[BUG] claude on Mac deletes the .credentials.json file that claude on Linux uses

[seekayel]

Preflight Checklist

• I have searched existing issues and this hasn't been reported yet
• This is a single bug report (please file separate reports for different bugs)
• I am using the latest version of Claude Code

What's Wrong?

(bug #1414 was closed due to inactivity but core workflow issue remains. this is an extension of that with workflow description)

To get the most out of claude I run in a container with --dangerously-skip-permissions. This lets me leverage the full power of the agent while protecting my development machine. To do this I create a container with needed dev cli tools and mount in claude config files from my home directory (code for reference gh:seekayel/yolo

My base machine is macOS and the container is Ubuntu.

When I login to claude on my mac my credentials are stored into my keychain and the credentials file in $HOME gets deleted.

I have tried to reading my credentials out of my keychain before launching the container with security find-generic-password -s "Claude Code-credentials" -w > $HOME/.claude/credentials.json but the containerized claude --dangerously-skip-permissions still isn't finding (or honoring?) the $HOME/.claude/credentials.json this means I have to login each time.

This seems like a use case that is intended to be supported given the reference implementation: https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/tree/main/.devcontainer but with CLI only setup.

What Should Happen?

claude should provide a way to do one of the following:

• keep credentials.json on disk aka don't shuffle into macOS keychain
• write temporary credentials.json to disk that can be used in a docker (or devcontainer?)
• not require login each time?

Error Messages/Logs

Steps to Reproduce

1. write macOS keychain credentials back to file:

security find-generic-password -s "Claude Code-credentials" -w > "$HOME/.claude/credentials.json"

2. Build container

docker build -t repo-credentials -f - . <<EOF
FROM ubuntu:24.04
ENV DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive
ENV TZ=UTC
RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y nodejs npm
RUN npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code
EOF

3. Run container
   docker run -it --rm --name repo-credentials -v "$HOME/.claude:/root/.claude" repo-credentials

4. Verify credentials file exists and is mounted
   cat /root/.claude/credentials.json

5. See claude not pickup credentials
   claude

Claude Model

None

Is this a regression?

No, this never worked

Last Working Version

No response

Claude Code Version

2.0.24 (Claude Code)

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

macOS

Terminal/Shell

Terminal.app (macOS)

Additional Information

No response

[github-actions]

Found 1 possible duplicate issue:

1. [BUG] claude on Mac deletes the .credentials.json file that claude on Linux uses #1414

This issue will be automatically closed as a duplicate in 3 days.

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🤖 Generated with Claude Code

[seekayel]

This might have the same root cause, but this issue has additional information and better reproduction steps. Also, that bug is closed 😆

[Ghoelian]

Running in to the same issue.

My workaround for now is to put the output of security find-generic-password -s "Claude Code" -w (mine was named slightly different) in an env var in my .profile, which I then specify in my compose.yml and echo to ~/.claude/credentials.json in the Dockerfile.

[mlwyatt]

I'm also running into this same issue.

My current workaround is less ideal than others I've found above (add "source=claude-code-config-${devcontainerId},target=/root/.claude,type=bind" to devcontainer's mounts) but I have to re-auth for every new project as well as every re-build (${devcontainerid})