claude-code - 💡(How to fix) Fix [BUG] You ran our of memory

Preflight Checklist

• I have searched existing issues and this hasn't been reported yet
• This is a single bug report (please file separate reports for different bugs)
• I am using the latest version of Claude Code

What's Wrong?

Title: [BUG] Claude Desktop main process memory leak reaches 74 GB on macOS (v1.9659.2)

Preflight Checklist

• I have searched existing issues
• This is a single bug report
• I am using the latest version

What's Wrong?

The Claude Desktop app (v1.9659.2) leaks memory in its main process until macOS shows "Your system has run out of application memory." The Force Quit dialog reported Claude at 74.44 GB while Google Chrome (1.16 GB) and Finder (50.5 MB) were unaffected — confirming the leak is isolated to Claude, not a system-wide condition.

The app was running multiple Claude Code sessions when the leak occurred. The leak is severe enough that it forces a full system restart; I had to restart the Mac mini ~6 times during work sessions because the system became unresponsive before I could intervene.

Reproduction

1. Open Claude Desktop and start working across multiple Claude Code sessions/projects in parallel
2. Continue normal usage
3. Main process RSS climbs without bound until macOS raises the out-of-application-memory alert

Evidence

• Force Quit dialog: Claude 74.44 GB, Chrome 1.16 GB, Finder 50.5 MB
• After force-quitting and relaunching, total memory across all Claude processes dropped to a normal ~2.4 GB (main process ~1.39 GB, renderer ~561 MB). This confirms the buildup is a leak, not legitimate working set.
• ps aux immediately after relaunch (healthy state):

PID 1100  8.3% MEM  1.39 GB  /Applications/Claude.app/Contents/MacOS/Claude
PID 1111  3.3% MEM  561 MB   Claude Helper (Renderer)
(remaining helpers: GPU/network/audio/video, all < 100 MB)

Expected Behavior

Main process memory should stay bounded during normal use; multiple parallel Claude Code sessions should not drive the main process into tens of GB.

Environment

• App version: Claude.app 1.9659.2
• macOS: [macOS sürümünü buraya yaz — örn. 26.4.1 Tahoe]
• Hardware: Mac mini, [RAM miktarını buraya yaz — örn. 16 GB / 24 GB]
• Usage: multiple Claude Code sessions running in parallel

Notes

This appears related to existing reports of large background/main-process memory growth on macOS (e.g. #23496, #56960, #42962). Browser-based Claude does not exhibit this behavior.

What Should Happen?

The Claude Desktop main process memory should stay bounded during normal use. Running multiple Claude Code sessions in parallel should not cause the main process to grow into tens of gigabytes (74.44 GB observed) or trigger the macOS "Your system has run out of application memory" alert.

For reference, immediately after a fresh relaunch the same workload uses only ~2.4 GB total across all Claude processes — so memory should remain in that range and be released over time, instead of climbing without bound until the system becomes unresponsive and requires a restart.

Error Messages/Logs

Steps to Reproduce

1. Open Claude Desktop (v1.9659.2) on macOS.
2. Start working across multiple Claude Code sessions / projects in parallel within the app.
3. Continue normal usage for a while.
4. Observe the main Claude process (/Applications/Claude.app/Contents/MacOS/Claude) memory grow without bound — in my case it reached 74.44 GB.
5. macOS shows the "Your system has run out of application memory" alert, the system becomes unresponsive, and a restart is required.

Verification that this is a leak, not legitimate usage:

• After force-quitting and relaunching with the same workload, total memory across ALL Claude processes was only ~2.4 GB (main process ~1.39 GB, renderer ~561 MB).
• ps aux immediately after a fresh relaunch (healthy state): PID 1100 8.3% MEM 1.39 GB /Applications/Claude.app/Contents/MacOS/Claude PID 1111 3.3% MEM 561 MB Claude Helper (Renderer) (remaining helpers all < 100 MB)

Note: Browser-based Claude does not exhibit this behavior — the leak is specific to the Desktop app's main process. I had to restart my Mac mini ~6 times during work because the system froze before I could intervene.

Claude Model

None

Is this a regression?

Yes, this worked in a previous version

Last Working Version

No response

Claude Code Version

2.1.76

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

macOS

Terminal/Shell

Terminal.app (macOS)

Additional Information

No response