--channels ignored with 'Channels are not currently available' despite org channelsEnabled ON (Team plan)

Environment

• Claude Code: v2.1.81 (native install, macOS arm64, Darwin 23.6.0)
• Plan: Team (claude.ai org: Barkibu)
• Auth: claude auth login --claudeai (confirmed via claude auth status → authMethod: "claude.ai")
• Plugin: discord@claude-plugins-official installed at user scope
• Bun: v1.3.11

Org settings (all confirmed)

• "Allow channel notifications" toggle: ON (claude.ai → Admin settings → Claude Code → Channels)
• Managed settings (settings.json): {"channelsEnabled": true} uploaded as v2
• No conflicting managed settings

Steps to reproduce

1. claude auth login --claudeai → browser OAuth completes successfully
2. /plugin install discord@claude-plugins-official → installed, /reload-plugins → loaded
3. /discord:configure <token> → token saved to ~/.claude/channels/discord/.env
4. Exit session, then: claude --channels plugin:discord@claude-plugins-official

Expected

Green banner: "Listening for channel messages from: plugin:discord@claude-plugins-official"

Actual

--channels ignored (plugin:discord@claude-plugins-official)
Channels are not currently available

What I've tried

• Launching with and without ANTHROPIC_API_KEY in the environment (env -u ANTHROPIC_API_KEY claude --channels ...)
• claude auth login --claudeai (browser OAuth confirmed, org = Barkibu)
• Enabling the UI toggle at Admin settings → Claude Code → Channels
• Uploading {"channelsEnabled": true} to managed settings (confirmed v2 saved)
• Launching from different directories
• Desktop app (Claude for Mac) — same result, channels don't activate

Anomaly

During initial setup, one CLI session DID activate channels — it showed the green "Listening for channel messages" banner and the Discord bot successfully completed pairing (replied with a code, accepted /discord:access pair <code>). However, this was not reproducible in any subsequent session. Every new session since then shows "Channels are not currently available."

Additional context

• claude auth status output:

``json
{
"loggedIn": true,
"authMethod": "claude.ai",
"apiProvider": "firstParty",
"apiKeySource": "ANTHROPIC_API_KEY"
}
``

• The Discord MCP server does start (bot appears online in Discord, responds to pairing DMs), but channel messages are never forwarded to the Claude session.