---
id: 250d2fe0-5866-42f1-b83d-187b3a64fb84
type: fix
title: "Fix: claude -p nested session failure due to CLAUDECODE env var"
tags: [claude-code, headless, nested-sessions, fix, claude-scheduled, subprocess]
importance: 0.7
confidence: 0.8
created: "2026-03-01T06:21:07.380774+00:00"
updated: "2026-03-01T22:02:48.109296+00:00"
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    type: RELATED_TO
    direction: outgoing
    strength: 0.73
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  - target: ba189013-3890-4464-a22d-cdc3d68d8068
    type: BUILDS_ON
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---

# claude -p Nested Session Error Fix

## Problem
`claude -p` fails with "cannot be launched inside another Claude Code session" when the `CLAUDECODE` environment variable is set in the calling shell.

## Fix
Unset the variable before invoking:
```bash
unset CLAUDECODE
claude -p ...
```

In Python subprocess calls (e.g. from ai-assistant project):
```python
env.pop('CLAUDECODE', None)
```

## Additional related gotchas
- `--permission-mode bypassPermissions` cannot be used by root users — must run as non-root
- `--max-budget-usd` is not an instant hard cutoff — it can overshoot (set $0.25, spent $0.37); use conservatively

## Context
Discovered while building claude-scheduled task runner. Also applies to any project launching Claude Code as a subprocess.