[BUG] Desktop app (Windows) crashes/hangs while using the built-in Claude Browser pane; one crash reset the app profile

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?

The Windows desktop app repeatedly crashes or hangs while the built-in "Claude Browser" pane (the internal browser Claude sessions drive via the Claude Browser MCP tools / preview) is in use.

On 2026-08-07 one of these crashes was severe enough that the app came back as a fresh install: the profile in %APPDATA%\Claude was reset, re-login was required and all UI sessions were gone (CLI transcripts under ~/.claude survived; sessions were recovered via claude --resume). The same evening, with the brand-new profile, the app crashed again while the internal browser pane was in use ("'Utility' process exited with 'killed'", see logs).

Because the profile was wiped, older main.log evidence from before 2026-08-07 is lost. Windows Error Reporting still has earlier hang/leak events for claude.exe from July (see logs).

What Should Happen?

Using the built-in browser pane should not crash or hang the desktop app, and no crash should ever reset/corrupt the app profile (%APPDATA%\Claude).

Error Messages/Logs

main.log (new profile, 2026-08-07):
21:51:48 [info] [heavy-work] worker exited (1073807364); will refork on next request
21:51:48 [error] Sentry caught: {
  eventId: 'c0d7156763b04660879a03a285a8add1',
  type: 'Unknown',
  value: "'Utility' process exited with 'killed'",
  stack: undefined
}
21:52:43 [info] Starting app { appVersion: '1.26832.0', platform: 'win32', arch: 'x64', nodeVersion: '24.18.0' }

Windows Event Log (Application), older app versions:
06.07.2026 09:45 Event 1002: "claude.exe 1.18286.0.0 stopped interacting with Windows and was closed" (MoAppHang)
10.07.2026 22:57 Event 1001: RADAR_PRE_LEAK_64, P1: claude.exe, P2: 1.20186.0.0

%APPDATA%\Claude\Crashpad\reports is empty (nothing captured or already uploaded).
Memory pressure was normal around the crashes (>11 GB free RAM, renderer ~450-680 MB).

Steps to Reproduce

Not deterministic, but the pattern is consistent:

1. Windows desktop app (Cowork / local session) with the built-in browser enabled.
2. Let Claude drive the built-in Claude Browser pane (navigate, screenshots, page reads; sometimes pages with video/DRM content).
3. After a while the app hangs or crashes. Worst case (2026-08-07): the app profile was reset and the app behaved like a fresh install afterwards.

Suspicion: GPU/video related. Hardware is an AMD Ryzen AI MAX+ 395 w/ Radeon 8060S iGPU (driver 32.0.31035.1003); playing protected video inside the pane previously only worked with hardware acceleration off.

Claude Model

None

Is this a regression?

I don't know

Last Working Version

_No response_

Claude Code Version

Desktop app 1.26832.0 (CCD 2.1.222)

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

Windows

Terminal/Shell

Other

Additional Information

Environment: Claude desktop app 1.26832.0 (CCD 2.1.222), Electron 42.7.0, Chrome 148.0.7778.280, Windows 11 Pro build 26200 (de-DE), AMD Ryzen AI MAX+ 395 w/ Radeon 8060S, 32 GB RAM, 3840x2160 @175%.

Workaround on our side: the internal browser is now blocked via permissions.deny ["mcp__Claude_Browser"] in ~/.claude/settings.json and browser tasks go through the Claude-in-Chrome extension instead, which is stable.

Sentry event id from the crash: c0d7156763b04660879a03a285a8add1 (2026-08-07 21:51:48 Europe/Berlin) - in case you can pull the server-side report.