claude-code - 💡(How to fix) Fix [Bug] Scheduled-task routines on macOS leak orphan claude subprocesses (kevent64 stall on stdin) [1 comments, 2 participants]

pgrep -f 'claude.app/Contents/MacOS/claude' | wc -l

---

Claude.app                            (PID N,    desktop app — alive, healthy)
 └─ Helpers/disclaimer                (PID M,    blocked in __wait4 on its child)
     └─ ...claude.app/Contents/MacOS/claude
            --output-format stream-json --input-format stream-json
            --replay-user-messages --disallowedTools AskUserQuestion ...
                                      (PID M+1, blocked in kevent64 on fd 0/stdin)

---

UID    PID  PPID  STIME  CMD
501  57240 57239  2:02PM /Users/.../claude.app/Contents/MacOS/claude --output-format stream-json --verbose --input-format stream-json --model default --permission-prompt-tool stdio --allowedTools mcp__... --disallowedTools AskUserQuestion --setting-sources=user,project,local --permission-mode bypassPermissions --allow-dangerously-skip-permissions --include-partial-messages --plugin-dir ... --replay-user-messages --settings {}
501  57239 44268  2:02PM /Applications/Claude.app/Contents/Helpers/disclaimer .../claude.app/Contents/MacOS/claude ...
501  44268     1  Sat10AM /Applications/Claude.app/Contents/MacOS/Claude

---

COMMAND  PID  FD   TYPE  DEVICE              NAME
claude   57240  0u  unix  0x71302d6d7828758f  ->0x3e7ffe1aefbead56
claude   57240  1u  unix  0xb806ee172db2f101  ->0x32007e26c34cbde6
claude   57240  2u  unix  0x9cf0a3d666017603  ->0x288767784f690c89

---

883 Thread_xxx  DispatchQueue_1: com.apple.main-thread  (serial)
  883 start  (in dyld) + 6992
    883 (in claude binary) ... event loop ...
      883 kevent64  (in libsystem_kernel.dylib) + 8

---

883 Thread_xxx  DispatchQueue_1: com.apple.main-thread
  883 start  (in dyld) + 6992
    883 main  (in disclaimer) + 480
      883 __wait4  (in libsystem_kernel.dylib) + 8

---

#!/usr/bin/env bash
# Reap orphan local-agent-mode `claude` subprocesses spawned by Claude.app's
# scheduled-task routines and stuck in kevent64 on stdio sockets to a
# wait4-blocked `disclaimer` parent.
set -euo pipefail

THRESHOLD=${CLAUDE_REAPER_THRESHOLD:-900}    # 15 min — never touch fresh spawns
GRACE=${CLAUDE_REAPER_GRACE:-10}             # SIGTERM, wait, then SIGKILL
LOG="$HOME/Library/Logs/claude-reaper.log"
ts() { /bin/date -u +%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%SZ; }

DESKTOP_PID=$(/usr/bin/pgrep -x -n Claude 2>/dev/null || true)

candidates=$(/bin/ps -axo pid,ppid,etime,command \
  | /usr/bin/awk -v t="$THRESHOLD" '
      function s(x,   n,a){ n=split(x,a,/[-:]/);
        if(n==4) return a[1]*86400 + a[2]*3600 + a[3]*60 + a[4];
        if(n==3) return a[1]*3600 + a[2]*60 + a[3];
        if(n==2) return a[1]*60 + a[2];
        return a[1]+0 }
      /--replay-user-messages/ \
        && /--disallowedTools AskUserQuestion/ \
        && /claude\.app\/Contents\/MacOS\/claude/ \
        && s($3) > t { print $1, $2, s($3) }')

[[ -z "$candidates" ]] && exit 0

claude_pids=(); disclaimer_pids=(); oldest_pid=""; oldest_age=0
while IFS=' ' read -r pid ppid age; do
  [[ -z "$pid" || -z "$ppid" ]] && continue
  ppid_cmd=$(/bin/ps -o command= -p "$ppid" 2>/dev/null || true)
  ppid_ppid=$(/bin/ps -o ppid= -p "$ppid" 2>/dev/null | /usr/bin/tr -d ' ' || true)
  if [[ "$ppid_cmd" == *"/Applications/Claude.app/Contents/Helpers/disclaimer"* ]]; then
    if [[ -n "$DESKTOP_PID" && "$ppid_ppid" == "$DESKTOP_PID" ]] \
       || [[ -z "$DESKTOP_PID" && "$ppid_ppid" == "1" ]]; then
      disclaimer_pids+=("$ppid")
    fi
  fi
  claude_pids+=("$pid")
  if (( age > oldest_age )); then oldest_age=$age; oldest_pid=$pid; fi
done <<< "$candidates"

[[ ${#claude_pids[@]} -eq 0 ]] && exit 0

for pid in "${claude_pids[@]}" "${disclaimer_pids[@]}"; do
  /bin/kill -TERM "$pid" 2>/dev/null || true
done
/bin/sleep "$GRACE"

kill_count=0
for pid in "${claude_pids[@]}" "${disclaimer_pids[@]}"; do
  if /bin/kill -0 "$pid" 2>/dev/null; then
    /bin/kill -KILL "$pid" 2>/dev/null || true
    kill_count=$((kill_count + 1))
  fi
done

echo "[$(ts)] term=${#claude_pids[@]} kill=${kill_count} disclaimer=${#disclaimer_pids[@]} oldest_pid=${oldest_pid} oldest_age_s=${oldest_age}" >> "$LOG"

---

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
  <key>Label</key>          <string>com.example.claude-reaper</string>
  <key>ProgramArguments</key>
  <array><string>/Users/YOU/.local/bin/claude-orphan-reaper</string></array>
  <key>StartInterval</key>  <integer>600</integer>
  <key>RunAtLoad</key>      <true/>
  <key>EnvironmentVariables</key>
  <dict>
    <key>HOME</key>  <string>/Users/YOU</string>
    <key>PATH</key>  <string>/Users/YOU/.local/bin:/opt/homebrew/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/usr/sbin:/sbin</string>
  </dict>
  <key>StandardOutPath</key> <string>/Users/YOU/Library/Logs/claude-reaper.out.log</string>
  <key>StandardErrorPath</key><string>/Users/YOU/Library/Logs/claude-reaper.err.log</string>
</dict>
</plist>