[BUG] Claude code requires users to constantly login

[scrapebros]

[BUG] Claude code requires users to constantly login

Claude code requires user to authenticate using the web almost every day which is excessive and unnecessary, should not be required to do this every day

Get this screen when I just authenicated last night:
╭──────────────────────────╮
│ ✻ Welcome to Claude Code │
╰──────────────────────────╯

██████╗██╗ █████╗ ██╗ ██╗██████╗ ███████╗
██╔════╝██║ ██╔══██╗██║ ██║██╔══██╗██╔════╝
██║ ██║ ███████║██║ ██║██║ ██║█████╗
██║ ██║ ██╔══██║██║ ██║██║ ██║██╔══╝
╚██████╗███████╗██║ ██║╚██████╔╝██████╔╝███████╗
╚═════╝╚══════╝╚═╝ ╚═╝ ╚═════╝ ╚═════╝ ╚══════╝
██████╗ ██████╗ ██████╗ ███████╗
██╔════╝██╔═══██╗██╔══██╗██╔════╝
██║ ██║ ██║██║ ██║█████╗
██║ ██║ ██║██║ ██║██╔══╝
╚██████╗╚██████╔╝██████╔╝███████╗
╚═════╝ ╚═════╝ ╚═════╝ ╚══════╝

Browser didn't open? Use the url below to sign in:

claude --version
1.0.9 (Claude Code)

[ant-kurt]

That is definitely not right! Which option are you using to sign in - Anthropic Console or a Claude subscription? What OS are you running? There are some differences in how the credentials are managed - e.g. MacOS stores as a keychain entry.

[scrapebros]

This is claude code with a max subscription (I have the 20X and 5X subscriptions happens on both).

I'm seeing this behavior across multiple machines, they're all on:
root@ai-code:# uname -a
Linux ai-code 6.8.12-9-pve #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC PMX 6.8.12-9 (2025-03-16T19:18Z) x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
root@ai-code:#

[michael-hedgineer]

I saw this quite a bit a couple weeks ago but not as much starting last week.

[dwymark]

I'm seeing this too. It comes up multiple times a day at random times. I'm using nvm managed node in WSL2.

[nikomatsakis]

Me as well. Recent change in behavior and very frustrating. Occurs in both WSL and on my Darwin machine; in both cases I am using a locally installed claude in ~/.claude.

[emregunel]

I am having the same issue.

• Claude Code Max
• Ubuntu machine (no wsl)

[igorkofman]

What version of claude (claude --version), (claude update) are you folks running - could you ensure you are on latest?
Anything specific that triggers it (updating settings, having multiple session in parallel?)

[max-sixty]

What version of claude (claude --version), (claude update) are you folks running - could you ensure you are on latest? Anything specific that triggers it (updating settings, having multiple session in parallel?)

for me — it's when I use the same .claude path for linux & mac — the mac version deletes .credentials.json — log at #1414

[scrapebros]

1.0.6 (Claude Code)

I am not sure this is the root cause for me, but I have noticed it seems to happen more when the SSH session ends or if I get into a situation where I;m experiencing #1422 and have to use control-c or control-z to escape it.

Is something overwriting the file or editing it after authentication and messing up the stored key? That'd be my guess but haven't investigated it.

[dwymark]

I always update to the latest version as soon as it's available. I tend to run 3-4 sessions on the same wsl2 instance at a given time. Unclear what the exact trigger is.

Another thing I have noticed is that the theme will change from light to dark around the same time that this bug occurs. This will happen mid-session sometimes, and the next Claude I open shows me the oauth prompt.

[dinhphieu]

Same for me in WSL2. It seems like it happens more when I use Ctrl+C to exit a session. I'm using ZSH and remoting into IntelliJ on WSL2 via JetBrains Gateway