Decoding the Glitches: Your Guide to Troubleshooting Claude Code Problems
Z
Zack Saadioui
8/12/2025
Decoding the Glitches: A Deep Dive into Troubleshooting Claude Code Problems
Hey everyone, hope you're having a good one. Let's talk about something we've all been through: that moment when your code, especially when you're deep in a project with an AI pair programmer like Claude, just... stops working. It's that sinking feeling, right? You're in the zone, things are flowing, & then BAM. A cryptic error, a sudden performance nosedive, or even worse, the AI seems to have forgotten everything it knew yesterday.
Honestly, working with powerful tools like Claude Code is a game-changer. It can feel like you have a senior dev right there with you, brainstorming, writing boilerplate, & even debugging. But here's the thing: it's still a complex system, & like any complex system, things can & do go wrong. I've spent a good chunk of time in the trenches with Claude, and I've seen it all – from simple setup hiccups to the really weird stuff that makes you question your sanity.
So, I wanted to put together a seriously comprehensive guide on troubleshooting the most common (and uncommon) problems you might run into with Claude. We're going to cover everything from sluggish performance & outright bugs to those frustrating moments when a new model version feels like a step backward. This is the stuff I wish I had when I first started.
The Silent Killer: Performance Problems & How to Fix Them
Let's start with one of the most common complaints: performance. One minute Claude is zipping along, the next it's taking forever to respond, or your machine's fans are screaming for mercy. It’s not just you. Turns out, there are some pretty common culprits.
The Never-Ending Conversation
This is probably the biggest one. We get into a long, rambling conversation with Claude, throwing new tasks, code snippets, & ideas at it. The problem is, all that context builds up. A recent study even showed that for experienced developers, AI assistants can sometimes slow them down because of this kind of cognitive friction & context mismatch. The longer the conversation, the more memory Claude uses & the more it has to process with every single prompt. This can lead to:
Laggy responses: You type a prompt & wait... and wait.
Inaccurate or confused replies: The AI starts to lose track of the important context from the beginning of the conversation.
High CPU & memory usage: Your computer starts to feel like it's running a marathon.
The Fix:
The solution is surprisingly simple: treat your conversations like focused work sessions.
The
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/clear
command is your best friend. When you're switching tasks, just type
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/clear
. This wipes the slate clean & starts a fresh conversation. Don't be afraid to use it often.
Use
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/compact
for a "soft" reset. If you want to keep some of the context but trim the fat,
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/compact
is perfect. It summarizes the conversation, which can seriously cut down on processing time.
Break down big tasks. Instead of one giant conversation for building an entire feature, have separate, smaller conversations for each component.
Bloated Codebases & The "Too Much Information" Problem
Another performance killer is throwing massive codebases at Claude. While it's great at understanding project context, asking it to process thousands of files at once can bring it to its knees. I've seen this happen a lot, especially on older machines or those with less than 16GB of RAM.
The Fix:
Be specific. Instead of saying "find the bug in my app," point it to the relevant files or directories.
Use your
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.gitignore
file. Claude is smart enough to ignore files listed in your
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.gitignore
, so make sure your build directories, node_modules, & other cruft are in there.
Chunk it up. If you need Claude to review a large file, feed it in smaller, manageable chunks.
The Browser Bog-Down
This one's sneaky. If you're using Claude in a web browser, accumulated cookies & cache, especially analytics cookies, can cause the interface to become slow & laggy. It’s not Claude itself, but the browser struggling with all the data being exchanged.
The Fix:
Clear your browser's cache & cookies for
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claude.ai
. This is often a quick & easy fix for a sluggish interface.
Use a dedicated browser profile for your development work to keep things clean.
Try a different browser. Some browsers, like Brave or Edge, are known for better performance with web apps.
Bugs, Glitches, & "Why Isn't This Working?"
Now let's get into the nitty-gritty of actual bugs & errors. These can range from installation nightmares to mysterious command failures.
Installation & Setup Woes
This is where a lot of people get stuck right at the beginning. The good news is, most of these issues are well-documented & have straightforward solutions.
"Command not found: claude": This almost always means Claude isn't in your system's PATH. You can either use
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npx @anthropic-ai/claude-code
to run it directly, or fix your PATH to include your global npm binaries.
Permission Errors (macOS/Linux): If you see "permission denied" during installation, it's likely an issue with your npm permissions. The recommended fix is to set up a user-owned directory for global packages instead of using
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sudo
.
Node.js Version Conflicts: Claude Code requires a specific version of Node.js (usually 18.0+). If you're having trouble, check your version with
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node -v
and use a version manager like
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nvm
to switch to a compatible version.
Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) Issues: This is a common pain point. You might see "OS/platform detection issues" or "exec: node: not found" errors. This often happens when WSL is trying to use the Windows version of npm. The fix is usually to install Node.js within your Linux distro's package manager.
The ULTIMATE Installation Fix:
Honestly, the best way to avoid most of these problems is to use the native installer. Anthropic provides a simple curl command for macOS/Linux/WSL & a PowerShell command for Windows that installs Claude without relying on npm or Node.js. I highly recommend this for a smoother experience.
When Commands Go Rogue
You type a slash command like
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/review
or a custom command you've built, &... nothing. Or worse, it does something completely unexpected.
The Debug Checklist:
Check the command name. For custom commands, make sure the filename in your
1
.claude/commands/
directory is exactly right, including case.
Restart Claude. It loads custom commands on startup, so if you've just created one, you'll need to restart.
Check the format. Custom command files need to contain instructions, not just the command name.
Use the built-in debugger. The
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--verbose
&
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--debug
flags are your best friends here. They'll show you exactly how Claude is interpreting your commands & what it's trying to do. The
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--trace
flag gives you even more detail.
Run
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/doctor
. This built-in command will run diagnostics on your installation & tell you if something is wrong.
Authentication issues? If you're having trouble with commands that connect to other services (like MCP servers), try running
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/logout
& then restarting Claude to force a fresh login.
The Enigma of Model Regressions
This is a tricky one, & something a lot of us have felt. You get used to a certain version of Claude, it understands your style, it follows your instructions perfectly... and then an update rolls out. Suddenly, it's not quite the same. It might stop following formatting instructions, or its reasoning on a complex topic seems less sharp. This is often referred to as a "model regression."
It's not always your imagination. Sometimes, in the process of making the model better at one thing, it can become slightly worse at another. For example, some users on Reddit have noted that newer versions of Sonnet seemed to have a drop in performance on certain benchmarks compared to older versions. Another user pointed out that a model that was once great at creative storytelling now declares itself "fundamentally incapable" of the same task.
Understanding the Model Zoo:
First, it's important to understand that there isn't just one "Claude." There's a whole family of models, each with different strengths:
Opus: The most powerful & intelligent model, great for complex reasoning, research, & coding.
Sonnet: The workhorse model that balances intelligence & speed. This is the one most of us use for daily tasks.
Haiku: The fastest & most compact model, perfect for quick interactions & simple tasks.
Anthropic is constantly releasing new versions of these models (like Claude 3, Claude 3.5, etc.). Sometimes, a new version of Sonnet might be optimized for speed, which could subtly affect its ability to follow very nuanced, multi-step instructions.
How to Deal with Regressions:
Be explicit with your prompts. If a new model version seems to be ignoring your implicit instructions, spell them out. For example, instead of just assuming it will only show you the modified code, explicitly say: "Only show the relevant code that needs to be modified. Use comments to represent the parts that are not modified."
Check the model version. If you're using the API, you can often specify the exact model version you want to use. If a new version is giving you trouble, you might be able to temporarily revert to an older one.
Provide feedback. Use the thumbs up/thumbs down feature in the Claude interface. Anthropic does use this data to improve the models.
Experiment with different models. If Sonnet isn't cutting it for a particular task anymore, try Opus. It might be that the complexity of your task has increased, or that the specific capabilities you need are now better handled by the more powerful model.
Building a More Resilient Workflow: The Power of a Team Brain
Okay, we've talked a lot about individual troubleshooting. But what happens when you're on a team? One developer figures out a weird quirk with a new Claude update, another finds the perfect prompt for debugging a specific type of error in your codebase. How do you share that knowledge so everyone isn't constantly reinventing the wheel?
This is where things get really interesting. Imagine having a central "brain" for your team that knows about all these little tips, tricks, & solutions. A place you could just ask, "Hey, what's the best way to get Claude to debug our React components?" & get an instant, accurate answer based on your team's collective experience.
This is exactly the kind of problem that custom AI solutions are built for. For instance, a platform like Arsturn allows you to build a no-code AI chatbot trained on your own data. Think about what that means for a development team. You could feed it:
Your entire internal documentation & wikis.
Past bug reports & their solutions from Jira or GitHub.
Your codebase itself.
A running log of all these little Claude-related tips & tricks we've been talking about.
Suddenly, you have an AI assistant that's an expert on your team's specific problems & workflow. A junior dev could ask it for help with a Claude setup issue & get an answer that's tailored to your company's environment. A senior dev could ask it to summarize the last five major performance regressions the team has seen & how they were solved.
This is how you move from just using an AI tool to creating an AI-powered system for your team. Arsturn helps businesses create these custom AI chatbots that can provide instant support, answer questions, & engage with developers 24/7, all based on your own internal knowledge. It's about turning that scattered tribal knowledge into a powerful, accessible resource. It's a pretty cool way to supercharge your team's ability to troubleshoot not just Claude, but any technical issue that comes up.
Wrapping it Up
Whew, that was a lot. We've gone from the basics of installation issues all the way to the philosophical weirdness of model regressions. The key takeaway here is that while Claude is an incredibly powerful tool, it's not magic. It's a complex piece of technology with its own quirks & failure points.
The more you understand about how it works under the hood – how it manages context, how different models are optimized, & what the common pitfalls are – the better you'll be at not just fixing problems, but preventing them in the first place.
So, next time Claude gives you a headache, take a deep breath, come back to this guide, & start systematically working through the problem. And hey, if you're on a team, maybe start thinking about how you can build your own "team brain" to make everyone's life a little easier.
Hope this was helpful. Let me know what you think, & share any of your own crazy Claude troubleshooting stories in the comments