diff --git a/src/setup.ts b/src/setup.ts
index bf1689794..440cf7ca0 100644
--- a/src/setup.ts
+++ b/src/setup.ts
@@ -94,10 +94,20 @@ export async function setup(
     // (SessionStart in particular) can spawn and snapshot process.env.
     if (feature('UDS_INBOX')) {
       const m = await import('./utils/udsMessaging.js')
-      await m.startUdsMessaging(
-        messagingSocketPath ?? m.getDefaultUdsSocketPath(),
-        { isExplicit: messagingSocketPath !== undefined },
-      )
+      try {
+        await m.startUdsMessaging(
+          messagingSocketPath ?? m.getDefaultUdsSocketPath(),
+          { isExplicit: messagingSocketPath !== undefined },
+        )
+      } catch (error) {
+        logError(error)
+        console.error(
+          chalk.red(
+            `Error: Failed to start messaging socket (UDS_INBOX): ${errorMessage(error)}`,
+          ),
+        )
+        process.exit(1)
+      }
     }
   }
 
diff --git a/src/utils/__tests__/udsMessaging.test.ts b/src/utils/__tests__/udsMessaging.test.ts
index 2113a4400..8f66edecf 100644
--- a/src/utils/__tests__/udsMessaging.test.ts
+++ b/src/utils/__tests__/udsMessaging.test.ts
@@ -21,6 +21,8 @@ import {
   MAX_UDS_INBOX_BYTES,
   MAX_UDS_FRAME_BYTES,
   MAX_UDS_CLIENTS,
+  MAX_UNIX_SOCKET_PATH_LENGTH,
+  assertValidUnixSocketPath,
   formatUdsAddress,
   parseUdsTarget,
   sendUdsMessage,
@@ -34,11 +36,23 @@ let previousConfigDir: string | undefined
 let tempConfigDir = ''
 
 function socketPath(label: string): string {
-  const suffix = `${process.pid}-${Date.now()}-${Math.random().toString(16).slice(2)}-${label}`
+  const suffix = `${process.pid}-${Math.random().toString(16).slice(2)}-${label}`
   if (process.platform === 'win32') {
     return `\\\\.\\pipe\\claude-code-test-${suffix}`
   }
-  return join(tmpdir(), 'claude-code-test', `${suffix}.sock`)
+  const base =
+    process.platform === 'darwin'
+      ? '/tmp/claude-uds-test'
+      : join(tmpdir(), 'cc-uds-test')
+  return join(base, `${suffix}.sock`)
+}
+
+function shortTestDir(prefix: string): string {
+  const id = `${process.pid}-${Math.random().toString(16).slice(2)}`
+  if (process.platform === 'darwin') {
+    return join('/tmp', `${prefix}-${id}`)
+  }
+  return join(tmpdir(), `${prefix}-${id}`)
 }
 
 function sleep(ms: number): Promise<void> {
@@ -499,6 +513,27 @@ describe('UDS inbox retention', () => {
     expect(getDefaultUdsSocketPath()).not.toBe(firstPath)
   })
 
+  test('default socket path stays within AF_UNIX length limit', () => {
+    const path = getDefaultUdsSocketPath()
+    if (process.platform === 'win32') return
+    expect(Buffer.byteLength(path, 'utf8')).toBeLessThanOrEqual(
+      MAX_UNIX_SOCKET_PATH_LENGTH,
+    )
+    expect(() => assertValidUnixSocketPath(path)).not.toThrow()
+  })
+
+  test('rejects socket paths longer than AF_UNIX limit', () => {
+    if (process.platform === 'win32') return
+    const longPath = `/tmp/${'x'.repeat(MAX_UNIX_SOCKET_PATH_LENGTH)}.sock`
+    expect(() => assertValidUnixSocketPath(longPath)).toThrow(/max 104/)
+  })
+
+  test('default socket path can bind on Node.js', async () => {
+    const path = getDefaultUdsSocketPath()
+    await startUdsMessaging(path, { isExplicit: true })
+    await stopUdsMessaging()
+  })
+
   test('rejects oversized receiver responses before retaining them', async () => {
     const path = socketPath('oversized-response')
     if (process.platform !== 'win32') {
@@ -688,10 +723,7 @@ describe('UDS inbox retention', () => {
     })
 
     test('fails closed when an explicit socket parent is not private', async () => {
-      const parent = join(
-        tmpdir(),
-        `uds-socket-parent-${process.pid}-${Date.now()}-${Math.random().toString(16).slice(2)}`,
-      )
+      const parent = shortTestDir('uds-sp')
       await mkdir(parent, { recursive: true, mode: 0o755 })
       await chmod(parent, 0o755)
 
@@ -707,10 +739,7 @@ describe('UDS inbox retention', () => {
     })
 
     test('fails closed when an explicit socket parent is a file', async () => {
-      const parentFile = join(
-        tmpdir(),
-        `uds-socket-parent-file-${process.pid}-${Date.now()}-${Math.random().toString(16).slice(2)}`,
-      )
+      const parentFile = shortTestDir('uds-spf')
       await writeFile(parentFile, 'not a directory', 'utf-8')
 
       try {
diff --git a/src/utils/udsMessaging.ts b/src/utils/udsMessaging.ts
index 28de0ae13..049588fb8 100644
--- a/src/utils/udsMessaging.ts
+++ b/src/utils/udsMessaging.ts
@@ -85,13 +85,26 @@ export const MAX_UDS_CLIENTS = 128
 export const UDS_AUTH_TIMEOUT_MS = 2_000
 export const UDS_IDLE_TIMEOUT_MS = 30_000
 
+/** macOS/BSD AF_UNIX `sun_path` limit (bytes, excluding NUL). */
+export const MAX_UNIX_SOCKET_PATH_LENGTH = 104
+
 // ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 // Public API — socket path helpers
 // ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
+export function assertValidUnixSocketPath(path: string): void {
+  if (process.platform === 'win32') return
+  const byteLength = Buffer.byteLength(path, 'utf8')
+  if (byteLength > MAX_UNIX_SOCKET_PATH_LENGTH) {
+    throw new Error(
+      `[udsMessaging] socket path is ${byteLength} bytes (max ${MAX_UNIX_SOCKET_PATH_LENGTH}): ${path}`,
+    )
+  }
+}
+
 /**
- * Default socket path based on PID, placed in a tmpdir subdirectory so it
- * survives across config-home changes and avoids polluting ~/.claude.
+ * Default socket path based on PID. Uses a flat file under a short temp
+ * directory so the path stays within the AF_UNIX limit on macOS.
  *
  * On Windows, Node.js requires named pipe paths in the `\\.\pipe\` namespace;
  * file-system paths like `C:\...\Temp\x.sock` cause EACCES. Bun handles both
@@ -99,17 +112,19 @@ export const UDS_IDLE_TIMEOUT_MS = 30_000
  */
 export function getDefaultUdsSocketPath(): string {
   if (defaultSocketPath) return defaultSocketPath
-  const nonce = randomBytes(16).toString('hex')
+  const nonce = randomBytes(8).toString('hex')
   if (process.platform === 'win32') {
     defaultSocketPath = `\\\\.\\pipe\\claude-code-${process.pid}-${nonce}`
     return defaultSocketPath
   }
+
   defaultSocketPath = join(
     tmpdir(),
-    'claude-code-socks',
+    'cc-socks',
     `${process.pid}-${nonce}`,
     'messaging.sock',
   )
+  assertValidUnixSocketPath(defaultSocketPath)
   return defaultSocketPath
 }
 
@@ -416,6 +431,8 @@ export async function startUdsMessaging(
     return
   }
 
+  assertValidUnixSocketPath(path)
+
   // Ensure parent directory exists (skip on Windows — pipe paths aren't files)
   if (process.platform !== 'win32') {
     await ensureSocketParent(path)