[BUG] increasing timeout environmental variable

[achimstruve]

Environment

• Platform (select one):
  • [ ] Anthropic API
  • [ ] AWS Bedrock
  • [ ] Google Vertex AI
  • [x ] Other: Local Windows
• Claude CLI version: 1.0.16
• Operating System: Windows 11 with WSL
• Terminal: command window on windows via WSL

Bug Description

I am getting this error: Error: Command timed out after 2m 0.0s once I run a longer bash command, such as installing the dependencies of an environment, which can take some time..

Using the approach outlined in the documentation doesn't work for me.

I have a local project .claude/settings.local.json file that looks like this:

  "permissions": {
    "allow": [
      "Bash(mkdir:*)",
      "Bash(python3:*)",
      "Bash(sudo apt:*)",
      "Bash(sudo apt install:*)",
      "Bash(ls:*)",
      "Bash(source:*)",
      "Bash(pip install:*)",
      "Bash(node:*)",
      "Bash(npm --version)",
      "Bash(npm install)",
      "Bash(rm:*)"
    ],
    "deny": []
  }
  "env": {
    "BASH_DEFAULT_TIMEOUT_MS": "900000",
    "BASH_MAX_TIMEOUT_MS": "900000"
  }
}

Also I created a global ~/.claude/settings.json file with the same content. Still I am getting the error..

Moreover using the claude config list -g command shows me a set of completely different settings and variables, such as:

  "autoUpdaterStatus": "not_configured",
  "theme": "dark",
  "verbose": "true",
  "preferredNotifChannel": "auto",
  "editorMode": "normal",
  "autoCompactEnabled": false,
  "diffTool": "auto",
  "env": {},
  "tipsHistory": {
    "new-user-warmup": 1,
    "memory-command": 7,
    "theme-command": 8,
    "prompt-queue": 9,
    "enter-to-steer-in-relatime": 10,
    "todo-list": 11,
    "# for memory": 12,
    "install-github-app": 13,
    "permissions": 14,
    "drag-and-drop-images": 15,
    "double-esc": 16,
    "continue": 17,
    "custom-commands": 18,
    "shift-tab": 19
  },
  "parallelTasksCount": 1,
  "todoFeatureEnabled": true,
  "messageIdleNotifThresholdMs": 60000
}

Here we see that no env variables got defined apparently. However, there is another variable "messageIdleNotifThresholdMs": 60000 that might be related to the topic, but has a one minute value and there is probably not relevant.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Define a requirements.txt file with dependencies that require a lot of time to install or another bash command that takes a couple of minutes to execute. See mine as reference:

fastapi==0.104.1
uvicorn[standard]==0.24.0
sqlalchemy==2.0.23
alembic==1.12.1
celery==5.3.4
redis==5.0.1
google-auth==2.23.4
google-auth-oauthlib==1.1.0
google-auth-httplib2==0.1.1
google-api-python-client==2.108.0
google-cloud-texttospeech==2.14.2
requests==2.31.0
pydantic==2.5.0
pydantic-settings==2.1.0
python-multipart==0.0.6
python-jose[cryptography]==3.3.0
passlib[bcrypt]==1.7.4
python-dotenv==1.0.0

# Development dependencies
pytest==7.4.3
pytest-asyncio==0.21.1
black==23.11.0
flake8==6.1.0
httpx==0.25.2

2. Let claude run that bash command

Expected Behavior

I'd expect that the definition of these environmental variables as shown above would increase the timeout time. 2 minutes is too little for more complex operations.

Actual Behavior

The setup of the environmental variables does not have any effect.

[michael-hedgineer]

NOT a solution to your problem but have you tried usig uv for dependency resolution instead of pip (which you whitelisted)? It really is a significant performance improvement.

[achimstruve]

Thank you @michael-hedgineer! This helped me a lot as the setup via the uv command was much faster.

We can leave this open to ensure this bug (or my misunderstanding of the documentation) is resolved.

[michael-hedgineer]

@achimstruve for sure. Still want to follow along to make sure that you are able to successfully modify the task timeouts as this is a usecase I have had but haven't bother investigating. The Agent tasks definitely go beyond 2 minutes.

[achimstruve]

I can now confirm that the usage of the environmental variables

 "env": {
    "BASH_DEFAULT_TIMEOUT_MS": "900000",
    "BASH_MAX_TIMEOUT_MS": "900000"
  }

in the global ~/.claude/settings.json file do have the desired effect. I don't know why it works now, but it does!

[michael-hedgineer]

Thanks for following up to confirm it worked!

---

From: Achim Struve @.> Sent: Sunday, June 8, 2025 3:40:09 AM To: anthropics/claude-code @.> Cc: Michael Watson @.>; Mention @.> Subject: Re: [anthropics/claude-code] [BUG] increasing timeout environmental variable (Issue #1717)

[https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/25647387?s=20&v=4]achimstruve left a comment (anthropics/claude-code#1717)https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues/1717#issuecomment-2953677913

I can now confirm that the usage of the environmental variables

"env": { "BASH_DEFAULT_TIMEOUT_MS": "900000", "BASH_MAX_TIMEOUT_MS": "900000" }

in the global ~/.claude/settings.json file do have the desired effect. I don't know why it works now, but it does!

— Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHubhttps://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues/1717#issuecomment-2953677913, or unsubscribehttps://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/A6QOOYPLYGVZQTJEMYTEEJL3CPSFTAVCNFSM6AAAAAB6YQY4C6VHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43OSLTON2WKQ3PNVWWK3TUHMZDSNJTGY3TOOJRGM. You are receiving this because you were mentioned.Message ID: @.***>

Michael Watson

@.@.>

hedgineer.iohttps://www.hedgineer.io

H E D G I N E E R

[mreduar]

I have a settings file in my project and also a settings file in my ~/.claude directory. Despite setting a 10-minute timeout for all commands, I'm still encountering the error Error: Command timed out after 2m 0.0s. I can't find a way to increase the timeout.

[trinib]

any fix for this ?

[github-actions[bot]]

This issue has been automatically locked since it was closed and has not had any activity for 7 days. If you're experiencing a similar issue, please file a new issue and reference this one if it's relevant.