Hooks worker watchdog stops blaming a worker that got no processor time

Hooks are commands you set up to run automatically at certain moments. Claude Code runs them on a separate background worker, and a watchdog sends it regular check-ins, called heartbeats, to spot when it has stuck.

Before, a fixed number of unanswered heartbeats ended the worker, and a culprit was named whenever one was found. Now:

• The watchdog reads how much processor time the worker has actually used. A worker that has not been running is no longer blamed; the verdict says it had not used a window of processor time.
• A second timeout path ends with the cause heartbeat_waited and the message "what held the hooks worker is not known".
• Waits for plugins to load and build now use timers that extend while the worker is busy.