Blank terminal window pops up on Windows when Chroma MCP server starts

[dwd898]

Description

On Windows, when the claude-mem plugin starts the Chroma MCP server via uvx, a blank terminal window (Windows Terminal / PowerShell) pops up and does not close automatically. Users must manually close this window each time, which is disruptive to the workflow.

Environment

• OS: Windows 11 64-bit
• Terminal: PowerShell 7.6.0-preview.6
• claude-mem version: 9.0.0
• uvx location: C:\Users\Dell\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WinGet\Links\uvx.exe

Steps to Reproduce

1. Start Claude Code with claude-mem plugin enabled
2. Trigger any action that invokes Chroma (e.g., search with semantic search enabled)
3. A blank terminal window appears showing the uvx.exe path
4. The window remains open and must be manually closed

Expected Behavior

The Chroma MCP server should start in the background without displaying any visible terminal window.

Root Cause Analysis

Looking at src/services/sync/ChromaSync.ts:106-124, the code attempts to hide the console window:

const transportOptions: any = {
command: 'uvx',
args: ['--python', pythonVersion, 'chroma-mcp', ...],
stderr: 'ignore'
};

// CRITICAL: On Windows, try to hide console window to prevent PowerShell popups
// Note: windowsHide may not be supported by MCP SDK's StdioClientTransport
if (isWindows) {
transportOptions.windowsHide = true;
}

The comment already acknowledges that windowsHide may not be supported by MCP SDK's StdioClientTransport. This option is not being passed through to the underlying child_process.spawn() call.

Possible Solutions

1. Upstream fix: Request MCP SDK to support windowsHide option in StdioClientTransport
2. Wrapper script: Use a VBS or PowerShell wrapper to launch uvx silently:
   powershell -windowstyle hidden -command "uvx --python 3.13 chroma-mcp ..."
3. Custom spawn: Bypass StdioClientTransport and use Node.js child_process.spawn directly with proper Windows options:
   spawn(command, args, {
   windowsHide: true,
   stdio: ['pipe', 'pipe', 'ignore']
   });

[github-actions]

The GitHub issue reports that when the Chroma MCP server is initiated on Windows via the Claude memory plugin using "uvx.exe," a blank terminal window (PowerShell or Windows Terminal) consistently pops up and remains open until manually closed, disrupting the user workflow. The issue arises on Windows 11 (64-bit) with PowerShell 7.6.0-preview.6 and Claude-mem version 9.0.0. The root cause lies in the code of src/services/sync/ChromaSync.ts, where the windowsHide option is set to suppress terminal window visibility but is not properly passed to the child_process.spawn() call by the StdioClientTransport in the MCP SDK. Proposed solutions include requesting support for the windowsHide option in the MCP SDK, using PowerShell or VBS scripts as wrappers to hide the terminal window, or bypassing StdioClientTransport entirely by employing a custom child_process.spawn implementation with the correct Windows settings

[uponatime2019]

Same problem, very annoying. It happen after install Claude Mem (I dont know what is Chroma MCP server)

[AinzRimuru]

There are already related issues.

#561

[Pondo82]

Me too. It may have something to do with Microsoft anti-virus. On my end, I was able to exclude several folders in order to get it to work, but it was temporary and started up again.

[mrdornellesf]

Bug Report: Claude-Mem Windows Instability

Date: January 9, 2026
claude-mem version: 9.0.0
OS: Windows 11 64-bit
Claude Code: VSCode Extension
Python: 3.13.1
uv: 0.5.18

What happened

Installed claude-mem via CLI (claude plugin enable claude-mem@thedotmack). Initial setup worked fine, worker started on port 37777, hooks were firing, observations being saved to SQLite. No issues at first.

Problem started when I triggered the MCP search tool. First search took 23 seconds to return. Checked the logs and saw the Chroma connection alone took 22 seconds to establish. After the first search, subsequent calls failed with "fetch failed" and eventually Claude Code crashed completely with exit code 1.

Had to disable the plugin to continue working.

Logs

From ~/.claude-mem/logs/claude-mem-2026-01-09.log:

[2026-01-09 20:27:55.050] [INFO ] [HTTP] → GET /api/search
[2026-01-09 20:27:55.053] [INFO ] [CHROMA_SYNC] Connecting to Chroma MCP server...
[2026-01-09 20:28:17.297] [INFO ] [CHROMA_SYNC] Connected to Chroma MCP server
[2026-01-09 20:28:18.796] [WARN ] [CHROMA] Missing text in MCP chroma_query_documents result
[2026-01-09 20:28:18.834] [INFO ] [HTTP] ← 200 /api/search (duration=23784ms)

Then later:

[2026-01-09 20:34:29.126] [ERROR] [SYSTEM] ← Worker API error {endpoint=/api/search} fetch failed

When trying MCP search directly, got: MCP error -32000: Connection closed

Symptoms

1. Blank PowerShell window pops up every time Chroma is triggered. Window stays open, have to close manually.

2. Search latency is unusable. 22+ seconds just to connect to Chroma MCP server.

3. Worker becomes unresponsive after first search. curl to localhost:37777/api/health times out.

4. Claude Code crashes. "Error: Claude Code process exited with code 1" - had to restart multiple times.

Root cause

Found issue #590 on GitHub describing the same problem. The code in src/services/sync/ChromaSync.ts has this:

const transportOptions: any = {
command: 'uvx',
args: ['--python', pythonVersion, 'chroma-mcp', ...],
stderr: 'ignore'
};

if (isWindows) {
transportOptions.windowsHide = true;
}

Comment in the code itself says windowsHide may not be supported by MCP SDK's StdioClientTransport. So the option is set but not actually passed through to child_process.spawn().

What I tried

1. pip install chromadb chroma-mcp - installed manually, no change
2. Multiple restarts of Cursor/Claude Code - worker comes back but same behavior
3. CLAUDE_MEM_CHROMA_ENABLED: false in settings - crashes continued
4. claude plugin disable claude-mem@thedotmack - this fixed the crashes

What worked before disabling

Observation saving: OK
Context injection (SessionStart hook): OK
PostToolUse hook: OK
Stop hook (summaries): OK
Web viewer localhost:37777: OK
FTS5 text search: OK
Chroma semantic search: BROKEN

My config

~/.claude-mem/settings.json:

{
"CLAUDE_MEM_MODEL": "claude-haiku-3-5",
"CLAUDE_MEM_CONTEXT_OBSERVATIONS": "30",
"CLAUDE_MEM_WORKER_PORT": "37777",
"CLAUDE_MEM_WORKER_HOST": "127.0.0.1",
"CLAUDE_MEM_SKIP_TOOLS": "ListMcpResourcesTool,SlashCommand,Skill,TodoWrite,AskUserQuestion,Glob,Grep",
"CLAUDE_MEM_PROVIDER": "claude",
"CLAUDE_MEM_DATA_DIR": "C:/Users/manin/.claude-mem",
"CLAUDE_MEM_LOG_LEVEL": "INFO",
"CLAUDE_MEM_MODE": "code"
}

Database status

291 observations, 5 sessions, 90 summaries in ~/.claude-mem/claude-mem.db
Database intact, can be reused when fix is available.

Suggestions

Short term: Disable Chroma by default on Windows or add clear warning in docs. Spent hours debugging before finding the GitHub issue.

Medium term: Use PowerShell wrapper as suggested in #590:
powershell -windowstyle hidden -command "uvx --python 3.13 chroma-mcp ..."

Or bypass StdioClientTransport and spawn directly:
spawn(command, args, { windowsHide: true, stdio: ['pipe', 'pipe', 'ignore'] })

Long term: Fix upstream in MCP SDK to support windowsHide.

Also: Chroma failures shouldn't crash the whole plugin. Need better error isolation.

Files

Logs: ~/.claude-mem/logs/claude-mem-2026-01-09.log
Config: ~/.claude-mem/settings.json
Database: ~/.claude-mem/claude-mem.db

Related: #590

Will re-enable once there's a fix. Let me know if you need more logs or want me to test anything.

[thedotmack]

Update to 9.0.2

[julenlurnova]

Still happening in version 9.0.4. Just installed and uvx.exe windows keep appearing.