[BUG] Claude Desktop crashes within 20s of launch on macOS — even after clean reinstall

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?

Environment:

• macOS version: [run sw_vers -productVersion and paste]
• Hardware: [Apple menu → About This Mac → copy chip name]
• App version: latest as of May 12, 2026

Steps to reproduce:

• Fresh install of Claude Desktop
• All plugins disabled in ~/.claude/settings.json
• ClaudeCodeEnabled set to false via defaults write
• Launch app → closes within 20 seconds, every time

Diagnostics already performed:

• Killed all background daemons (claude-mem, chroma-mcp)
• Deleted all app data and caches
• Reinstalled from claude.ai/download
• Disabled Code feature via defaults write
• Restarted Mac
• Still crashes consistently in 20s

Logs attached: main.log shows download of 2.1GB sandbox stalls/fails, app exits silently after.

macos version- 26.3.1

What Should Happen?

the desktop app should open and dont crash, when i want to work on anything it should not crash

Error Messages/Logs

Steps to Reproduce

issue is happening in my system when I try to start claude desktop app on mac

Claude Model

None

Is this a regression?

No, this never worked

Last Working Version

_No response_

Claude Code Version

2.1.139 (Claude Code)

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

macOS

Terminal/Shell

Terminal.app (macOS)

Additional Information

_No response_