claude-code - 💡(How to fix) Fix [BUG] Cowork "Failed to create bridge sockets after 5 attempts" after update to 1.3036.0 (cf521c) — macOS Sonoma 14.6.1 [8 comments, 6 participants]

Error: vm-stderr: Error: Failed to create bridge sockets after 5 attempts Every task exits code=1 in ~900ms after update. Was working before update.

Last login: Thu Apr 16 13:13:35 on ttys000 sjr@Samuels-MBP ~ % osascript -e 'quit app "Claude"' sleep 3 open -a Claude sleep 5 cat ~/Library/Logs/Claude/cowork_vm_node.log | tail -15 2026-04-16 13:28:03 [info] [Process:920fcaeb-d3c9-4eb9-a37c-c83e6567878c] Created, name=admiring-modest-albattani, total active=1 2026-04-16 13:28:03 [info] [Process:920fcaeb-d3c9-4eb9-a37c-c83e6567878c] Buffering stdin (spawn not yet confirmed): 51445 bytes 2026-04-16 13:28:03 [info] [Process:920fcaeb-d3c9-4eb9-a37c-c83e6567878c] Buffering stdin (spawn not yet confirmed): 630 bytes 2026-04-16 13:28:03 [info] [Spawn:vm] id=920fcaeb-d3c9-4eb9-a37c-c83e6567878c OAuth token approved with MITM proxy 2026-04-16 13:28:03 [info] [Process:920fcaeb-d3c9-4eb9-a37c-c83e6567878c] Spawn confirmed, flushing 2 buffered stdin chunks 2026-04-16 13:28:03 [info] [Spawn:vm] id=920fcaeb-d3c9-4eb9-a37c-c83e6567878c Spawn succeeded in 50ms 2026-04-16 13:28:03 [warn] [vm-stderr 920fcaeb] Error: Failed to create bridge sockets after 5 attempts 2026-04-16 13:28:03 [info] [Process:920fcaeb-d3c9-4eb9-a37c-c83e6567878c] Exited, code=1, signal=null, duration=922ms, oom=false 2026-04-16 13:28:03 [info] [Process:920fcaeb-d3c9-4eb9-a37c-c83e6567878c] Cleaned up, remaining active=0 2026-04-16 13:29:02 [info] [VM:shutdown] App quit, stopping VM (instance: 979083b1-b199-4170-ace2-f681aeaa7673)... 2026-04-16 13:29:02 [info] [Keepalive] Stopping 2026-04-16 13:29:02 [info] [VM] Guest connection changed: false 2026-04-16 13:29:02 [info] [VM] Guest disconnected during graceful quit, cleanly exiting 0 active processes 2026-04-16 13:29:05 [warn] [VM] VM stopped 2026-04-16 13:29:05 [info] [VM:shutdown] Completed in 3411ms sjr@Samuels-MBP ~ % osascript -e 'quit app "Claude"' sleep 3 rm -rf ~/Library/Application\ Support/Claude/vm_bundles rm -rf ~/Library/Application\ Support/Claude/claude-code-vm sjr@Samuels-MBP ~ % ls -la ~/Library/Application\ Support/Claude/vm_bundles/ ls -la ~/Library/Application\ Support/Claude/claude-code-vm/ 2>/dev/null || echo "no claude-code-vm dir" cat ~/Library/Logs/Claude/cowork_vm_node.log | tail -20 total 0 drwx------@ 3 sjr staff 96 Apr 16 13:30 . drwx------@ 42 sjr staff 1344 Apr 16 13:32 .. drwx------@ 11 sjr staff 352 Apr 16 13:32 claudevm.bundle total 8 drwx------@ 4 sjr staff 128 Apr 16 13:31 . drwx------@ 42 sjr staff 1344 Apr 16 13:32 .. -rw-------@ 1 sjr staff 7 Apr 16 13:31 .sdk-version drwx------@ 4 sjr staff 128 Apr 16 13:31 2.1.111 2026-04-16 13:32:23 [info] [Spawn:vm] id=091ccb0f-3849-4a90-bf54-3dc5707de020 OAuth token approved with MITM proxy 2026-04-16 13:32:23 [info] [Process:091ccb0f-3849-4a90-bf54-3dc5707de020] Spawn confirmed, flushing 2 buffered stdin chunks 2026-04-16 13:32:23 [info] [Spawn:vm] id=091ccb0f-3849-4a90-bf54-3dc5707de020 Spawn succeeded in 105ms 2026-04-16 13:32:24 [warn] [vm-stderr 091ccb0f] Error: Failed to create bridge sockets after 5 attempts 2026-04-16 13:32:25 [info] [Process:091ccb0f-3849-4a90-bf54-3dc5707de020] Exited, code=1, signal=null, duration=1123ms, oom=false 2026-04-16 13:32:25 [info] [Process:091ccb0f-3849-4a90-bf54-3dc5707de020] Cleaned up, remaining active=0 2026-04-16 13:32:43 [info] [startVM] VM already connected 2026-04-16 13:32:43 [info] [postConnect] Installing SDK: subpath=Users/sjr/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude-code-vm, version=2.1.111 2026-04-16 13:32:43 [warn] [Keepalive] Already running 2026-04-16 13:32:43 [info] [Spawn:config] Creating spawn function for process=busy-friendly-goldberg, isResume=false, mounts=8 (SIMO, .claude, .auto-memory, .claude/skills, .cowork-lib, .cowork-perm-req, .cowork-perm-resp, uploads), allowedDomains=23 2026-04-16 13:32:43 [info] [Spawn:create] id=d23cf44a-e711-461b-a074-d4de6a2325c5 name=busy-friendly-goldberg cmd=/usr/local/bin/claude args=--output-format stream-json --verbose --input-format stream-json --max-thinking-tokens 31999 --effort medium --model claude-sonnet-4-6 --permission-prompt-tool stdio --allowedTools Task,Bash,Glob,Grep,Read,Edit,Write,NotebookEdit,WebFetch,TodoWrite,TaskCreate,TaskUpdate,TaskGet,TaskList,TaskStop,WebSearch,Skill,REPL,JavaScript,ToolSearch,mcp__mcp-registry__search_mcp_registry,mcp__mcp-registry__suggest_connectors,mcp__plugins__search_plugins,mcp__plugins__suggest_plugin_install,mcp__scheduled-tasks__list_scheduled_tasks,mcp__computer-use,mcp__cowork__present_files,mcp__cowork__list_artifacts,mcp__session_info__list_sessions,mcp__session_info__read_transcript,Edit(//sessions/busy-friendly-goldberg/mnt/.auto-memory/),Write(//sessions/busy-friendly-goldberg/mnt/.auto-memory/) --tools Task,Bash,Glob,Grep,Read,Edit,Write,NotebookEdit,WebFetch,TodoWrite,TaskCreate,TaskUpdate,TaskGet,TaskList,TaskStop,WebSearch,Skill,REPL,JavaScript,AskUserQuestion,ToolSearch --setting-sources=user --permission-mode default --allow-dangerously-skip-permissions --include-partial-messages --add-dir /sessions/busy-friendly-goldberg/mnt/SIMO --replay-user-messages cwd=/sessions/busy-friendly-goldberg 2026-04-16 13:32:43 [info] [Process:d23cf44a-e711-461b-a074-d4de6a2325c5] Created, name=busy-friendly-goldberg, total active=1 2026-04-16 13:32:43 [info] [Process:d23cf44a-e711-461b-a074-d4de6a2325c5] Buffering stdin (spawn not yet confirmed): 51346 bytes 2026-04-16 13:32:43 [info] [Process:d23cf44a-e711-461b-a074-d4de6a2325c5] Buffering stdin (spawn not yet confirmed): 630 bytes 2026-04-16 13:32:44 [info] [Spawn:vm] id=d23cf44a-e711-461b-a074-d4de6a2325c5 OAuth token approved with MITM proxy 2026-04-16 13:32:44 [info] [Process:d23cf44a-e711-461b-a074-d4de6a2325c5] Spawn confirmed, flushing 2 buffered stdin chunks 2026-04-16 13:32:44 [info] [Spawn:vm] id=d23cf44a-e711-461b-a074-d4de6a2325c5 Spawn succeeded in 52ms 2026-04-16 13:32:44 [warn] [vm-stderr d23cf44a] Error: Failed to create bridge sockets after 5 attempts 2026-04-16 13:32:44 [info] [Process:d23cf44a-e711-461b-a074-d4de6a2325c5] Exited, code=1, signal=null, duration=916ms, oom=false 2026-04-16 13:32:44 [info] [Process:d23cf44a-e711-461b-a074-d4de6a2325c5] Cleaned up, remaining active=0 sjr@Samuels-MBP ~ %

TL;DR

The issue is likely related to a regression in version 1.3036.0 of Claude Code, causing the "Failed to create bridge sockets after 5 attempts" error, and a potential workaround is to try reverting to a previous version or checking the socat installation.

Guidance

• The error message "Failed to create bridge sockets after 5 attempts" suggests a problem with socket creation, which could be related to the socat installation or configuration.
• The fact that this issue started after updating to version 1.3036.0 implies a regression, and reverting to a previous version might resolve the issue.
• Checking the socat version and installation, as well as the Claude Code configuration, might provide more insight into the problem.
• The provided logs show repeated attempts to spawn a process, which fails with the same error, indicating a potential issue with the underlying infrastructure or dependencies.

Example

No specific code example can be provided without more information about the Claude Code or socat configuration.

Notes

The issue seems to be specific to the macOS platform and the Anthropic API, and more information about the previous working version and the exact steps taken before the update might be necessary to identify the root cause.

Recommendation

Apply workaround: Try reverting to a previous version of Claude Code or checking the socat installation to see if it resolves the issue, as the problem seems to be related to a regression in the new version.