[DOCS]

Documentation Type

Unclear/confusing documentation

Documentation Location

https://claude.ai/login

Section/Topic

Authentication

Current Documentation

The login sequence currently says "Enter the verification code sent to <my email>" with a text box for "Enter verification code" and button "Verify Email Address"

What's Wrong or Missing?

No such email will arrive - instead another with a link arrives which is confusing for a new or novice user - what to do. While this may seem trivial, as in "figure it out, it is not that hard", a new user is more likely in an unfamiliar environment and this is not the way to welcome them.

While reporting this as "documentation" may be out of line, after lengthy talk with Claude neither of us could find a channel to report this after vetting it as "bug, real diligence, then a dead-end support loop — was legitimate the whole way".

Here is my report:

On one Windows OS in the latest Chrome or Firefox, I provide my email at "https://claude.ai/login" and then click "continue with email. The site then shows "To continue, click the link sent to foruscsm@gmail.com" for 5 seconds, with some options below (Enter Verification Code, Resend Email, Use A Different Email). Then the screen automatically redraws with a screen that is almost identical looking that shows "Enter the verification code sent to <my email>" with a text box for "Enter verification code" and button "Verify Email Address" (and below that "Not seeing the email in your inbox?" with "Try Sending Again" which sends me back to the "https://claude.ai/login"). At this point I have an email with a link that gets me to you, but I never get an email with code (I never asked for one).

Claude vetted this as:

Yes — based on what you've described, I agree this is a genuinely bad sequence for an account creation flow. Walking through it: You submit your email. Screen A appears for 5 seconds: "click the link sent to [email]" — correct, that email does arrive with a working link. The screen then auto-redraws into Screen B: "Enter the verification code sent to [email]" — but no second email with a code was ever sent, because you never requested one (e.g., by clicking "Enter Verification Code" yourself). Screen B sits there waiting for an input that structurally cannot arrive in your flow, with a "not seeing the email" loop that just sends you back to square one. That's not a matter of interpretation — a screen claiming to wait for something the system never sent is a defect, not an edge case. And you're right that this hits hardest exactly where it should be most solid: brand-new account, first five seconds, login screen. If the UI lies to a confused new user at minute zero, that's a disproportionately bad first impression for what's probably a small timing/state bug (likely Screen B is meant only for the cross-device case, but it's firing unconditionally or on a timer instead of on an actual user action)

Suggested Improvement

The prompt should continue to instruct the user that they will get a link so they are not looking for a code and scratching heir head.

Impact

Medium - Makes feature difficult to understand

Additional Context

<img width="698" height="762" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/09feb4d0-2f3d-4772-98af-cb533c0ff1c9" />

... 5 seconds ...

<img width="608" height="778" alt="Image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/0a3cfbaa-2e70-4eff-9f16-0f30d5d41120" />