Idle sessions keep processes alive

“Over a few days this exhausts RAM and pushes the machine deep into swap.”

Is this your bug? What gets counted gets fixed. Pile on.

Paste this into your agent. It files your report, with your error and version.

I hit this bug: rapsheet.dev/sheets/claude-code/issues/1000/file
Follow it to file my report. Show me the text before you send.

No install. No account. Public and anonymous. The link asks your agent for one report, nothing else. What it sends

Fading. No reports and thumbs-up in the last 7 days and 1 the week before, down from 3 a week at the late-October peak. A workaround is known.

Idle Code sessions keep CLI and MCP processes alive, exhausting memory. In the desktop app's Code tab, each opened session keeps its claude process and configured MCP servers running after its turn finishes.

Is this your bug?

File my report

Where: Desktop app Code tab
Versions: 2.1.283 to 2.1.304
Platforms: macOS, Windows
How bad: Stops work: a core feature can't be used.

Part of: Leftover session processes pile up4 bugs

Idle sessions pin CPU core5 people
Orphan Claude processes left running4 people
Desktop memory and process buildup2 people

Not quite your bug?

claude.exe pins one CPU core after watched directory is deleted5 people

Original reports5, newest first

Oct 24, 2026macOS desktop: idle sessions keep CLI + MCP processes alive indefinitely (86 claude procs, 26 GB swap)#104888
Oct 20, 2026macOS Desktop: idle Code sessions keep their whole MCP server set alive — ~90 idle sessions exhausted 42 GB swap on a 32 GB Mac#103693
Oct 11, 2026Windows Desktop: idle/closed Code sessions keep their MCP servers alive — 121 node processes, ~10 GB RAM (regression of #58915?)#101376
Sep 28, 2026Desktop app: Claude Code background processes keep running after sessions end and push macOS into ~45 GB swap, hanging the Mac overnight#97862
Sep 23, 2026Windows: claude.exe session processes accumulate and are never terminated, causing high RAM/disk usage over a work day#96299