Spurious 'missing or broken' warning for Homebrew installations
Description
When Claude Code is installed via Homebrew, the CLI shows an error message indicating the binary at ~/.local/bin/claude is missing or broken. This path is the default npm global install location, but is not relevant for Homebrew installations where the binary lives at /opt/homebrew/bin/claude.
Steps to Reproduce
- Install Claude Code via Homebrew (
brew install claude) - Launch
claude - Observe error about
~/.local/bin/claudemissing or broken
Expected Behavior
No error should be shown. The CLI should detect that it is running successfully (regardless of install method) and not warn about a path that was never expected to exist.
Actual Behavior
An error message is displayed indicating /Users/<user>/.local/bin/claude is missing or broken, even though the Homebrew-installed binary at /opt/homebrew/bin/claude is functioning correctly.
Environment
- OS: macOS (Darwin 25.5.0, Apple Silicon)
- Install method: Homebrew
- Claude binary location:
/opt/homebrew/bin/claude ~/.local/bin/claude: Does not exist (expected for Homebrew installs)
Suggested Fix
The startup check should either:
- Use
which claude/ the running process path instead of hardcoding~/.local/bin/claude - Skip the check when the binary is already running successfully
- Only warn about the path relevant to the detected install method
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