claude-code - 💡(How to fix) Fix macOS: auto-update creates new TCC identity each version, breaking Desktop/FDA grants daily

Summary

On macOS, every Claude Code auto-update installs a brand-new Mach-O binary at a versioned path. macOS TCC (Privacy & Security) keys on the resolved binary identity, so each version is treated as a new app. Users who work inside TCC-protected folders (~/Desktop, ~/Documents, ~/Downloads, iCloud) get a fresh permission prompt every morning, and the previous version's TCC grant becomes useless.

Repro

1. Install Claude Code via the standalone installer (default).
2. Grant Terminal/iTerm Files & Folders → Desktop access, and grant the claude binary Full Disk Access.
3. Open a new shell tomorrow after the nightly auto-update fires, with cwd inside ~/Desktop/....
4. Run claude. It errors with An unknown error occurred (unexpected) because Node can't stat the cwd. macOS will prompt (or silently deny on first hit) for the new binary's Desktop access.

Why

~/.local/bin/claude  →  ~/.local/share/claude/versions/2.1.143
                     (yesterday: 2.1.142, day before: 2.1.141, …)

Each 2.1.x file is a separate 207 MB Mach-O binary at a different path. The symlink swings to the new file on update. macOS TCC resolves the symlink and stores the grant against the real binary's path/identity, so the grant is bound to a file that gets superseded daily.

Evidence

Over ~30 days on one machine, Privacy & Security accumulated separate TCC entries for every version installed: 2.1.114, 2.1.116, 2.1.117, 2.1.118, …, 2.1.143 — both in Files & Folders → Desktop Folder and in Full Disk Access. Each required a click-through the morning it appeared.

Expected behavior

The installer should write to a stable path (e.g. ~/.local/share/claude/current) and atomically replace the file on update (rename(2) of a freshly-written sibling). macOS TCC then sees a single binary identity that persists across version bumps, and the user grants permission once.

The current scheme (versioned filenames + symlink swap) is the worst case for TCC because it changes both the path and the file identity simultaneously.

Workaround

Setting DISABLE_AUTOUPDATER=1 in ~/.claude/settings.json's env block freezes the binary in place so the TCC grant sticks, at the cost of manual claude update runs.

Environment

• macOS 15 (Darwin 25.4.0), Apple Silicon
• Claude Code 2.1.143, standalone installer (~/.local/bin/claude → ~/.local/share/claude/versions/2.1.143)
• iTerm2, working dir under ~/Desktop

Suggested fix

In the updater: write the new binary to ~/.local/share/claude/staging-<version>, fsync, then rename() over ~/.local/share/claude/current. Keep ~/.local/bin/claude as a stable symlink to …/current. Optionally keep last N versions in versions/ for rollback but stop pointing the active symlink at them.