[BUG] OAuth tokens expire silently, breaking unattended automation (LaunchAgent/cron)

Preflight Checklist

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

What's Wrong?

Claude Code authenticates via OAuth tokens that expire. When running claude in an unattended/headless context (LaunchAgent, cron job, CI), there's no way to detect or recover from expiry — the process just fails with a 401 and the scheduled job is silently skipped.

Reproduction:

1. Log in via claude auth login
2. Set up a LaunchAgent or cron job that runs claude on a schedule
3. Wait for the OAuth token to expire
4. Observe: the scheduled job fails silently with 401 OAuth token has expired

Impact:
The only workaround is to use ANTHROPIC_API_KEY instead of OAuth. But API key usage is billed at pay-per token rates — meaning users on Max subscriptions are forced to pay twice to use a basic automation pattern that their subscription should cover.

What Should Happen?

• Tokens should be automatically refreshed when a refresh token is available
• Headless/daemon token flows should produce longer-lived or non-expiring credentials
• At minimum, a clear error + notification path so the failure isn't silent

Error Messages/Logs

Failed to authenticate. API Error: 401 {"type":"error","error":{"type":"authentication_error","message":"OAuth token has expired.
   Please obtain a new token or refresh your existing token."},"request_id":"req_011CZPvHgEuvUB7be9op9hJ2"}

Steps to Reproduce

Run an automation that uses claude on a headless machine

Claude Model

Not sure / Multiple models

Is this a regression?

Yes, this worked in a previous version

Last Working Version

N/A - this just started happening in the last week or two

Claude Code Version

2.1.83 (Claude Code)

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

macOS

Terminal/Shell

Non-interactive/CI environment

Additional Information

_No response_