[BUG] Auto-Update Crashes App During Unattended Claude Code Sessions

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

Claude Desktop's built-in auto-updater fires mid-session (not just at launch) and, when it attempts to relaunch the app to apply the update, terminates the live Claude Code session host. If no one is present to interact with the relaunch, the app crashes outright rather than completing a clean restart, and the in-flight task is lost with no warning or recovery.

Environment

• Platform: Claude Desktop (macOS)
• Hardware: M1 MacBook (issue observed on the machine used for unattended/background Claude Code tasks)
• Claude Desktop version: 2.1.186 (Claude Code)
• macOS version: 15.7.7 (24G720)

What Should Happen?

Expected Behavior

Either:

• The auto-updater defers applying an update while a Claude Code session/task is actively running, and only applies it on the next user-initiated quit, or
• If it must relaunch mid-session, it does so cleanly and restores or clearly reports the interrupted session — rather than crashing the app with no warning.

Actual Behavior

The app crashes entirely during the unattended window. There is no warning before the crash, no auto-save of the interrupted session, and no recovery path afterward.

Error Messages/Logs

Steps to Reproduce

Steps to Reproduce

1. Launch Claude Desktop normally — no "update didn't complete" banner at launch.
2. Start a Claude Code task, then step away and leave it running unattended.
3. At some point during the session, the "Update didn't complete / restart Claude" banner appears — this happens mid-session, not at launch.
4. Return later to find the app has crashed and is no longer running. The in-progress Claude Code task is lost.

Already Tried (none of these resolved it)

• Force-quitting all Claude processes (pkill -x Claude)
• Clearing app caches (~/Library/Caches/Claude, GPUCache, Code Cache)
• Full clean reinstall of the app
• These don't help because the trigger is a live update racing an active session, not local corruption.

Claude Model

None

Is this a regression?

Yes, this worked in a previous version

Last Working Version

_No response_

Claude Code Version

2.1.186

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

macOS

Terminal/Shell

Terminal.app (macOS)

Additional Information

Claude Desktop (macOS): Auto-Update Crashes App During Unattended Claude Code Sessions

Date: 2026-09-04
Version: 1.0

Summary

Claude Desktop's built-in auto-updater fires mid-session (not just at launch) and, when it attempts to relaunch the app to apply the update, terminates the live Claude Code session host. If no one is present to interact with the relaunch, the app crashes outright rather than completing a clean restart, and the in-flight task is lost with no warning or recovery.

Environment

• Platform: Claude Desktop (macOS)
• Hardware: M1 MacBook (issue observed on the machine used for unattended/background Claude Code tasks)
• Claude Desktop version: 2.1.186 (Claude Code)
• macOS version: 15.7.7 (24G720)

Steps to Reproduce

1. Launch Claude Desktop normally — no "update didn't complete" banner at launch.
2. Start a Claude Code task, then step away and leave it running unattended.
3. At some point during the session, the "Update didn't complete / restart Claude" banner appears — this happens mid-session, not at launch.
4. Return later to find the app has crashed and is no longer running. The in-progress Claude Code task is lost.

Expected Behavior

Either:

• The auto-updater defers applying an update while a Claude Code session/task is actively running, and only applies it on the next user-initiated quit, or
• If it must relaunch mid-session, it does so cleanly and restores or clearly reports the interrupted session — rather than crashing the app with no warning.

Actual Behavior

The app crashes entirely during the unattended window. There is no warning before the crash, no auto-save of the interrupted session, and no recovery path afterward.

Already Tried (none of these resolved it)

• Force-quitting all Claude processes (pkill -x Claude)
• Clearing app caches (~/Library/Caches/Claude, GPUCache, Code Cache)
• Full clean reinstall of the app
• These don't help because the trigger is a live update racing an active session, not local corruption.

Why This Matters

This specifically breaks unattended/background use of Claude Code (e.g., long-running or scheduled tasks left to run while away from the machine) — a workflow the desktop app otherwise supports.

Possibly Related Reports

Several other users have described the same failure class on macOS recently:

• Auto-update relaunch killing live session hosts with no user-facing off-switch for the desktop updater
• Relaunch-for-update prompts causing permanent loss of active session context with no warning
• Auto-update checks firing mid-session during long-running background agent sessions and stalling them

Suggested Fixes (any of these would help)

• A documented, user-facing setting to disable or defer desktop app auto-updates (not just the CLI's autoUpdatesChannel)
• Never relaunch while a session/task is actively running; stage the update and apply on next user-initiated quit
• If a relaunch does interrupt a session, surface that clearly on reopen rather than crashing silently