January 7, 2026
SemVer? More like SemVery Broken
Claude Code CLI Broken
A date in the version nuked the tool, and the comments are chaos
TLDR: Claude Code’s CLI crashed because a date in its version label confused the version checker; a fix has already landed via a GitHub PR. Comments split between “jump ship” jokes, DIY hacks to limp along, and serious worries about reliability for teams that can’t babysit their dev tools
Claude Code’s command-line tool face-planted because its own version label included a date — think “2.1.0 (2026-01-07)” — and the app choked on it. Users tried quick fixes like changing terminal settings, but nope: the bug lives in the tool itself. Cue the comments turning into a reality show. One snarker deadpanned, “Maybe try opencode,” while a power user explained, in plain English, that a new changelog format with dates confused the version checker and caused a meltdown. Another posted a band-aid hack: wipe the cache and drop in a dummy changelog file to stop the crash.
Then, a plot twist: someone says it’s already fixed and drops a link to the pull request (PR #16686). Instantly, the thread splits. Half the crowd: “Too late, I’m out.” The other half: “Relax, it’s patched.” Meanwhile, enterprise folks are sweating, pointing to a string of recent hiccups where they’ve had to juggle environment variables, block tracking hosts, and hand-edit config files just to keep teams moving.
The vibe? Equal parts meme and meltdown. People joked about a “time-travel bug” and SemVer (version numbering) turning into SemVery Broken. Classic internet: fast fix, faster dogpile, and a big question looming — if a date stamp can take down your workflow, how ready is this tool for prime time
Key Points
- •Claude Code CLI v2.1.0 crashes with an 'Invalid Version: 2.1.0 (2026-01-07)' error.
- •The issue occurs on macOS using Apple Terminal with Node.js v24.11.1.
- •Changing TERM_PROGRAM_VERSION (including unsetting it) does not resolve the problem.
- •The root cause appears to be a date suffix in the version string that breaks semver parsing.
- •A suggested fix is to apply semver.coerce() or strip the date before parsing the version.