A Claude Code environment variable, read out of the shipped bundle.
It has been in the build since v2.1.193, including the newest one read.
Set to 1 to stop Claude Code from terminating background shell commands under memory pressure. By default, on macOS and Linux, Claude Code terminates background shells when the operating system reports critical memory pressure and the session has been idle for 30 minutes with no turn or subagent running. Windows has no memory-pressure signal, so this variable has no effect there. Requires Claude Code v2.1.193 or later
Claude now explains to itself why a background shell was stopped for memory pressure and how to disable it
named in this entry, found in this entry's text
First cited
1
The earliest release whose published evidence quoted CLAUDE_CODE_DISABLE_BG_SHELL_PRESSURE_REAP was v2.1.274, 16 Sep 2026. That is the oldest release this project wrote about it, so it is a floor on the name's age and not the release that introduced it. It is not a presence reading: which builds carried the name is the table below.
v2.1.193 – v2.1.308103 builds25 Jun 2026 → 22 Oct 2026 ◆in the build
Build by build
103
One row per release since the first build this name was read out of. Absent means the build was read and the name was not in it, never mined means no bundle for that release was ever archived, and a declared type or a default is only ever what that release's own bundle stated.
v2.1.29914 Oct 2026·presentverdict: present · bool
v2.1.30014 Oct 2026·presentverdict: present · bool
v2.1.30115 Oct 2026·presentverdict: present · bool
v2.1.30216 Oct 2026·presentverdict: present · bool
v2.1.30318 Oct 2026·presentverdict: present · bool
v2.1.30419 Oct 2026·presentverdict: present · bool
v2.1.30520 Oct 2026·presentverdict: present · bool
v2.1.30621 Oct 2026·presentverdict: present · bool
v2.1.30721 Oct 2026·presentverdict: present · bool
v2.1.30822 Oct 2026·presentverdict: present · bool
Read out of the published npm bundle release by release, and out of Anthropic's own documentation as this site captured it. Nothing on this page is a description anybody here wrote about what the environment variable does. All environment variables.
