Fix Claude Code Install Killed on Linux
The Error
During Claude Code installation on a Linux VPS or cloud instance, the process is terminated:
Setting up Claude Code...
Installing Claude Code native build latest...
bash: line 142: 34803 Killed "$binary_path" install ${TARGET:+"$TARGET"}
Quick Fix
Add swap space and retry the installation:
sudo fallocate -l 2G /swapfile
sudo chmod 600 /swapfile
sudo mkswap /swapfile
sudo swapon /swapfile
curl -fsSL https://claude.ai/install.sh | bash
What’s Happening
The Linux OOM (Out of Memory) killer terminated the Claude Code installation process because the system ran out of physical memory. Claude Code requires at least 4 GB of available RAM for the installation and setup phase.
Many VPS and cloud instances ship with 1-2 GB of RAM and no swap space. When the installer extracts and configures the binary, memory usage spikes. Without swap as an overflow, the kernel kills the most memory-hungry process to prevent a system crash.
The Killed message with no additional error context is the telltale sign of the OOM killer. You can confirm this by checking the kernel log:
dmesg | grep -i "oom\|killed"
Step-by-Step Fix
Step 1: Check available memory
free -h
Look at the “available” column. If it is under 4 GB and swap shows 0, this is the cause.
Step 2: Check for existing swap
swapon --show
If there is no output, no swap is configured.
Step 3: Create a swap file
Create a 2 GB swap file:
sudo fallocate -l 2G /swapfile
sudo chmod 600 /swapfile
sudo mkswap /swapfile
sudo swapon /swapfile
Verify swap is active:
free -h
You should now see swap space in the output.
Step 4: Retry the installation
curl -fsSL https://claude.ai/install.sh | bash
Step 5: Make swap permanent (optional)
If you want the swap file to persist across reboots:
echo '/swapfile none swap sw 0 0' | sudo tee -a /etc/fstab
Step 6: Docker-specific fix
When installing Claude Code in a Docker container, the issue is compounded if the container runs as root with / as the working directory. The installer scans the filesystem and excessive memory usage follows.
Set a working directory before installing:
WORKDIR /tmp
RUN curl -fsSL https://claude.ai/install.sh | bash
Increase Docker memory limits if using Docker Desktop:
docker build --memory=4g .
Prevention
Before installing Claude Code on any Linux server, verify memory availability:
free -h
If available memory is under 4 GB, add swap first. For production servers running Claude Code, allocate at least 4 GB of RAM. Close unnecessary processes before installation to free memory.
For automated provisioning, include swap setup in your cloud-init or Terraform configuration:
#!/bin/bash
fallocate -l 2G /swapfile
chmod 600 /swapfile
mkswap /swapfile
swapon /swapfile
echo '/swapfile none swap sw 0 0' >> /etc/fstab
curl -fsSL https://claude.ai/install.sh | bash
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