#4107·claude-mem

v13.25.1 install fails with "worker did not stop" (unknown-install-error) — no process/port actually running; v13.3.0 works fine

Author: hexxmateCreated Sep 17, 2026Updated Sep 17, 2026
Labelsbug

Bug Description

npx claude-mem install consistently fails on v13.25.1 with a worker-shutdown pre-overwrite error, even with no worker process or listening port actually present on the system. Downgrading to v13.3.0 installs cleanly with an identical environment.

Error

{
  "severity": "ABORT",
  "categoryId": "unknown-install-error",
  "component": "worker-shutdown",
  "phase": "pre-overwrite",
  "cause": "The existing worker did not stop within 10 seconds.",
  "remediation": "Run `npx claude-mem stop`, verify it exits, then run `npx claude-mem install` again.",
  "details": null
}

Steps to reproduce

  1. Fresh environment, no prior claude-mem install.
  2. Run npx claude-mem install, select OpenCode as IDE, Worker as runtime.
  3. Install aborts with the above error.
  4. npx claude-mem stop reports "claude-mem is not installed."
  5. ps aux | grep claude-mem — no matching process.
  6. Checked for listeners on both the hardcoded port (37777) and the UID-derived port (37700 + uid % 100) from both WSL and the Windows host (mirrored networking, so both namespaces checked) — nothing listening on either.
  7. Full manual cleanup of every known artifact directory (~/.claude-mem, ~/.claude/plugins/cache/thedotmack, ~/.claude/plugins/marketplaces/thedotmack, ~/.claude/plugins/data/claude-mem-thedotmack, ~/.config/opencode/plugins/claude-mem*, ~/.npm/_npx/*/node_modules/claude-mem) — confirmed empty via find ~ -iname '*claude-mem*'.
  8. Re-ran install — same error, identical to a completely fresh state.
  9. Ran npx [email protected] install instead — installed successfully, no errors.

Environment

  • OS: Kali Linux (WSL2 on Windows 11, mirrored networking mode)
  • IDE: OpenCode
  • Runtime selected: Worker
  • claude-mem version tested broken: 13.25.1
  • claude-mem version confirmed working: 13.3.0

Expected behavior

Install should succeed on a clean system with no running worker, or the error message/check itself should be fixed to not false-positive when nothing is actually running.