[BUG] [Critical] Claude Desktop v1.8555.2 crashes on launch with V8 OOM on macOS Tahoe 26.4.1
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?
Hi Anthropic Support,
Claude Desktop is completely unusable on my Mac due to a reproducible V8
out-of-memory crash on launch. After ~6 seconds the app crashes with
SIGTRAP every time, before I can interact with the UI in any meaningful
way. I've performed a full clean reinstall — the issue persists.
— Environment ——————————————————————————————————————————
App version: Claude.app 1.8555.2 (downloaded from claude.com/download)
macOS: 26.4.1 (build 25E253) — Tahoe
Hardware: MacBook Air, Apple M3, 24 GB RAM
Account: Claude Max
Reproducibility: 100% (4 consecutive crashes, fresh reinstall included)
— Root cause (confirmed via --enable-logging=stderr) ————————
V8 old-space hits its default heap ceiling at ~2807–3166 MB during startup.
Last-resort Mark-Compact GC frees zero bytes, then OOM aborts the renderer.
Excerpt from the log (one representative crash):
<--- Last few GCs --->
Mark-Compact (reduce) 3166.7 (3322.6) -> 3166.7 (3251.1) MB ...
last resort; GC in old space requested
Mark-Compact (reduce) 3166.7 (3251.1) -> 3166.7 (3249.8) MB ...
last resort; GC in old space requested
ERROR:electron/shell/common/node_bindings.cc:185
OOM error in V8: CALL_AND_RETRY_LAST Allocation failed -
JavaScript heap out of memory
zsh: trace trap
The startup work appears to load far too many heavy resources concurrently
(Cowork rootfs.img.zst ~10GB download, Claude Code binary, 16 skills,
30 chat conversations, MCP server lists, GitHub repos, multiple telemetry
SDKs — Datadog RUM, Sentry, GTM, FB Pixel), all kept live in the same
V8 heap.
— Workarounds attempted, all FAILED ————————————————————
- NODE_OPTIONS="--max-old-space-size=12288"
→ Ignored. Log shows:
"WARNING:electron/shell/common/node_bindings.cc:502
NODE_OPTIONS ignored due to disabled nodeOptions fuse."
- Tried 8192 MB and 12288 MB via env var and launchctl setenv — both ignored.
- --disable-gpu flag → rejected: "GPU access not allowed."
- Full state wipe: deleted ~/Library/Application Support/Claude,
all Caches, Saved Application State, HTTPStorages, WebKit, Preferences
plist, Cookies binarycookies. Reset TCC for Documents/Downloads/Desktop.
- Complete uninstall + fresh download from claude.com/download +
reinstall — identical crash.
— Request ———————————————————————————————————————————
Please either:
(a) Raise V8 max-old-space-size in the packaged Electron config (e.g. to 8 GB).
(b) Re-enable the nodeOptions Electron fuse so users can configure it
via environment variable.
(c) Reduce concurrent startup work — defer Cowork VM download, skill
loading, and telemetry SDK initialization until after the main UI
has stabilized.
This appears related to GitHub issue #48276 (reported crashes on
macOS 26.3.1+) and may affect all Tahoe users with sufficient
account state (skills, projects, chat history) to push V8 over the
default heap ceiling on startup.
Happy to provide the full --enable-logging=stderr output (~50 MB)
on request.
In the meantime I'm using claude.ai in the browser, which works fine.
Thanks,
Jorvik
What Should Happen?
fix
Error Messages/Logs
Steps to Reproduce
Hi Anthropic Support,
Claude Desktop is completely unusable on my Mac due to a reproducible V8
out-of-memory crash on launch. After ~6 seconds the app crashes with
SIGTRAP every time, before I can interact with the UI in any meaningful
way. I've performed a full clean reinstall — the issue persists.
— Environment ——————————————————————————————————————————
App version: Claude.app 1.8555.2 (downloaded from claude.com/download)
macOS: 26.4.1 (build 25E253) — Tahoe
Hardware: MacBook Air, Apple M3, 24 GB RAM
Account: Claude Max
Reproducibility: 100% (4 consecutive crashes, fresh reinstall included)
— Root cause (confirmed via --enable-logging=stderr) ————————
V8 old-space hits its default heap ceiling at ~2807–3166 MB during startup.
Last-resort Mark-Compact GC frees zero bytes, then OOM aborts the renderer.
Excerpt from the log (one representative crash):
<--- Last few GCs --->
Mark-Compact (reduce) 3166.7 (3322.6) -> 3166.7 (3251.1) MB ...
last resort; GC in old space requested
Mark-Compact (reduce) 3166.7 (3251.1) -> 3166.7 (3249.8) MB ...
last resort; GC in old space requested
ERROR:electron/shell/common/node_bindings.cc:185
OOM error in V8: CALL_AND_RETRY_LAST Allocation failed -
JavaScript heap out of memory
zsh: trace trap
The startup work appears to load far too many heavy resources concurrently
(Cowork rootfs.img.zst ~10GB download, Claude Code binary, 16 skills,
30 chat conversations, MCP server lists, GitHub repos, multiple telemetry
SDKs — Datadog RUM, Sentry, GTM, FB Pixel), all kept live in the same
V8 heap.
— Workarounds attempted, all FAILED ————————————————————
- NODE_OPTIONS="--max-old-space-size=12288"
→ Ignored. Log shows:
"WARNING:electron/shell/common/node_bindings.cc:502
NODE_OPTIONS ignored due to disabled nodeOptions fuse."
- Tried 8192 MB and 12288 MB via env var and launchctl setenv — both ignored.
- --disable-gpu flag → rejected: "GPU access not allowed."
- Full state wipe: deleted ~/Library/Application Support/Claude,
all Caches, Saved Application State, HTTPStorages, WebKit, Preferences
plist, Cookies binarycookies. Reset TCC for Documents/Downloads/Desktop.
- Complete uninstall + fresh download from claude.com/download +
reinstall — identical crash.
— Request ———————————————————————————————————————————
Please either:
(a) Raise V8 max-old-space-size in the packaged Electron config (e.g. to 8 GB).
(b) Re-enable the nodeOptions Electron fuse so users can configure it
via environment variable.
(c) Reduce concurrent startup work — defer Cowork VM download, skill
loading, and telemetry SDK initialization until after the main UI
has stabilized.
This appears related to GitHub issue #48276 (reported crashes on
macOS 26.3.1+) and may affect all Tahoe users with sufficient
account state (skills, projects, chat history) to push V8 over the
default heap ceiling on startup.
Happy to provide the full --enable-logging=stderr output (~50 MB)
on request.
In the meantime I'm using claude.ai in the browser, which works fine.
Thanks,
Jorvik
Claude Model
None
Is this a regression?
Yes, this worked in a previous version
Last Working Version
_No response_
Claude Code Version
1.81
Platform
Anthropic API
Operating System
macOS
Terminal/Shell
Terminal.app (macOS)
Additional Information
_No response_