Daemon Service Management (claude daemon install/uninstall) / Claude Code v2.1.119

What

Install the Claude daemon as a persistent system service (launchd on macOS, systemd on Linux) so it runs automatically on boot and survives terminal closures.

Usage

claude daemon install     # Install as a system service
claude daemon uninstall   # Remove the system service
claude daemon start       # Start the daemon
claude daemon stop        # Stop the daemon
claude daemon restart     # Restart the daemon
claude daemon status      # Show daemon status and PID
claude daemon log         # View daemon logs

Details

On macOS, installs as a launchd agent (com.anthropic.claude-daemon)
On Linux, installs as a systemd user unit with Restart=always and rate limiting (10 bursts per 60s)
The daemon manages all background workers: scheduled tasks, remote control servers, assistants, and heartbeat workers
Hot-reloads daemon.json configuration automatically (chokidar watcher with debounce)
Centralized OAuth token management — proactively refreshes tokens, broadcasts to workers via IPC
If headless auth fails, writes daemon-auth-status.json and sends a desktop notification prompting claude auth login
Logs to ~/.claude/daemon.log
Idle exit: daemon shuts down after a configurable period with no clients (unless installed as a service)

Evidence

Daemon service management (search for "Install service", "Uninstall service", "com.anthropic.claude-daemon", "daemon.status.json")

Strings lifted out of the shipped bundle, so the claim above can be checked against them.