How to Fix Claude Code Continuously Running (2026)

How to Fix Claude Code Continuously Running (2026)

Claude Code is Anthropic's AI-powered CLI tool for software development. It is powerful, but occasionally it can get stuck in loops, keep running indefinitely, or refuse to stop executing commands. This guide covers every known cause and fix for Claude Code that will not stop running.

Quick Fixes

If Claude Code is running right now and you need to stop it immediately:

Action	How To
Cancel current operation	Press Escape key
Force stop	Press Ctrl + C once
Kill the process	Press Ctrl + C twice rapidly
Emergency kill	Open a new terminal and run pkill -f "claude"
Last resort	Close the terminal window entirely

If Escape does not work, Ctrl + C should always stop the current operation. Double-pressing Ctrl + C will force-quit the process.

Common Causes and Solutions

1. Infinite Tool Loops

Symptom: Claude Code repeatedly reads files, edits files, or runs commands in a cycle, making changes and then reverting them or trying the same operation over and over.

Why it happens: The AI can enter a loop when it receives an error from a tool, tries to fix it, creates a new error, and cycles back. This is especially common when:

• The task is ambiguous or contradictory
• A build/lint error keeps reappearing after each fix attempt
• The AI is trying to satisfy conflicting requirements

Fixes:

1. Press Escape to interrupt the current chain of operations.

2. Give clearer instructions. After stopping, provide more specific guidance:

Stop trying to fix the TypeScript errors. The current approach is wrong.
Instead, use the following pattern: [describe exactly what you want]

3. Use the --max-turns flag to limit how many agentic steps Claude Code can take:

claude --max-turns 10 "fix the build errors in src/components"

This forces Claude Code to stop after 10 tool-use turns, preventing runaway loops.

4. Limit available tools using --allowedTools to prevent certain operations:

claude --allowedTools "Read,Write,Glob,Grep" "refactor the auth module"

This prevents Claude Code from running bash commands, which eliminates build-test-fix loops.

2. Long-Running Bash Commands

Symptom: Claude Code executes a command that takes a long time (build, test suite, large install) and appears stuck.

Why it happens: Some commands legitimately take a while. Claude Code has a default timeout of 120 seconds for bash commands, but it can set longer timeouts for operations it expects to take more time.

Fixes:

1. Wait for the timeout. If the command is genuinely running, it will either complete or hit the timeout limit.

2. Press Escape to cancel just the current bash command without ending the conversation.

3. Set a custom timeout in your project's .claude/settings.json:

{
  "bashTimeout": 60000
}

This sets a 60-second timeout (in milliseconds) for all bash commands.

4. Pre-run long commands yourself and paste the output:

# Run the build yourself
npm run build 2>&1 | head -50

# Then tell Claude Code about the result
claude "Here is the build output: [paste output]. Fix the errors."

3. Stuck on Permission Prompts

Symptom: Claude Code seems frozen because it is waiting for you to approve a tool use, but the prompt is not visible or was missed.

Why it happens: Claude Code requires approval for certain operations like writing files or running commands. If the prompt is off-screen or the terminal is not focused, it can appear stuck.

Fixes:

1. Scroll down in the terminal to check for a pending approval prompt.

2. Press y or Enter if there is a prompt waiting for input.

3. Use auto-accept mode for trusted operations:

claude --dangerously-skip-permissions "run the test suite and fix failures"

Warning: Only use this in sandboxed environments. This flag bypasses all permission checks.

4. Configure allowed tools in .claude/settings.json to auto-approve specific operations:

{
  "allowedTools": [
    "Read",
    "Write",
    "Glob",
    "Grep",
    "Bash(npm run *)",
    "Bash(npx *)"
  ]
}

4. Memory/Context Window Exhaustion

Symptom: Claude Code becomes slow, starts repeating itself, or makes increasingly poor decisions as the conversation goes on.

Why it happens: After many turns, the conversation context fills up. Claude Code has to summarize earlier parts of the conversation, which can lose important context and lead to circular behavior.

Fixes:

1. Start a new conversation for fresh context:

# Start fresh
claude "continue working on the auth module - the login endpoint needs rate limiting"

2. Use the /compact slash command to compress the current conversation:

/compact

This asks Claude to summarize the conversation so far, freeing up context space.

3. Break large tasks into smaller conversations. Instead of asking Claude Code to refactor an entire codebase in one session, break it into focused tasks:

# Conversation 1
claude "add input validation to the user registration endpoint"

# Conversation 2
claude "add rate limiting middleware to all auth routes"

# Conversation 3
claude "add unit tests for the auth module"

5. Recursive File Watching or Hot Reload Conflicts

Symptom: Claude Code modifies a file, which triggers a file watcher (like Vite HMR, webpack, or nodemon), which changes the output, which Claude Code notices and tries to address.

Why it happens: Development servers with hot reload can create feedback loops with Claude Code's file modification.

Fixes:

1. Stop the dev server before running Claude Code for file modifications.

2. Ignore build output directories by creating or updating .claude/settings.json:

{
  "ignorePatterns": [
    "node_modules",
    "dist",
    "build",
    ".next",
    ".turbo"
  ]
}

3. Run Claude Code in a separate terminal from your dev server, and do not ask it to monitor or react to build output.

6. Network Timeouts and Retries

Symptom: Claude Code appears to hang or restart the same operation after a long pause.

Why it happens: Network issues between your machine and Anthropic's API can cause requests to timeout and retry.

Fixes:

1. Check your internet connection. Run a quick test:

curl -I https://api.anthropic.com

2. Check the Anthropic status page at status.anthropic.com for outages.

3. If behind a corporate proxy or VPN, ensure the connection to api.anthropic.com is not being blocked or throttled.

4. Restart Claude Code if the network issue has resolved but the session is still stuck:

# Kill any lingering processes
pkill -f "claude"

# Start fresh
claude

7. Conflicting Configuration

Symptom: Claude Code behaves unexpectedly, repeatedly tries operations that should work, or uses the wrong tools.

Why it happens: Conflicting settings between .cursorrules, .claude/settings.json, CLAUDE.md, and environment variables.

Fixes:

1. Check all configuration files:

# Project-level
cat .claude/settings.json
cat CLAUDE.md
cat .cursorrules

# User-level
cat ~/.claude/settings.json
cat ~/.claude.md

2. Look for contradictory instructions. For example, if CLAUDE.md says "always use yarn" but a .cursorrules says "use npm", Claude Code may oscillate between them.

3. Simplify configuration by consolidating instructions into a single file, preferably CLAUDE.md in the project root.

Diagnostic Commands

Use these commands to understand what is happening:

Command	What It Shows
claude --version	Current Claude Code version
claude config list	Active configuration
ps aux | grep claude	Running Claude processes
claude --print "hello"	Test basic connectivity

Prevention Tips

Tip	How
Set max turns for risky tasks	claude --max-turns 15 "task"
Keep conversations focused	One task per session
Use /compact proactively	Run it every 20-30 turns
Update regularly	npm update -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code
Stop dev servers during refactoring	Prevents file watcher loops
Use specific instructions	"Edit only src/auth.ts" instead of "fix the auth"

Wrapping Up

Most Claude Code running issues come down to infinite loops from ambiguous instructions, stuck bash commands, or exhausted context windows. The Escape key and Ctrl + C are your immediate fixes, while --max-turns, clear instructions, and fresh conversations prevent the issue from recurring.

If you are building applications with AI-generated media and want a reliable API that handles processing without runaway loops, check out Hypereal AI. Hypereal offers straightforward APIs for image generation, video creation, and more with predictable execution times.