[BUG] Claude Desktop crashes after ~7-8s on macOS 26 (Tahoe) — disk-writes resource limit exceeded by Code/Cowork VM init

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?

Claude Desktop (v1.10628.0) crashes 7–8 seconds after every launch on macOS 26 Tahoe (26.5.1, build 25F80).

The app launches, prompts for login every time, lands on the Claude Code dashboard, then is terminated within 7–8 seconds — never reaching a usable state. This is 100% reproducible.

Diagnostic report (/Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/Claude_*.diag):

• Event: disk writes
• - ~2147 MB of file-backed memory dirtied over 7 s (~295 MB/s), exceeding the 2 GB disk-writes resource limit
• - - Heaviest stack: thread_start → pthread_start → uv_cancel → write (libsystem_kernel) — a libuv synchronous write loop in the Electron Framework
• - - - No .ips crash report is produced (only the .diag resource report)

No usable state is ever reached. Appears to be eager Code/Cowork VM initialization on launch saturating the disk-write budget.

What Should Happen?

Claude Desktop should launch and remain running, reaching a usable chat state without being terminated. The Code/Cowork VM should not be initialized eagerly on startup, or at minimum should not write ~2 GB of data within the first 7–8 seconds of launch.

Error Messages/Logs

From /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/Claude_*.diag:

Event: disk writes
Action taken: kill
Budget: 2147483648 bytes over 86400 seconds
Used: ~2147 MB file-backed dirty memory over 7 s (~295 MB/s)

Heaviest stack:
  thread_start
  pthread_start
  uv_cancel (libuv)
  write (libsystem_kernel.dylib) <-- synchronous write loop in Electron Framework

Note: No .ips crash report is produced — only the .diag resource report.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Install Claude Desktop v1.10628.0 on macOS 26 Tahoe (26.5.1, build 25F80) on Apple Silicon hardware.
2. 2. Launch Claude Desktop.
3. 3. Observe login prompt on every launch (no persistent session).
4. 4. After login, app lands on the Claude Code dashboard.
5. 5. Within 7–8 seconds, the app is killed by macOS with a disk-writes resource violation.
6. 6. Check /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/Claude_*.diag — confirms disk writes event, ~2147 MB dirtied in 7 s.

Reproduces 100% of the time on affected hardware/OS combination.

Claude Model

None

Is this a regression?

Yes, this worked in a previous version

Last Working Version

Unknown — may not have worked on macOS 26 Tahoe at all

Claude Code Version

1.10628.0 (Claude Desktop, not Claude Code CLI)

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

macOS

Terminal/Shell

Terminal.app (macOS)

Additional Information

Hardware: MacBook Air, Apple Silicon (Mac17,4), 24 GB RAM
Bundle ID: com.anthropic.claudefordesktop

Ruled out (none fixed it):

• Cleared Cache, Code Cache, GPUCache
• - Cleared local-agent-mode-sessions
• - - Moved aside entire ~/Library/Application Support/Claude folder (fresh start)
• - - - Removed vm_bundles; also write-protected vm_bundles (chmod 500)
• - - - - Disabled all connectors via claude.ai web settings
• - - - - - Clean reinstall of latest build from claude.ai/download
• - - - - - - Launched via claude://claude.ai/new to force chat view — still loaded Code

Related issues: possibly #51913, #30972, #32169, #61992Root cause hypothesis: Eager Code/Cowork VM initialization on launch saturates the macOS 2 GB disk-write budget within 7–8 seconds, causing the OS to kill the process.

Request: A fix for the eager VM/Code initialization on launch, and/or a supported way to disable the Code/Cowork VM startup so the chat app stays usable.