[BUG] CLAUDE_CODE_OAUTH_TOKEN authorization not working

[hridayesh-joshi-ai]

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?

Subject: Claude Code auth fails in interactive / agent mode on remote SSH desktop

Environment:
• Claude Code CLI on a remote Linux desktop (Ubuntu), accessed via SSH, bash shell. No local browser / GUI on the box.

Problem:
• Browser-based OAuth login can't be completed over SSH — the browser won't open on the remote machine, the "press c to copy URL" shortcut copies to the remote clipboard (inaccessible from my local machine), and manually selecting the printed URL fails (it appears to wrap across multiple lines).
• API-key auth works only partially:
– Direct curl to https://api.anthropic.com/v1/messages with the key → 200 OK.
– claude -p "..." works after exporting ANTHROPIC_API_KEY (an earlier 401 was caused by the variable being set but not exported, so child processes didn't inherit it).
– Interactive claude and agent sessions still force a login prompt.
• Also seeing the auth-conflict warning when both ANTHROPIC_API_KEY and CLAUDE_CODE_OAUTH_TOKEN are present; the OAuth token var was only an empty leftover. claude setup-token isn't an option here since it also requires a browser.

Already tried: adding export to the key, claude /logout, inspecting env vars, and checking for forceLogin in ~/.claude/settings.json and project .claude/settings.json.

Questions:

1. Is there a managed/enterprise settings.json (e.g. forceLoginMethod) or a company API gateway (ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL / ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN) configured on these dev desktops that would force Claude.ai login and prevent API-key auth in interactive mode?
2. What's the approved authentication method for Claude Code on headless / SSH dev machines here — company-issued API key or gateway, or a subscription OAuth token?
3. If OAuth is required, is there an out-of-band way to complete it on a box with no browser?

(API key omitted intentionally for security.)

What Should Happen?

I should be able to set CLAUDE_CODE_OAUTH_TOKEN and use claude code (also via claude agents) with no hiccups

Error Messages/Logs

Steps to Reproduce

1. No steps since I am not able to log in

Claude Model

Not sure / Multiple models

Is this a regression?

Yes, this worked in a previous version

Last Working Version

No response

Claude Code Version

2.1.183

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

macOS

Terminal/Shell

Terminal.app (macOS)

Additional Information

No response

[github-actions]

Found 3 possible duplicate issues:

1. [BUG] claude setup-token/CLAUDE_CODE_OAUTH_TOKEN is not enough to authenticate claude #8938
2. Onboarding flow ignores CLAUDE_CODE_OAUTH_TOKEN, blocks interactive CLI #46259
3. [BUG] CLAUDE_CODE_OAUTH_TOKEN is shadowed by a stale ~/.claude/.credentials.json (precedence reversed in 2.1.x) → /login #68241

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

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🤖 Generated with Claude Code

[github-actions]

This issue has been automatically closed as a duplicate of #8938.

If this is incorrect, please re-open this issue or create a new one.

🤖 Generated with Claude Code