claude-code - 💡(How to fix) Fix Claude Desktop crashes on launch: V8 OOM on macOS Apple Silicon (duplicate of #48261) [1 participants]

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?

Claude Desktop crashes on startup after ~12 seconds on macOS Apple Silicon (M-series). Same crash as issue #48261.

V8 JavaScript heap grows to ~3.7GB during startup, then OOMs:

• OOM error in V8: CALL_AND_RETRY_LAST Allocation failed - JavaScript heap out of memory
• MaxListenersExceededWarning: 11 change listeners added to [LXr]
• Repeated error: No handler registered for BuddyBleTransport_$_reportState

Attempted mitigations that did NOT resolve:

• Fresh reinstall from claude.ai/download
• Full profile wipe (~/Library/Application Support/Claude removed)
• Cache clear (Caches, Code Cache, GPUCache, Saved Application State)
• NODE_OPTIONS="--max-old-space-size=8192" (flag ignored by Electron launch)
• Disabling Cowork in preferences (coworkWebSearchEnabled: false, coworkScheduledTasksEnabled: false)
• Clearing claude-code-sessions and local-agent-mode-sessions directories

Crashes every launch, 100% reproducible. Browser claude.ai and Claude Code CLI work fine.

What Should Happen?

Claude Desktop should launch and remain open without hitting V8 heap limits during startup initialization.

Error Messages/Logs

OOM error in V8: CALL_AND_RETRY_LAST Allocation failed - JavaScript heap out of memory
[ERROR:electron/shell/common/node_bindings.cc:185]
WARNING:third_party/crashpad/crashpad/util/process/process_memory_mac.cc:94] mach_vm_read(0x16cf64000, 0x8000): (os/kern) invalid address (1)
zsh: trace trap  /Applications/Claude.app/Contents/MacOS/Claude

<--- Last few GCs --->
[4520:0x12c00640000] 18190 ms: Mark-Compact (reduce) 3715.7 (3744.3) -> 3715.7 (3733.5) MB, pooled: 0.0 MB, 39.70 / 0.00 ms (average mu = 0.089, current mu = 0.004) last resort; GC in old space requested
[4520:0x12c00640000] 18231 ms: Mark-Compact (reduce) 3715.7 (3733.5) -> 3715.7 (3732.5) MB, pooled: 0.0 MB, 40.59 / 0.00 ms (average mu = 0.045, current mu = 0.000) last resort; GC in old space requested

Error occurred in handler for '$eipc_message$_de690481-4cbe-40b8-95f1-9d40f54bdeca_$_claude.buddy_$_BuddyBleTransport_$_reportState': 
Error: No handler registered for '$eipc_message$_de690481-4cbe-40b8-95f1-9d40f54bdeca_$_claude.buddy_$_BuddyBleTransport_$_reportState'

(node:4520) MaxListenersExceededWarning: Possible EventEmitter memory leak detected. 11 change listeners added to [LXr]. MaxListeners is 10.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Install latest Claude Desktop from https://claude.ai/download on macOS Apple Silicon
2. Launch Claude from Applications (or /Applications/Claude.app/Contents/MacOS/Claude from Terminal to see stderr)
3. App window briefly appears, then crashes after approximately 12 seconds
4. Terminal output shows "OOM error in V8: CALL_AND_RETRY_LAST Allocation failed - JavaScript heap out of memory"

Reproduction rate: 100%, every launch.

Mitigations attempted that did NOT resolve:

• Fresh reinstall (drag-replace from .dmg)
• Full profile wipe: mv ~/Library/Application Support/Claude ~/Library/Application Support/Claude.BROKEN
• Cache clear: Caches, Code Cache, GPUCache, Saved Application State
• NODE_OPTIONS="--max-old-space-size=8192" (ignored by Electron launch path)
• Disabled Cowork in preferences (coworkWebSearchEnabled: false, coworkScheduledTasksEnabled: false)
• Moved aside claude-code-sessions (only 528K, not the memory culprit) and local-agent-mode-sessions

Note: This is the Claude Desktop app, not Claude Code CLI. Claude Code CLI in Terminal and claude.ai in browser both work fine.

Claude Model

Opus

Is this a regression?

Yes, this worked in a previous version

Last Working Version

No response

Claude Code Version

claude --version

Platform

Other

Operating System

macOS

Terminal/Shell

Terminal.app (macOS)

Additional Information

This appears to be the same bug as issue #48261 (Claude Desktop app crashes on launch: V8 OOM / JavaScript heap out of memory). Adding my voice so Anthropic sees it's affecting multiple users on Apple Silicon, not just one.

Hardware: Apple Silicon (M-series) Crash signature: BuddyBleTransport_$_reportState handler errors plus MaxListenersExceededWarning (11 change listeners on [LXr]) suggest an event emitter leak during startup initialization.

Impact: Completely blocks use of Claude Desktop. Forced to use claude.ai in browser as workaround. Cowork and native MCP connector UX are unavailable.