[BUG] Claude Code JavaScript Heap Out of Memory Error

[ephes]

Environment

• Platform (select one):
  • [x] Anthropic API
  • [ ] AWS Bedrock
  • [ ] Google Vertex AI
  • [ ] Other:
• Claude CLI version: 1.0.17 (Claude Code)
• Operating System: macOS 15.5
• Terminal: kitty

Bug Description

Claude Code crashes with a JavaScript heap out of memory error after running for an extended period (approximately 14.6 hours based on the GC timestamp).

Steps to Reproduce

• The error occurred after Claude Code had been running for approximately 52,593,403 ms (≈14.6 hours)
• The crash happened during normal operation while working in the project
• The final operation attempted was reading a file using the filesystem API

Expected Behavior

Claude Code should handle long-running sessions without exhausting memory, potentially through:

• Periodic garbage collection
• Memory limit management
• Graceful handling of large file operations

Actual Behavior

The application crashes with SIGABRT when the JavaScript heap limit is reached.

Additional Context

Here's the traceback:

<--- Last few GCs --->

  [45092:0x7fe630008000] 52593403 ms: Mark-Compact (reduce) 4344.4 (4491.8) -> 4343.8 (4348.6) MB, pooled: 0 MB, 132.40 / 0.00 ms  (+ 0.0 ms in 0 steps since start of marking, biggest step 0.0 ms, walltime since start of marking 484 ms) 
  (average mu = 0.997,
  FATAL ERROR: Reached heap limit Allocation failed - JavaScript heap out of memory
  ----- Native stack trace -----

   1: 0x10984bd41 node::OOMErrorHandler(char const*, v8::OOMDetails const&) [/usr/local/Cellar/node/24.1.0/bin/node]
   2: 0x108514787 v8::Utils::ReportOOMFailure(v8::internal::Isolate*, char const*, v8::OOMDetails const&) [/usr/local/Cellar/node/24.1.0/bin/node]
   3: 0x108514748 v8::internal::V8::FatalProcessOutOfMemory(v8::internal::Isolate*, char const*, v8::OOMDetails const&) [/usr/local/Cellar/node/24.1.0/bin/node]
   4: 0x1086f10ff v8::internal::Heap::FatalProcessOutOfMemory(char const*) [/usr/local/Cellar/node/24.1.0/bin/node]
   5: 0x1086ef740 v8::internal::Heap::CollectGarbage(v8::internal::AllocationSpace, v8::internal::GarbageCollectionReason, v8::GCCallbackFlags) [/usr/local/Cellar/node/24.1.0/bin/node]
   6: 0x1086e6a65 v8::internal::HeapAllocator::AllocateRawWithRetryOrFailSlowPath(int, v8::internal::AllocationType, v8::internal::AllocationOrigin, v8::internal::AllocationAlignment) [/usr/local/Cellar/node/24.1.0/bin/node]
   7: 0x1086be558 v8::internal::MaybeHandle<v8::internal::SeqTwoByteString> v8::internal::FactoryBase<v8::internal::Factory>::NewRawStringWithMap<v8::internal::SeqTwoByteString>(int, v8::internal::Tagged<v8::internal::Map>, 
  v8::internal::AllocationType) [/usr/local/Cellar/node/24.1.0/bin/node]
   8: 0x1086cf1dc v8::internal::Factory::NewStringFromUtf8(v8::base::Vector<unsigned char const>, unibrow::Utf8Variant, v8::internal::AllocationType) [/usr/local/Cellar/node/24.1.0/bin/node]
   9: 0x10852b15a v8::String::NewFromUtf8(v8::Isolate*, char const*, v8::NewStringType, int) [/usr/local/Cellar/node/24.1.0/bin/node]
  10: 0x108388747 node::fs::ReadFileUtf8(v8::FunctionCallbackInfo<v8::Value> const&) [/usr/local/Cellar/node/24.1.0/bin/node]
  11: 0x108eb267e Builtins_CallApiCallbackOptimizedNoProfiling [/usr/local/Cellar/node/24.1.0/bin/node]
  fish: Job 1, '/Users/jochen/.claude/local/cla…' terminated by signal SIGABRT (Abort)

[bcherny]

This should be feeling better in the next release. Thanks for the report!

[ephes]

Noticed my claude code version was slightly outdated. Ran into the same error today after updating it:

<--- Last few GCs --->

[66855:0x7fd348030000] 44590970 ms: Scavenge 4031.5 (4054.3) -> 4027.8 (4054.3) MB, pooled: 0 MB, 0.47 / 0.00 ms  (average mu = 1.000, current mu = 0.997) allocation failure; 
[66855:0x7fd348030000] 44596978 ms: Mark-Compact 4675.7 (4698.3) -> 4671.2 (4681.8) MB, pooled: 19 MB, 101.10 / 0.00 ms  (average mu = 1.000, current mu = 0.985) allocation failure; scavenge might not succeed

FATAL ERROR: Reached heap limit Allocation failed - JavaScript heap out of memory
----- Native stack trace -----

 1: 0x106059d41 node::OOMErrorHandler(char const*, v8::OOMDetails const&) [/usr/local/Cellar/node/24.1.0/bin/node]
 2: 0x104d22787 v8::Utils::ReportOOMFailure(v8::internal::Isolate*, char const*, v8::OOMDetails const&) [/usr/local/Cellar/node/24.1.0/bin/node]
 3: 0x104d22748 v8::internal::V8::FatalProcessOutOfMemory(v8::internal::Isolate*, char const*, v8::OOMDetails const&) [/usr/local/Cellar/node/24.1.0/bin/node]
 4: 0x104eff0ff v8::internal::Heap::FatalProcessOutOfMemory(char const*) [/usr/local/Cellar/node/24.1.0/bin/node]
 5: 0x104efd740 v8::internal::Heap::CollectGarbage(v8::internal::AllocationSpace, v8::internal::GarbageCollectionReason, v8::GCCallbackFlags) [/usr/local/Cellar/node/24.1.0/bin/node]
 6: 0x104ef4a65 v8::internal::HeapAllocator::AllocateRawWithRetryOrFailSlowPath(int, v8::internal::AllocationType, v8::internal::AllocationOrigin, v8::internal::AllocationAlignment) [/usr/local/Cellar/node/24.1.0/bin/node]
 7: 0x104edb951 v8::internal::Factory::NewFillerObject(int, v8::internal::AllocationAlignment, v8::internal::AllocationType, v8::internal::AllocationOrigin) [/usr/local/Cellar/node/24.1.0/bin/node]
 8: 0x10527933c v8::internal::Runtime_AllocateInYoungGeneration(int, unsigned long*, v8::internal::Isolate*) [/usr/local/Cellar/node/24.1.0/bin/node]
 9: 0x105767f76 Builtins_CEntry_Return1_ArgvOnStack_NoBuiltinExit [/usr/local/Cellar/node/24.1.0/bin/node]
10: 0x126f8cdfb 
fish: Job 1, '/usr/local/Cellar/node/24.1.0/b…' terminated by signal SIGABRT (Abort)

❯ /usr/local/Cellar/node/24.1.0/bin/claude -version
1.0.29 (Claude Code)

[x9xhack]

Any update on the heap out-of-memory issue with Claude Code? I'm unable to install it because of this.

UPDATE

I can confirm , I installed successfully.

[github-actions[bot]]

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