claude-code - 💡(How to fix) Fix [BUG] Desktop Code tab (macOS) hangs silently when auto-mode classifier returns "temporarily unavailable" — CLI surfaces the error, Desktop does not

Summary

On the Claude Desktop app's Code tab (macOS), when the auto-mode safety classifier model returns "temporarily unavailable" on an Edit/Write/Bash call, the UI does not surface the error. The tool card sits indefinitely with a thinking spinner, and the user has no way to discover that the call is blocked or to fall back to manual approval.

The same session via the standalone claude CLI surfaces the error inline as the tool result:

claude-opus-4-7 is temporarily unavailable, so auto mode cannot determine the safety of Edit right now.
Wait briefly and then try this action again. If it keeps failing, continue with other tasks that don't
require this action and come back to it later.

…which is recoverable: the user can read the error, exit auto mode (## Exited Auto Mode), and retry. In the Desktop Code tab, that escape hatch isn't discoverable because the error never reaches the UI.

The underlying classifier outage itself is tracked in #49535 and #38618. This report is specifically about the Desktop Code tab UI rendering gap — the same backend error renders fine in the CLI surface but is silently swallowed in the Desktop surface.

Reproduction

Encountered live during a real session. Reproduction depends on the classifier being briefly unavailable, which has been happening intermittently since the May 4, 2026 Opus 4.7 incidents.

1. macOS Claude Desktop app, Code tab, auto mode active, model = Opus 4.7.
2. Ask Claude to perform any Edit/Write/Bash call (a small text edit suffices).
3. If the auto-mode classifier (claude-opus-4-7) is currently degraded, the API returns the "temporarily unavailable" error to the harness.
4. Observe in Desktop Code tab:
   • Tool card appears, spinner spins indefinitely.
   • No error text rendered.
   • No fallback prompt offered.
   • User cannot tell whether the agent is still thinking, waiting on a permission prompt, or stuck.
5. Compare in standalone claude CLI on the same machine, same auto-mode state, same call:
   • Tool result text shows the "temporarily unavailable" error string.
   • User can exit auto mode via the system-reminder hint or /permission and retry — the same edit then succeeds via manual approval.

Workaround that resolved it in my session: manually exiting auto mode (which the CLI surfaces as a ## Exited Auto Mode system-reminder). Edits resumed normally afterwards.

Expected behavior

Either of:

1. Surface the error. Render the classifier "temporarily unavailable" error text in the Desktop tool card (matching CLI behavior), so the user can see the cause and exit auto mode manually.
2. Auto-fallback to manual approval. If the classifier is unavailable, the Desktop Code tab should surface a per-call approval prompt (matching default mode behavior), instead of hanging on a spinner with no UI affordance.

Either fix removes the "is it thinking or stuck?" ambiguity that currently bricks the session silently.

Actual behavior

Desktop Code tab shows a thinking spinner indefinitely. No error, no prompt, no fallback. Only way out is to abandon the session or notice (from external context — e.g. reading the CLI in another window) that the classifier is down.

Environment

• macOS 26.4.1 (Darwin 25.4.0)
• Claude Desktop app 1.6608.2
• Standalone Claude Code CLI 2.1.139
• Model: Opus 4.7 (classifier reported as claude-opus-4-7)
• Auto mode active

Related issues

• #49535 — Auto mode blocked by persistent classifier outage (root-cause API issue; mine is a UI sub-bug)
• #38618 — Anthropic API error: Safety Classifier Unavailable (upstream)
• #56182 — Code mode hangs silently on Windows desktop after May 4 incidents (similar symptom but Windows + all-prompts; mine is macOS + classifier-specific)
• #55188 — [DOCS] Auto mode docs missing stalled permission-check spinner state (acknowledges the spinner-state UX gap)
• #57134 — Closed-as-dup improvement request for surfacing retry/error state instead of silent spinner (same pattern, different trigger)