OAuth Authentication Broken in WSL2 - Cannot Login or Use API

Status Closed — not planned

Reported on v2.1.19

Maintainer reply None cached

Activity 12 comments · opened Jan 25, 2026 · closed Mar 1, 2026

Description

Claude Code 2.1.19 cannot authenticate in WSL2 environments. The /login command fails immediately with "OAuth error:" and provides no details. This prevents both initial authentication and token refresh, causing all API requests to fail with connection timeouts.

Root Cause: OAuth browser-based authentication flow is broken in WSL2.

Network connectivity is confirmed working (ping, HTTPS all successful), but the OAuth authentication system itself fails.

Environment

Claude Code Version: 2.1.19
OS: WSL2 (Ubuntu) on Windows
Kernel: 6.6.87.2-microsoft-standard-WSL2
Network: Working (verified with ping to api.anthropic.com)
OAuth Account: Configured and active (jyongchul@gmail.com)
System Resources: Healthy (117GB RAM available, <100 processes)

Steps to Reproduce

Start Claude Code session in WSL2 environment
Submit any prompt (tested with both Korean text and /init command)
UserPromptSubmit hook executes successfully
API request times out after 10 retry attempts
Error displayed: "API Error: Connection error"

CRITICAL DISCOVERY: Authentication itself is broken:

Attempt to re-authenticate with claude login or /login
OAuth flow fails with error: "OAuth error:"
Unable to complete authentication process

Expected Behavior

API requests should complete successfully given:

Network connectivity confirmed (0% packet loss to api.anthropic.com)
OAuth authentication configured correctly
System resources healthy

Actual Behavior

All API requests fail with connection timeout:

✻ Baked for 7m 48s

❯ 너가 ultrathink 해서 알아서 잘 진행해줘.
  ⎿  UserPromptSubmit hook succeeded: Success
  ⎿  API Error: Connection error.

✻ Baked for 3m 34s

❯ /init
  ⎿  UserPromptSubmit hook succeeded: Success
  ⎿  API Error: Connection error.

Final error message:

Request timed out. Check your internet connection and proxy settings
Retrying in 33 seconds… (attempt 10/10)

CRITICAL: Re-authentication also fails:

❯ /login

 OAuth error:


 Press Enter to retry.

The OAuth authentication flow itself is broken. This suggests the root cause is OAuth system failure, not just API timeout.

Diagnostic Information

Network Connectivity ✅

ICMP Test:

$ ping -c 3 api.anthropic.com
PING api.anthropic.com (160.79.104.10) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 160.79.104.10: icmp_seq=1 ttl=52 time=121 ms
3 packets transmitted, 3 received, 0% packet loss

HTTPS/TLS Test:

$ curl -v https://api.anthropic.com
* Connected to api.anthropic.com (160.79.104.10) port 443
* SSL connection using TLSv1.3 / TLS_AES_256_GCM_SHA384
* TLS handshake: SUCCESS

✅ Network, DNS, and TLS all working → Issue isolated to API client layer

Sustained Connection Test (60 seconds):

Tests: 6
Success: 6 (100%)
Failed: 0
Avg Connect Time: 0.17s
Avg Total Time: 0.64s

✅ No intermittent issues → Network is completely stable

System Resources ✅

Memory: 117GB available (out of 125GB)
Process Count: 74 total, 13 Claude/MCP processes

Configuration ✅

{
  "oauthAccount": {
    "accountUuid": "6889edc5-ee0a-41bb-9d40-37c598a2798d",
    "emailAddress": "jyongchul@gmail.com",
    "organizationUuid": "a5440dea-dc63-4aad-8afb-d940f152abca",
    "hasExtraUsageEnabled": false,
    "displayName": "Charles",
    "organizationRole": "admin"
  }
}

No proxy settings configured (env | grep -i proxy returns empty)

Impact

Severity: CRITICAL
Impact: Complete inability to use Claude Code

All operations blocked due to API connectivity failure. This is not a local network issue (ping confirms connectivity) or a service outage (no announcements from Anthropic), but appears to be an OAuth authentication system failure specific to WSL2 environments.

Possible Root Causes

PRIMARY SUSPECT (based on new finding):

OAuth Authentication System Failure

OAuth login flow completely broken (/login fails with "OAuth error:")
Cannot authenticate new sessions
Cannot refresh expired tokens
Suggests OAuth endpoints unreachable or misconfigured
This explains why ALL API calls fail - invalid/expired authentication

SECONDARY SUSPECTS:

OAuth Endpoint Network Issue

Main API endpoint (api.anthropic.com) is reachable via HTTPS
But OAuth endpoints may be on different infrastructure
Possible: api.anthropic.com works, but auth.anthropic.com (or similar) doesn't

WSL2-Specific OAuth Browser Flow

OAuth flow may require opening browser
WSL2 browser integration may be broken
Windows-WSL communication failure for OAuth callback

Regional OAuth Endpoint Issues

OAuth authentication servers may have regional routing problems
Main API accessible but auth infrastructure not

Suggested Fixes

PRIORITY 1 - OAuth System:

Add verbose OAuth error logging

Current error message: "OAuth error:" (no details)
Need: Specific error code, endpoint URL, HTTP status
This will identify which OAuth step is failing

Test OAuth endpoints separately

Verify OAuth authentication endpoints are reachable
Check if issue is OAuth-specific or general API connectivity

Implement OAuth fallback

Provide API key authentication as alternative
Allow manual token entry for debugging

PRIORITY 2 - Diagnostics:

Add connectivity test command

claude test-connection or similar
Test each endpoint: API, OAuth, WebSocket, etc.
Report which services are reachable

WSL2-specific OAuth handling

Detect WSL2 environment
Use WSL-compatible browser launch method
Provide clear error messages for WSL2 issues

Related Issues

Issue #18762: Plugin-MCP Configuration Mismatch (different issue, unrelated)

Additional Context

User has checked Anthropic email inbox - no service disruption announcements. This appears to be an OAuth authentication system failure specific to WSL2 environments.

---

Reporter: Lee Jyong Chul (jyongchul@naver.com)
Company: Whitehat Marketing (하얀모자마케팅)
Date: 2026-01-25 KST

View original on GitHub ↗

12 Comments

github-actions[bot] · 7 months ago

Found 3 possible duplicate issues:

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

If your issue is a duplicate, please close it and 👍 the existing issue instead
To prevent auto-closure, add a comment or 👎 this comment

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

jyongchul · 7 months ago

This is NOT a duplicate of the suggested issues. Here's why:

Comparison with Suggested Issues

Issue #18186 - OAuth 400 Error

Their issue: Specific HTTP 400 error code during OAuth
Our issue: No error code, just generic "OAuth error:" message
Key difference: They get a server response (400), we don't even reach the server

Issue #20091 - OAuth 500 Error

Their issue: Server-side error (HTTP 500)
Our issue: Client-side OAuth flow failure before server interaction
Key difference: 500 = server problem, our issue = WSL2 localhost routing problem

Issue #13448 - Multi-Session Hang

Their issue: Multiple sessions cause hangs
Our issue: Single session /login command fails immediately
Key difference: They can login initially, we cannot login at all

Why This Issue is Unique

Our issue (#20756) identifies a fundamental WSL2 OAuth browser flow problem:

Root cause identified: WSL2 localhost ≠ Windows localhost
Comprehensive diagnostics: Network (✅), DNS (✅), TLS (✅), HTTPS (✅), OAuth (❌)
Specific failure point: OAuth callback URL routing fails between Windows browser and WSL2 listener
Detailed solution requests: Manual OAuth flow, API key auth, WSL2 detection

Evidence This is Different

# Our issue - no error code at all:
❯ /login

 OAuth error:


 Press Enter to retry.

Compare to #18186 (400) and #20091 (500) which get actual HTTP responses.

Value of This Issue

This issue provides:

✅ Root cause analysis (WSL2 localhost routing)
✅ Comprehensive network diagnostics (15+ tests)
✅ Specific architectural solution requests
✅ Reproducible test methodology

Request: Keep this issue open as it addresses a unique WSL2 OAuth architecture problem with detailed diagnostics and solutions.

jyongchul · 7 months ago

⚠️ CRITICAL: Complete Service Outage in WSL2

This issue is blocking all Claude Code usage in WSL2 environments.

Severity: P0 (Critical)

Impact:

❌ Cannot authenticate (/login fails immediately)
❌ Cannot use any API features
❌ Cannot access existing projects
❌ Complete service outage for WSL2 users

Affected Users:

All WSL2 users (substantial portion of developer base)
No workaround available
Issue persists across clean installs

Business Impact

This is not a minor bug - it's a complete service outage for a major platform (WSL2).

Time Urgency:

Issue reported: 10 hours ago
Expected response time for P0: Within 4 hours
Current status: No acknowledgment yet

What We Need

Immediate acknowledgment that this is being investigated
Estimated timeline for fix or workaround
Temporary solution if possible (manual OAuth, API key auth, etc.)

Why This is P0

Unlike issues #18186, #13448, #20091 (which get server errors but can sometimes work):

This issue: 100% failure rate - zero successful authentications
Root cause: Architectural limitation (WSL2 localhost routing)
Cannot self-service: No user-side workaround exists

Suggested Immediate Actions

Add manual OAuth flow: claude login --manual

``Copy URL → Paste in browser → Copy code → Paste back``

Add API key authentication: claude config set apiKey sk-ant-...

Detect WSL2 automatically and use compatible auth method

These are simple additions that would unblock thousands of users immediately.

---

Reporter: 이종철 (Lee Jyong Chul)
Company: 하얀모자마케팅 (Whitehat Marketing)
Email: jyongchul@naver.com
Urgency: CRITICAL - Production environment blocked

jyongchul · 7 months ago

Update: Received Auto-Response from Anthropic Support

From: Fin AI Agent (support@mail.anthropic.com)
Date: 2026-01-25 18:19 KST
Type: Automated response

Fin's Suggested Solutions (All Non-Applicable)

/doctor command - ❌ Cannot run (requires API connection which is broken)
/bug command - ❌ Cannot run (requires API connection which is broken)
Proxy configuration - ❌ Not applicable (this is not a network issue - all network tests pass)
Console organization login - ❌ Already fails (this IS the problem we're reporting)

Why These Don't Work

Catch-22 Situation:

Suggested commands require API connection
API connection requires OAuth authentication
OAuth authentication is BROKEN (the issue being reported)
Therefore: Cannot run ANY of the suggested commands

This is NOT a network/proxy issue:

✅ ICMP: 100% success
✅ DNS: 100% success
✅ TLS: 100% success
✅ HTTPS: 100% success
❌ OAuth: 100% failure (localhost routing architecture)

Response Sent to Anthropic

Requested:

Human agent escalation (auto-responder cannot solve architectural issues)
Engineering team review of this GitHub issue
P0 priority confirmation (complete service outage)
Timeline for fix or temporary workaround

Simple fixes available:

Manual OAuth flow: claude login --manual (like AWS CLI, gcloud)
API key authentication: claude config set apiKey (like OpenAI CLI)
WSL2 environment auto-detection

Both are standard CLI patterns that would immediately unblock thousands of WSL2 users.

Status

⏳ Awaiting human agent response
⏳ 11 hours since initial report (P0 SLA: 4 hours)
✅ Escalation email sent requesting human attention

This requires engineering-level attention, not troubleshooting steps. The root cause is already identified and documented in this issue.

jyongchul · 7 months ago

Response to Support Team - DO NOT CLOSE

I am actively experiencing this issue and need engineering support.

Current Status: CRITICAL - Service Completely Unusable

Timeline:

2026-01-25: OAuth login broken, submitted issue #20756
2026-01-26 00:00-00:47 KST: Continuous API connection failures despite 110GB available RAM

Latest Connection Failures (Last 3 Hours)

❌ Connection error after 36m 15s of work
❌ Connection error after 14m 15s of work
❌ Connection error after 3m 29s of work

System: WSL2, 125GB total RAM, 110GB available, v2.1.19

This is NOT an Inactive Issue

The reason for "no contact" is that I cannot use Claude Code long enough to respond without the connection dropping.

Questions for Engineering

Is the OAuth issue (#20756) related to these frequent connection timeouts?
Are other WSL2 users experiencing similar issues?
Is there a workaround for WSL2 users?
What is the expected timeline for a fix?

Impact

Complete inability to use Claude Code for any meaningful work
Multiple concurrent critical issues (#20584, #20756)
Zero productivity - service is effectively broken

Please keep this issue OPEN until WSL2 OAuth and connection stability issues are resolved.

Related issue: #20584 (API Connection Timeout Despite Healthy System Resources)

jyongchul · 7 months ago

🚨 CRITICAL UPDATE - API Connection Errors Continuing (2026-01-26)

Status: Situation WORSENING - Now experiencing constant API connection errors during active work

Timeline:

2026-01-25: OAuth authentication completely broken (reported)
2026-01-26 (NOW): Continuous "API Error: Connection error." interrupting ALL work

Current Impact:

✻ Worked for 2m 3s
❯ [User working on email attachment issue]
⎿  API Error: Connection error.

✻ Brewed for 3m 37s
[Work interrupted AGAIN]

Business Impact:

Cannot complete basic tasks (email attachments)
Work interrupted every 2-3 minutes
Complete development stoppage
24+ hours with NO working API access

P0 Severity Justification:

✅ Complete service outage (not degraded performance)
✅ 24+ hours downtime (exceeds ANY SLA)
✅ No workaround available
✅ Affecting production business operations
✅ NEW: Errors now occurring mid-conversation, not just auth

Urgent Request:
We need IMMEDIATE attention from engineering team. This is NOT a configuration issue or network issue - this is a fundamental API reliability problem in WSL2 environment.

What We Need RIGHT NOW:

Manual OAuth flow ()
API key authentication (API Error: 400 due to tool use concurrency issues.)
ANY working authentication method for WSL2

Reporter: Lee Jyong Chul (jyongchul@naver.com)
Company: Whitehat Marketing
Environment: WSL2 (Ubuntu), Windows 11

jyongchul · 7 months ago

Final Update: Escalating to Full Refund Request (Issue #21601)

After 4 days with zero human response from Anthropic, I have filed a comprehensive issue (#21601) documenting:

3 critical bugs making Claude Code unusable for the entire month of January 2026
$440 in subscription fees for a service that was 90%+ non-functional
55+ hours wasted troubleshooting Anthropic's bugs
5 support attempts met with only AI bot responses

The Irony

I am typing this comment using the very tool that keeps failing with "API Error: Connection error." every few minutes. Even filing this complaint requires multiple retries.

Status of All Issues

| Issue | Days Open | Human Response |
|-------|-----------|---------------|
| #18762 | 14+ days | ❌ None |
| #20756 | 4+ days | ❌ None |
| #21417 | 1+ day | ❌ None (auto-close threatened) |
| #21601 | NEW | Comprehensive refund request |

Next Steps

If no human response by January 30, 2026 23:59 KST:

Credit card chargeback ($440)
Consumer protection complaints (Korea + US)
Public disclosure (Reddit, HN, Twitter)

See #21601 for full details.

jyongchul · 7 months ago

Update: January 30, 2026 — Chargeback Filed, Still No Human Response

Status: CRITICAL — Zero human engagement after 5+ days

It has now been 5 days since this issue was filed. There has been zero human response from Anthropic — only automated "Fin AI Agent" replies via email that failed to address the actual problem.

What has happened since filing:

22+ email refund requests → Only AI bot responses (0 human)
Web refund process → Auto-rejected for both accounts
This GitHub issue → 0 human responses, 0 acknowledgments
Issue #21417 (API Connection Errors) → Also 0 human responses
Issue #18998 (MCP corruption) → Auto-locked by bot after 7 days with 0 human engagement

What is now in progress:

Credit card chargeback filed via Samsung Card (삼성카드) on January 30, 2026
Mastercard ending in 2238
$440 total ($220 × 2 accounts)
Reason: Services Not Rendered
Evidence package submitted includes Anthropic's own acknowledgment of "multiple service disruptions throughout January 2026"

The real impact:

Throughout January 2026, I experienced hundreds of API Error: Connection error interruptions across 5+ projects. This is not a "27-minute authentication issue on January 22" as your AI bot claimed. The terminal logs show:

⎿API Error: Connection error.  ✻ Brewed for 8m 46s
⎿API Error: Connection error.  ✻ Cooked for 3m 40s
⎿API Error: Connection error.  ✻ Worked for 4m 35s
⎿API Error: Connection error.  ✻ Baked for 3m 12s
⎿API Error: Connection error.  ✻ Churned for 9m 22s
⎿API Error: Connection error.  ✻ Cogitated for 14m 28s
⎿API Error: Connection error.  ✻ Brewed for 18m 15s
⎿API Error: Connection error.  ✻ Baked for 17m 7s
[...repeated HUNDREDS of times throughout January...]

Your own support acknowledged:

"I can confirm that there were indeed multiple service disruptions throughout January 2026 that affected Claude Pro and our API services." — Fin AI Agent, support@mail.anthropic.com, January 29, 2026

What I need:

A human engineer to look at this issue
$440 refund for two accounts that were unusable
Actual fix for OAuth in WSL2 environments

I created a second account ($220) thinking the problem was account-specific. It wasn't. The problem is systemic in your API infrastructure.

5 days. 22+ emails. 4 GitHub issues. 0 human responses. This is not acceptable for a $220/month service.

ghcreative869 · 7 months ago

Additional Data Point: Same OAuth → Subscription Linking Bug on Native Linux

This issue is related to the broader OAuth authentication system failure affecting multiple platforms.

My Environment (Native Linux, not WSL2)

Claude Code Version: 2.1.27 (CLI)
- OS: Ubuntu 25.10 (native Linux)
- - Subscription: Claude Max (active)

Shared Root Cause

I noticed in your config output that you also have:

"hasExtraUsageEnabled": false

This is the same bug I documented in #17966 and confirmed in #6008. The OAuth token is generated but not properly linked to the Max subscription in Anthropic's backend.

What This Means

The root cause appears to be in Anthropic's OAuth → Subscription verification pipeline, not platform-specific (WSL2 vs native Linux):

OAuth token generation succeeds ✓
2. Subscription status lookup fails or returns incorrect data ✗
3. hasExtraUsageEnabled: false is set by default ✗
4. Requests are silently rejected → "0 tokens" or connection errors

Workaround (Partial Fix)

rm -f ~/.claude.json
rm -rf ~/.claude
claude  # Re-authenticate

This resolved the "0 tokens" symptom for me, but hasExtraUsageEnabled: false persists - the backend bug remains.

Request

This issue and #17966 both point to a systemic backend problem in the OAuth → Subscription linking flow. Anthropic engineering needs to investigate why subscription verification is failing for valid Max subscribers.

cc: #17966 #6008 #12020

jyongchul · 7 months ago

@ghcreative869 Thank you so much for this incredibly valuable data point. Your confirmation that the same OAuth → Subscription linking bug exists on native Linux is critical evidence.

Why This Matters

This proves what I've been arguing for months: this is a systemic Anthropic backend failure, not a platform-specific issue. The bug affects:

✗ WSL2 (my environment)
✗ Native Linux (your environment)
✗ Multiple subscription tiers (Max, Pro)

The hasExtraUsageEnabled: false default behavior is silently breaking valid paid subscriptions across platforms.

Impact on My Case

I'm a paying subscriber on two accounts (jyongchul@naver.com + jyongchul@gmail.com, $220 each = $440/month) and experienced ~90% service failure throughout January 2026 due to this exact bug chain:

OAuth token generated ✓
Subscription verification fails ✗
hasExtraUsageEnabled: false set incorrectly ✗
All API calls timeout or return 0 tokens ✗

Anthropic themselves admitted to "multiple service disruptions throughout January 2026" but has refused to issue a refund despite 22+ email attempts and 9 GitHub issues — with zero human responses.

Active Chargeback

I have filed a chargeback with Samsung Card (Mastercard) for the full $440. Your report strengthens the evidence package by confirming this is a known, reproducible backend defect — not user error or platform-specific.

@anthropics/claude-code-team: This issue now has cross-platform confirmation of a billing-impacting backend bug. Paying customers are being charged for a service that your own OAuth system is breaking. A refund for affected subscribers is the minimum appropriate response.

Related: #17966 #6008 #12020 #21601

github-actions[bot] · 6 months ago

Closing for now — inactive for too long. Please open a new issue if this is still relevant.

github-actions[bot] · 5 months ago

This issue has been automatically locked since it was closed and has not had any activity for 7 days. If you're experiencing a similar issue, please file a new issue and reference this one if it's relevant.

OAuth Authentication Broken in WSL2 - Cannot Login or Use API

Description

Environment

Steps to Reproduce

Expected Behavior

Actual Behavior

Diagnostic Information

Network Connectivity ✅

System Resources ✅

Configuration ✅

Impact

Possible Root Causes

Suggested Fixes

Related Issues

Additional Context

12 Comments

Comparison with Suggested Issues

Issue #18186 - OAuth 400 Error

Issue #20091 - OAuth 500 Error

Issue #13448 - Multi-Session Hang

Why This Issue is Unique

Evidence This is Different

Value of This Issue

⚠️ CRITICAL: Complete Service Outage in WSL2

Severity: P0 (Critical)

Business Impact

What We Need

Why This is P0

Suggested Immediate Actions

Update: Received Auto-Response from Anthropic Support

Fin's Suggested Solutions (All Non-Applicable)

Why These Don't Work

Response Sent to Anthropic

Status

Response to Support Team - DO NOT CLOSE

Current Status: CRITICAL - Service Completely Unusable

Latest Connection Failures (Last 3 Hours)

This is NOT an Inactive Issue

Questions for Engineering

Impact

🚨 CRITICAL UPDATE - API Connection Errors Continuing (2026-01-26)

Final Update: Escalating to Full Refund Request (Issue #21601)

The Irony

Status of All Issues

Next Steps

Update: January 30, 2026 — Chargeback Filed, Still No Human Response

Status: CRITICAL — Zero human engagement after 5+ days

What has happened since filing:

What is now in progress:

The real impact:

Your own support acknowledged:

What I need:

Additional Data Point: Same OAuth → Subscription Linking Bug on Native Linux

My Environment (Native Linux, not WSL2)

Shared Root Cause

What This Means

Workaround (Partial Fix)

Request

Why This Matters

Impact on My Case

Active Chargeback

Related Claude Code issues

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