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Claude Code Issues / #98291

[BUG] linux-arm64: --version works, --help and agents hang with empty output (Orange Pi Zero 3)

Status Open
Reported on v2.1.220
Maintainer reply None cached
Activity 0 comments · opened Sep 30, 2026

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?

On an Orange Pi Zero 3 (hostname orangepizero3, Ubuntu 24.04.4 arm64,
Allwinner vendor kernel 6.1.31-sun50iw9), claude --version returns
immediately, and the following commands produce no stdout and no stderr
until timeout kills them:

  • claude --help
  • claude agents --help
  • claude agents --json --all --cwd <empty directory>

This was captured on 2026-08-02. The board is offline, so it was not
retested on a later build. The same hang happened on two install
methods and two versions:

  • npm global @anthropic-ai/claude-code@2.1.220 (linux-arm64 package),

Node v24.18.0, npm 12.0.1, under nvm

version 2.1.220, same binary SHA-256 as the npm install

  • native installer, channel stable, isolated HOME, version 2.1.212,

repeated twice with the same binary SHA-256

The failing commands were run with TERM=dumb, PAGER=cat, NO_COLOR=1,
CI=1, DISABLE_AUTOUPDATER=1, and with stdout and stderr redirected to
a file. The stable runs also unset ANTHROPIC_API_KEY and
ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN. HOME was a fresh directory, not the daily
~/.claude. Exit status 124 means GNU timeout's SIGTERM ended the
process. Exit status 137 means the process was still alive 5 seconds
later and timeout sent SIGKILL. The install itself exited 0. At
collection time about 3.5 GiB of RAM was free, and each hang lasted
about as long as the configured timeout.

A later snapshot says claude: No such file or directory and shows an
empty npm tree. That snapshot was taken at 2026-08-02T19:41:27Z, after
the native installer had run npm uninstall -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code
against the real nvm prefix. The version under test is the 19:04:36Z
output: 2.1.220 (Claude Code).

What Should Happen?

claude --help should print help and exit 0.
claude agents --help should print the agents help and exit 0.
claude agents --json --all --cwd <empty directory> should print a
JSON agent list (or a normal empty result) and exit 0.
All three should do this in a fresh HOME, without a TTY, the same way
claude --version already does.

Error Messages/Logs

uname -a
Linux orangepizero3 6.1.31-sun50iw9 #1.0.6 SMP Thu Sep 12 11:09:29 CST 2024 aarch64 aarch64 aarch64 GNU/Linux

OS: Ubuntu 24.04.4 LTS (noble)
glibc: 2.39 (Ubuntu GLIBC 2.39-0ubuntu8.8)
CPU: 4x ARM Cortex-A53, max 1512 MHz
RAM: 3.8 GiB; swap 1.9 GiB, unused at collection
Node recorded by npm's own debug log: v24.18.0
npm: 12.0.1
A separate `node --version` transcript was not saved.

claude --version, npm install, 2026-08-02T19:04:36Z, exit 0
2.1.220 (Claude Code)

Native isolated 2.1.220, same SHA-256, timeout 30s, --kill-after 5s
claude --version                         exit 0    0s    "2.1.220 (Claude Code)"
claude --help                            exit 137  36s   empty; shell printed "Killed"
claude agents --help                     exit 124  30s   empty
claude agents --json --all --cwd <dir>   exit 137  35s   empty; shell printed "Killed"

Native stable 2.1.212, timeout 45s, --kill-after 5s, two runs, same SHA-256
--version            exit 0
--help               exit 137   about 50s   empty
agents --help        exit 137   about 50s   empty
agents --json --all  exit 124   about 45s   empty

Binary SHA-256
2.1.220  159e4a51d796f3bf14677577100f7efb845611b1ceaf0c30cbd8d4650d942185
         271825824 bytes
2.1.212  66e88634a8573a002702e6a9de0d80cb9bb7c9072f9e6f4486778539057dfd3c

install.sh SHA-256 for all three native runs
cde4f1702d3b1695f92b73d26888364e17bca476e17f0fd676484c951d36c125

The captured --help and agents logs are 0 bytes. There is no Claude
Code session log: those commands never opened a session.

Steps to Reproduce

Hardware: Orange Pi Zero 3, aarch64, Ubuntu 24.04.4, kernel
6.1.31-sun50iw9, glibc 2.39.

  1. Install Claude Code 2.1.220 either with npm or with the native

installer. Both binaries had the same SHA-256 above.

npm path, as found on disk under nvm Node v24.18.0:
npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code@2.1.220
The installed platform package was @anthropic-ai/claude-code-linux-arm64.
Launcher: ~/.local/bin/claude -> the nvm prefix bin/claude
Real file: the package bin/claude.exe

Native path, in a fresh HOME:
curl -fsSL https://claude.ai/install.sh -o install.sh
bash install.sh 2.1.220

Stable channel, also in a fresh HOME, also hangs:
bash install.sh stable
That resolved to 2.1.212 on 2026-08-02.

  1. From the installed launcher, with a fresh HOME and no TTY:

export TERM=dumb PAGER=cat NO_COLOR=1 CI=1 DISABLE_AUTOUPDATER=1
timeout --signal=TERM --kill-after=5s 45s claude --version
timeout --signal=TERM --kill-after=5s 45s claude --help
timeout --signal=TERM --kill-after=5s 45s claude agents --help
mkdir -p /tmp/empty-project
timeout --signal=TERM --kill-after=5s 45s \
claude agents --json --all --cwd /tmp/empty-project

  1. Observed result: --version prints "2.1.220 (Claude Code)" or

"2.1.212 (Claude Code)" and exits 0. The other three commands write
nothing and stay running until timeout (exit 124 or 137).

The original probes used 30s for the 2.1.220 run and 45s for stable.
Both intervals were long enough to show a hang rather than a slow start.

Claude Model

Not sure / Multiple models

Is this a regression?

I don't know

Last Working Version

_No response_

Claude Code Version

2.1.220 (Claude Code)

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

Ubuntu/Debian Linux

Terminal/Shell

Non-interactive/CI environment

Additional Information

Related closed reports. The board and the failing command are not the
same as those issues:

linux-arm64, vendor kernel; --version works and later startup hangs.
Closed. That report is 2.1.140 on a Jetson. This one is 2.1.220 and
stable 2.1.212 on an Orange Pi Zero 3, and --help and agents hang
before any session starts.

--version itself hangs. Here --version returns immediately.

epoll_pwait hang under gVisor. This board is not running gVisor.

immediate abort on a 64K page-size kernel. These processes stayed
alive until timeout and wrote nothing.

Kernel 6.1.31-sun50iw9 is the Allwinner vendor kernel, not mainline.
glibc is 2.39. At collection, about 3.5 GiB of RAM was free and swap
was unused, so the exits 124 and 137 match GNU timeout, not an
immediate out-of-memory kill. No strace was captured. Page size was
not recorded.

npm's own debug log is the Node evidence: node@v24.18.0, npm@12.0.1,
os Linux 6.1.31-sun50iw9. A separate node --version transcript was
not saved. The platform package removed from the npm prefix was
@anthropic-ai/claude-code-linux-arm64.

The optional log archive has the install logs, the npm debug logs,
the exit codes, and the command transcripts. The --help and agents
transcripts are 0 bytes. It has no API keys, no Claude binaries, and
no copy of the daily ~/.claude directory. Local account names in
paths were replaced with <user>.

A 57991-byte CLI diagnostic from 2026-08-02T10:45:09Z stayed on the
board and is not in the archive. The board is offline, so it cannot
be added to this report. The tested versions are 2.1.220 and 2.1.212
from 2026-08-02, not a build checked on the day this issue is opened.

claude-code-arm64-logs-20260802.tar.gz

View original on GitHub ↗

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