[BUG] App shows "bridged process stopped responding" but leaves orphaned Claude processes running, causing pileup

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?

App shows "bridged process stopped responding" but leaves orphaned Claude processes running, causing pileup

What Should Happen?

It should connect to Code

Error Messages/Logs

The bridged Claude Code process stopped responding mid-turn. Check your terminal for errors (you may need to run /login), then resend your message.

Steps to Reproduce

Steps to reproduce

Use the Claude Code desktop app for an extended session.
At some point mid-turn, the app reports the process as unresponsive (exact trigger unclear/intermittent).
Check Task Manager for Claude / Claude Code processes — multiple orphaned instances are present.

Claude Model

Sonnet (default)

Is this a regression?

I don't know

Last Working Version

_No response_

Claude Code Version

2.1.217

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

Windows

Terminal/Shell

PyCharm terminal

Additional Information

Title: App shows "bridged process stopped responding" but leaves orphaned Claude processes running, causing pileup

Description

The Claude Code desktop app displayed the error:

The bridged Claude Code process stopped responding mid-turn. Check your terminal for errors (you may need to run /login), then resend your message.

The app UI became unresponsive after this. Separately, a terminal-based claude CLI session I had open kept working fine throughout, suggesting the issue is isolated to the app's process bridge rather than authentication or the CLI itself.

After the app eventually recovered (or I restarted it), I checked Task Manager and found:

10 instances of Claude processes
1 instance of Claude Code
still running, none of which appear to have been cleaned up.

Suspected cause

It looks like when the app detects the bridged process as unresponsive, it may be spawning a new backend process on retry/reconnect without terminating the previous (stuck) one, leading to orphaned processes accumulating over time.

Environment

OS: Windows 11 Pro (10.0.26200)
Interface: Claude Code desktop app (bridged to CLI)
Steps to reproduce

Use the Claude Code desktop app for an extended session.
At some point mid-turn, the app reports the process as unresponsive (exact trigger unclear/intermittent).
Check Task Manager for Claude / Claude Code processes — multiple orphaned instances are present.
Expected behavior

When the app detects a hung bridged process and reconnects/retries, it should terminate the old process rather than leaving it running, to avoid accumulating orphaned processes.