[BUG] Claude desktop app opens infinite popup windows and freezes system when usage limit is hit during heavy parallel background tasks

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?

Summary

While running multiple heavy parallel background operations (3 concurrent long-running subprocess scans via Claude Code CLI), the Claude desktop app (Electron-based, Claude.app) began repeatedly opening new windows/popups referencing "Claude monthly usage limit exceeded" with a claude.ai address. The popups kept spawning continuously ("infinitely"), filling the screen, and eventually the system became unresponsive/frozen. I was forced to perform a hard restart to recover — no other way to stop it.

Environment

• OS: macOS (Darwin 24.6.0)
• App: Claude desktop app (Electron-based — confirmed via ElectronNSWindow in unified system logs)
• Trigger context: Claude Code CLI session running 3 concurrent background bash tasks (heavy subprocess-based scanning scripts) at the same time

Steps to reproduce (best guess)

1. Run Claude Code CLI with multiple (3+) concurrent long-running background tool calls / heavy API usage in a short window
2. App appears to hit a usage/rate limit
3. Instead of showing a single limit notice, the app seems to enter a retry loop, repeatedly opening new windows pointing to a "limit exceeded" page
4. Windows continue to spawn without user interaction, eventually consuming enough system resources to freeze the machine

Impact

• Full system freeze, required a hard restart (risk of data loss / unsaved work)
• No visible way to stop the popup loop from within the app (couldn't even take a screenshot before freeze)

What I checked to rule out other causes

• No Google Chrome installed on the system — confirmed the "Chrome-like" windows were Claude.app itself (Electron/Chromium-based)
• No browser extensions installed (checked Brave, the actual default browser) that could explain it
• No entries in real browser history matching the popup content — consistent with this being the Claude app's own internal window, not a real web navigation
• No malware/rogue script found in scanned local files that could explain browser-opening behavior

Request

Please add a safeguard so that hitting a usage/rate limit shows a single notice (not a spawning loop of new windows), and ensure the retry/limit-check logic cannot open unbounded windows regardless of how many concurrent requests are in flight.

What Should Happen?

The app should show a single, clear "usage limit reached" notice — it should not repeatedly spawn new windows in a retry loop, and it must never be able to freeze/crash the entire system regardless of how many concurrent API requests are in flight.

Error Messages/Logs

Steps to Reproduce

1. Open Claude Code CLI and start a session with heavy tool usage.
2. Launch 3 concurrent long-running background bash tasks in the same

session (e.g. run_in_background: true on multiple subprocess-heavy
scripts), causing a burst of API/tool-call usage in a short window.

1. While these background tasks are running, the Claude desktop app

(Electron-based, Claude.app on macOS) appears to hit a usage/rate
limit.

1. Instead of showing a single limit notice, the app begins repeatedly

opening new windows pointing to a "usage limit exceeded" / claude.ai
page, in what looks like a retry loop.

1. New windows keep spawning without any user interaction, consuming

increasing system resources, until the entire machine becomes
unresponsive.

1. No way was found to stop the loop from within the app (could not

even take a screenshot before freeze). A hard restart of the
computer was required to recover.

Note: This occurred specifically during a period of unusually high
concurrent background API usage — a single background task at a time
did not appear to trigger this.

Claude Model

Sonnet (default)

Is this a regression?

Yes, this worked in a previous version

Last Working Version

_No response_

Claude Code Version

2.1.220

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

macOS

Terminal/Shell

Terminal.app (macOS)

Additional Information

1. Open Claude Code CLI and start a session with heavy tool usage.
2. Launch 3 concurrent long-running background bash tasks in the same

session (e.g. run_in_background: true on multiple subprocess-heavy
scripts), causing a burst of API/tool-call usage in a short window.

1. While these background tasks are running, the Claude desktop app

(Electron-based, Claude.app on macOS) appears to hit a usage/rate
limit.

1. Instead of showing a single limit notice, the app begins repeatedly

opening new windows pointing to a "usage limit exceeded" / claude.ai
page, in what looks like a retry loop.

1. New windows keep spawning without any user interaction, consuming

increasing system resources, until the entire machine becomes
unresponsive.

1. No way was found to stop the loop from within the app (could not

even take a screenshot before freeze). A hard restart of the
computer was required to recover.

Note: This occurred specifically during a period of unusually high
concurrent background API usage — a single background task at a time
did not appear to trigger this.