OAuth token not persisted — Max subscribers forced to /login every session for months

Summary

OAuth tokens are not being persisted to disk between sessions, forcing Max subscribers to run /login at the start of every single session. This has been a known, recurring issue for months with no resolution. Paying customers are losing time daily to a broken authentication flow.

What happens

1. Start Claude Code → 401 "Invalid authentication credentials"
2. Run /login → "Login successful"
3. Session works fine
4. Close session, open new one → back to step 1

The credentials file (~/.claude/.credentials.json) does not exist between sessions. The token appears to be held in memory only and never written to disk, or is written and then invalidated server-side before the next session.

What I've tried

• rm ~/.claude/.credentials.json && claude login — fixes it temporarily, same issue next session
• rm -rf ~/.claude/.credentials.json ~/.config/claude-code/auth.json — neither file exists anymore, problem persists
• This has been happening repeatedly over multiple weeks

Environment

• macOS (Darwin 24.6.0)
• Claude Code CLI (latest)
• Claude Max subscription (active, correctly shown on welcome screen)

Impact

This is not a one-time inconvenience. Every session starts with a broken auth error, context about what the user was working on is lost, and time is wasted. For a paid product, this is unacceptable — especially when the only suggested workaround (API keys) routes around the subscription the user is already paying for.

Related issues

This is a recurring, unresolved pattern across many reports:

• #40473 — 401 after successful /login, token not persisting (12+ hours, 10+ attempts)
• #44930 — claude login fails with 401, no browser flow, no recovery path after 34+ hours
• #33811 — OAuth token expired, login/logout/all commands fail, no recovery path
• #33879 — API Error 401, OAuth token issue
• #17966 — Re-authentication causes 401, subscription not recognized
• #44264 — Claude OAuth is down
• #44092 — Authentication issue
• #15007 — /login does not recover active session after token expiration

None of these have been resolved. This is not an edge case — it is a systemic failure in the OAuth token lifecycle that is actively degrading the experience for paying subscribers.