/ bug report

Bug Description
/ bug report

Environment Info

• Platform: win32
• Terminal: null
• Version: 2.1.261
• Feedback ID: bdab4708-fb72-4dfb-ab50-5003ddf59b92

Errors

[**Bug Description**
Every message sent in the Claude Code terminal app fails with:
"API Error: Connection refused – a firewall or proxy may be blocking it (ConnectionRefused)"
Sometimes it fails immediately with retries (attempt X/10), sometimes it "bakes/crunches" for ~3 minutes before failing with the same error.

**Environment Info**
- Platform: win32
- Terminal: null
- Version: 2.1.261
- Feedback ID: bdab4708-fb72-4dfb-ab50-5003ddf59b92

**Troubleshooting already done (all ruled out)**
- DNS resolution to api.anthropic.com: OK
- TCP connect to api.anthropic.com:443: OK (Test-NetConnection succeeded)
- Full HTTPS/TLS handshake via curl to api.anthropic.com: OK, valid response from Cloudflare/Anthropic API
- No proxy configured (netsh winhttp show proxy: direct access; no HTTP_PROXY/HTTPS_PROXY/ANTHROPIC_* env vars set)
- hosts file: unmodified/default
- Only antivirus present: Windows Defender (no third-party AV/SSL inspection)
- main.log shows OAuth token load, WebSocket bridge connect, and remote-tools-device authentication all succeeding
- WSL2 was not installed at all initially; installed WSL2, restarted PC — cowork_vm_node.log then showed the VM service starting successfully (Network status: CONNECTED, API reachability: REACHABLE) — this fixed a separate `\\.\pipe\cowork-vm-service does not exist` warning, but did not fix the chat/completion error
- Killed all Claude.exe processes and restarted fresh (multiple times), including after an app auto-update (2.1.251 → 2.1.261): no change
- Uninstalled ALL 6 installed plugins (ecc, graphify, headroom, impeccable, ponytail, remember) and ran /reload-plugins (confirmed: 0 plugins, 0 hooks active): error persists identically

**Notable detail**
The Claude desktop app itself (Cowork chat interface, same account/machine/network) works completely normally at the same time — only the standalone "Claude Code" terminal window/mode fails.]