Cowork issues on macOS
Issues the maintainers labelled both platform:macos and area:cowork.
819 issues · 138 open · 681 resolved (83%) · first seen Jan 15, 2026
Is this getting better or worse?
This class of problem is converging. 179 new reports in the last 90 days vs 345 in the 90 before — -48%. The open backlog peaked at 194 in 2026-04 and sits at 138 today.
Derived by counting each matching issue from its creation date until it closed. First-party
computation over the anthropics/claude-code tracker — the trend is not published
anywhere upstream.
Which builds report this
292 of these reports name the Claude Code build they were running, spanning 107 releases. Heaviest reporters:
- Claude Code v2.1.111
- Claude Code v2.1.92
- Claude Code v2.1.81
- Claude Code v2.1.229
- Claude Code v2.1.177
- Claude Code v2.1.87
- Claude Code v2.1.202
- Claude Code v2.1.121
Report volume, not a defect count: an issue can mention a build without that build having caused the failure. Versions come from the version string in the bug-report template, matched against real published tags.
Do these get fixed?
Median time to close is 34 days across 681 closures. Of the 681 closures with a recorded reason, 17% were closed as completed and 566 as not-planned or duplicate. The most recent completed fix landed in 2026-10.
Workarounds reported by the community
248 of these issues post a workaround someone says worked. The highest-engagement ones:
- [BUG] Google Drive connector shows connected but tools not exposed in Cowork
- Workaround that resolved this for me (macOS, Claude Desktop, one login belonging to two workspaces: a personal one and a Team org). Symptom matched this issue exactly: Drive showed as connected in the UI, but no Drive to…
Found in the thread of #30457 · still open - [BUG] Cowork Can't add private GitHub marketplace
- …ll org-internal plugin distribution through Cowork. The CLI workaround works but leaves teammates unable to install without terminal tooling.
Found in the thread of #28125 · still open - [FEATURE] Model switching for existing Cowork tasks within Projects
- …des instead of fearing them. Alternative Solutions The only workaround I have found is manually copying persona instructions and key decisions into a brand-new task. This loses the live conversation history and the per-t…
Found in the description of #49649 · still open - [BUG] Cowork (Not Claude Code) 1M context window unavailable on Max 5x — regression from March 20
- …ks has been broken since March 19 19:33 UTC. No client-side workaround exists. This requires a server-side fix.
Found in the thread of #37413 · still open - [BUG] Cowork: new projects lost "Choose a folder" — Context menu replaced with Chat-style upload-only knowledge menu after Chat/Cowork merge
- …er-session and not persisted as project context — a partial workaround, not a substitute. <img width="1306" height="735" alt="Image" src=" / <img width="1306" height="735" alt="Image" src=" / What Should Happen? The Cont…
Found in the description of #76694 · still open
Excerpts are quoted from the linked issue so you can judge relevance before opening it. Threads that only ask for a workaround, or report that there is none, are excluded. These are community suggestions, not official guidance from Anthropic — read the full thread before applying one.
Matching issues 1–100
Ranked by community engagement (reactions weighted over comments). Listing the top 300 of 819 matches; the statistics above cover all 819.
- [BUG] Google Drive connector shows connected but tools not exposed in Cowork
- [BUG] Cowork Can't add private GitHub marketplace
- [FEATURE] Model switching for existing Cowork tasks within Projects
- [BUG] Cowork (Not Claude Code) 1M context window unavailable on Max 5x — regression from March 20
- [BUG] Cowork: new projects lost "Choose a folder" — Context menu replaced with Chat-style upload-only knowledge menu after Chat/Cowork merge
- [BUG] Cowork: Global instructions silently revert to older version after saving
- [BUG] Cowork — "Additional allowed domains" allowlist non-functional
- [BUG] API Error: Rate limit reached on Cowork only - account-specific, persists across machines
- Dispatch main conversation permanently offline despite working Cowork tasks
- [BUG] Cowork sessions ignore user hooks and managed settings — sandbox platform mismatch breaks all settings resolution
- [BUG] Cowork crashes since v1.3036.0 is installed
- [BUG] Chrome extension steals focus and hijacks keyboard input during concurrent Cowork tasks (post-March 24 computer use update)
- [BUG] Dispatch responses generated but never delivered to clients (desktop Cowork & mobile)
- [BUG] REGRESSION: Cannot switch between Opus and Sonnet mid-thread in Cowork after April 15 desktop redesign
- Cowork OTLP monitoring not emitting events despite correct configuration
- [BUG] Claude Code process exited with code 1 - happening with cowork on Desktop
- [BUG] Cowork — GitHub connector unusable: OAuth DCR unsupported, UI shows misleading state, Disconnect button dead
- [BUG] Built-in browser ignores Allowed sites for internal hostnames (*.habifino.local): "Site-level permissions are disabled for this site", prompt on every action
- [BUG] Cowork on Windows: bash sandbox can create files on mounted host folder but unlink is denied — breaks all git write operations
- Desktop app: session history lost when switching accounts
- [BUG] 1.3036.0 (cf521c): All Cowork sessions crash with "exited with code 1" on macOS - Desktop-to-SDK spawn failure, SDK 2.1.111
- Claude desktop local-agent VM (claudevm.bundle/rootfs.img) grows unboundedly and is never reclaimed — silently fills disk, causes out-of-space failures
- [BUG] Claude Dispatch permanently showing "desktop appears offline" for multiple weeks
- [BUG] Claude in Chrome + Control Chrome Failures in Cowork Mode
- [BUG] Cowork: "Reached maximum number of turns (100)" breaks long-running browser automation projects
- [BUG] AskUserQuestion permission channel closes silently on Cowork (macOS) — agent receives "Tool permission stream closed before response received", user sees no popup
- Cowork downloads Linux binary instead of macOS on Intel Mac (exit code 132)
- [Bug] Escape key closes /btw modal and unintentionally rejects pending file edits
- Cowork crashes with "exited with code 1" on v1.3036.0 (macOS) Body:
- Permission mode reverts from bypassPermissions to acceptEdits on first prompt (Claude Desktop 2.1.149 / Cowork, macOS)
- [BUG] Cowork ECONNRESET on macOS - Unable to connect to API (Max plan)
- [BUG] Cowork (macOS): since 2026-09-06 new projects bind ONE folder only ("Use a folder"); Context accepts documents only — silently breaks the multi-folder projects heavy users built on, while the docs still describe the old behaviour
- [BUG] Cowork: Scheduled reserved-path overlap blocks mounting ~/Documents/Claude and every parent folder — no scheduled tasks ever created
- Claude Desktop Task mode: "Failed to create bridge sockets after 5 attempts" on macOS 26.4
- [BUG] Cowork: Cannot mount folders from external volumes (/Volumes/)
- Cowork dictation stops ~2s after start on macOS Tahoe 26.4.1 — began immediately after auto-update to 1.15962.0 (039543); chat dictation unaffected
- Ultraplan teleport: refined plan does not return to originating CLI session
- [BUG] Cowork scheduled tasks don't fire unless Cowork view is actively focused
- Cowork: remote-devices file bridge disconnects repeatedly, including mid-operation
- [BUG] Token consumption with Fable 5 is not matching with its description.
- [BUG] Cowork Desktop (macOS): AskUserQuestion card never reaches renderer; yellow-dot badge shows pending but no UI; on app quit, pending request silently resolves as "Dismissed"
- [BUG] Cowork crashes with "Claude Code process exited with code 1" on macOS - all new sessions affected
- [BUG] Cowork 403 "Request not allowed" on Pro plan - Chat works fine
- [BUG] Remote session (ultraplan) receives wrong project context
- [BUG] Claude in Chrome extension OAuth fails with "Redirect URI chrome-extension:// is not supported by client" - Cowork desktop app
- Cowork Desktop: ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_DATA} is not persistent across conversations (MCP plugin tokens lost on every new conversation)
- [BUG] Cowork macOS: all claude.ai-hosted MCP connectors fail — desktop OAuth token requested without `user:mcp_servers` scope
- [BUG] Cowork fails on every new task with "Claude Code process exited with code 1."
- allow_cowork_file_delete tool returns "Permission denied" without showing permission dialog
- [BUG] Cowork on Intel Mac: guest bundle 2a762adf… hangs in early init — bisected on two machines, rolled out ~06:00 UTC 18 Aug
- [BUG] Dispatch mobile shows "Can't reach desktop" despite desktop app running and Cowork working normally
- [BUG] Cowork session reports zero connected folders while the project UI shows a folder as connected
- [BUG] Cowork: Linux bash sandbox never finishes booting on macOS — every command returns "Workspace still starting"
- Cowork: Support Claude Code hooks (~/.claude/settings.json — UserPromptSubmit, Stop, etc.)
- [BUG] Cowork: input field intermittently loses focus/becomes unresponsive — voice input workaround restores it
- [BUG] CoWork "Always allow" does not persist within same prompt — repeated permission prompts for each file edit
- ENOSPC: no space left on device
- [BUG] Cowork: VirtioFS mount fails for users with macOS username "shared" — path collision with /Users/Shared/
- [BUG] Unbounded MCP server fan-out across Cowork/agent sessions exhausts RAM and kernel-panics macOS (4 panics + forced power-off on M2 Max / 32 GB)
- [BUG] Cowork on macOS 1.8555.2 — zero MCP tools bind in any install path (.mcpb + SDK bridge + Custom Connectors + project .mcp.json); spawn pipeline missing --mcp-config since 2026-05-23 auto-update
- Dispatch: SendUserMessage tool not loadable — agent responds but messages never appear
- claude.ai Skills and Cowork plugins silently injected into Claude Code context — no opt-out, ~6k tokens wasted per session
- [BUG] Cowork (macOS): all outbound egress lost mid-session from BOTH the desktop workspace and the cloud container; file access unaffected
- [BUG] Cowork task list can no longer be grouped by Project after merged Chat/Cowork Home became default (v1.26832.0)
- [BUG] Something went wrong Try sending your message again. If it keeps happening, share feedback so we can investigate. API Error: Usage credits required for 1M context · turn on usage credits at claude.ai/settings/usage, or use
- [FEATURE] Project-scoped skills in Cowork (parity with Claude Code's `.claude/skills/`)
- [BUG] Cowork/Desktop: MCP tool inputSchema with property-level anyOf [X, null] (Optional[X]) is silently stripped before reaching the model
- Cowork: Personal marketplace plugin installation lost after app restart
- [BUG] Claude Desktop Code/Cowork mode returns 403 "Request not allowed" while CLI and Chat work fine
- [BUG] Claude Cowork stuck on 'sending request'
- [BUG] [BUG] Claude Desktop Cowork: download pipeline corrupts 2.1.111/linux-arm64/claude.zst — CDN file is intact, app's HTTP client breaks it
- [BUG] Cowork: "Claude Code process exited with code 1" on every session — macOS Apple Silicon, clean reinstall, no fix
- Desktop Cowork: RemotePluginManager removes 3rd-party GitHub marketplace plugins on every sync
- [FEATURE] Two-way voice mode in Cowork (not just dictation)
- [BUG] Cowork broken on macOS arm64: downloads.claude.ai serves 40MB tarball for claude-code 2.1.87, client expects 182MB (TAR_BAD_ARCHIVE)
- [BUG] Claude Desktop causes repeated WindowServer crashes on macOS 15.7.3 (Sequoia) — VirtualDisplayListener deadlock
- Dispatch session collisions cause message loss and transport failures
- [BUG] Cowork Plugin cache never cleaned up per session, causing sessiondata.img to fill up and all new conversations to fail
- [BUG] Managed MCP server tools permanently stuck in "Needs Approval" — users cannot approve unlisted tools, contradicting docs and UI
- [BUG] Cowork crashes with "Claude Code process exited with code 1" on every new session (macOS)
- [FEATURE] Propagate Cowork/Claude session trace context (prompt.id) into MCP tool calls via _meta (SEP-414)
- [BUG] ClaudeCodeManager-VM Checksum Mismatch on macOS Apple Silicon — v1.9659.2
- [BUG] Cowork - Server busy / ECONNRESET on macOS - started ~14h UTC, May 25 2026
- [FEATURE] Allow configuring the Cowork workspace base path (Documents/Claude)
- [BUG] Cowork Chrome extension: JS execution permission prompts fire on every call during manual tasks — approvals do not persist
- [BUG] Cowork only loads 3/27 personal skills from ~/.claude/skills/ — UI does not scan directory
- [BUG] Desktop 1.3036.0 — Claude Code & Cowork crash with exit code 1 mid-turn
- Dispatch/Cowork: ECONNRESET when connecting to API
- OAuth tokens from ccr_inference (Cowork/CCD scheduled tasks) accumulate without cleanup
- [BUG] Cowork: Google Drive for Desktop mirrored/streaming folder fails to mount with "file exists" error
- Product complaint: Cowork's silent switch to remote-by-default sessions broke my working setup, and I paid AI credits to diagnose your configuration
- [BUG] Cowork Tab Missing from Sidebar — Runtime Not Initializing (v1.15962.1, macOS M4)
- [BUG] Live Artifacts (CoworkArtifacts.callMcpTool) reject local stdio MCP servers on cold start — claude.ai relay rejects server name as non-UUID
- [BUG] Cowork: "Failed to create bridge sockets after 5 attempts" on Claude Desktop 1.3036.0 (macOS)
- [BUG] ultraplan 404 preventing the session from starting
- [BUG] API Error: Rate limit reached
- [BUG] Cowork destroys user files when reorganizing iCloud-offloaded documents (cp + rm -rf on 0-byte stubs)
- [BUG] Cowork macOS: local sandbox VM starts with NO network route (only loopback) and cloud egress proxy returns 403 for every domain, despite "Allow network egress: All domains" — regression since 2026-09-10 ~23:15 UTC
- [BUG] Cowork VM connection timeout after update to 1.32352.0 on Intel Mac (guest never connects)
- [BUG] Claude Code *Desktop* app lost the ability to select 1M Context variants of models for 3p inference