[BUG] Cowork runtime missing from macOS app bundle — "Download failed" error on every launch

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?

Cowork consistently fails with "Failed to start Claude's workspace — Download failed. Check your internet connection and try again." The error persists after multiple reinstalls and manually deleting the VM bundle directories.

What Should Happen?

Cowork consistently fails with "Failed to start Claude's workspace — Download failed. Check your internet connection and try again." The error persists after multiple reinstalls and manually deleting the VM bundle directories.

Error Messages/Logs

Environment:

OS: macOS
Claude Desktop version: Claude 1.6608.2 (ebf1a1) 2026-05-08T23:17:27.000Z
Installation source: claude.ai/download

What's wrong:
Cowork consistently fails with "Failed to start Claude's workspace — Download failed. Check your internet connection and try again." The error persists after multiple reinstalls and manually deleting the VM bundle directories.
Root cause identified:
The Cowork runtime module is completely absent from the app bundle. Verified with:
ls /Applications/Claude.app/Contents/Resources/app.asar.unpacked/node_modules/ | grep -i cowork
Returns nothing.

Steps to Reproduce

Install Claude Desktop on macOS
Open Cowork tab
Observe "Download failed" error
Run the command above — no cowork module present

Troubleshooting already attempted:

Restarted computer
Full clean reinstall of Claude Desktop
Manually deleted ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/vm_bundles
Manually deleted ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude-code-vm
No log file generated at ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/logs/cowork_vm_node.log

Expected: Cowork workspace loads normally
Actual: Download fails; runtime binary never present in bundle

Claude Model

None

Is this a regression?

Yes, this worked in a previous version

Last Working Version

_No response_

Claude Code Version

Claude 1.6608.2 (ebf1a1) 2026-05-08T23:17:27.000Z

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

macOS

Terminal/Shell

Terminal.app (macOS)

Additional Information

_No response_