Claude Code Fixes 75-Second Startup Freeze on Restricted Networks
Claude CodeClaude Code v2.1.144 resolves a widely-reported issue where the CLI would hang for up to 75 seconds on startup when api.anthropic.com was unreachable — a scenario affecting developers on corporate VPNs, behind captive portals, or operating in restricted network environments. Side-channel API calls (used for non-critical startup tasks such as marketplace fetches and update checks) now enforce a 15-second timeout, causing Claude Code to fail fast and proceed to an operational state rather than blocking the terminal for over a minute.
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75-Second Startup Freeze Eliminated for Restricted Network Environments
Claude Code v2.1.144, released May 18, 2026, fixes one of the most disruptive startup reliability issues reported in recent months: a hang of up to 75 seconds when api.anthropic.com is unreachable during launch.
The Root Cause
On startup, Claude Code performs a set of "side-channel" API calls — requests to non-critical endpoints for tasks like checking the plugin marketplace, fetching update metadata, and verifying known marketplaces. These calls were made without meaningful timeouts: if the upstream endpoint was reachable enough to accept a connection but slow to respond (a common pattern behind captive portals, aggressive firewalls, or certain VPN configurations), the CLI would block indefinitely — in practice up to 75 seconds — before rendering the prompt.
This affected a wide range of environments: hotel and airport Wi-Fi with captive portals, corporate networks with TLS inspection, developers in regions where Anthropic's CDN paths are unreliable, and air-gapped or offline development machines. Multiple GitHub issues documented the problem, including reports of Claude Code freezing while attempting to reach GitHub for plugin sources and known_marketplaces.json updates.
The Fix
Side-channel startup API calls now time out after 15 seconds. If an endpoint does not respond within that window, Claude Code logs the failure, skips the non-critical step, and continues initialization. The tool reaches an operational state regardless of network conditions, without sacrificing the startup features that work when connectivity is available.
This is a straightforward but high-impact fix: the 75-second worst case is reduced to at most 15 seconds, and in most cases the timeout triggers well before that upper bound.
Impact
For developers who were experiencing the issue, this restores the fast, responsive startup Claude Code is expected to provide. The fix requires no configuration changes and applies automatically on upgrade. Teams deploying Claude Code in restricted enterprise environments or CI/CD pipelines with limited outbound access will benefit particularly, as those environments are most prone to partial network reachability — connections that are open but slow or non-responsive rather than cleanly refused.