[BUG] GitHub connector shows authorized in 'Authorized GitHub Apps' but never appears in 'Installed GitHub Apps'

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?

GitHub connector shows authorized in 'Authorized GitHub Apps' but never appears in 'Installed GitHub Apps' — toggling the connector off/on re-runs authorization but not installation, resulting in persistent 'Bad credentials' on all API calls."

What Should Happen?

Toggling the GitHub connector on in Claude's settings should result in a fully
working connection — either by reusing a valid existing installation, or, when
no installation exists (as in this case, after it was uninstalled on GitHub's
side), by redirecting through GitHub's actual App installation flow (letting me
choose an account and repository access), not just re-running the OAuth-style
authorization step on its own.

After the connector shows as "on"/connected in Claude's settings, the GitHub
App should also appear under GitHub's own Settings > Installed GitHub Apps,
and all mcp__github__* tool calls (e.g. get_file_contents, create_repository)
should succeed against my repositories instead of returning
"Authentication Failed: Bad credentials".

Claude's UI should not report the connector as "on"/connected if the
underlying GitHub App has no active installation — that mismatch is what made
this hard to diagnose, since everything in Claude's UI implied it was working.

Error Messages/Logs

MCP error -32603: Authentication Failed: Bad credentials

Steps to Reproduce

1. GitHub App "Claude" (owned by anthropics) was already installed on my personal

GitHub account (installed ~3 months prior), with "All repositories" access and
read+write permissions to code/issues/PRs/actions.

1. Every call through Claude's GitHub MCP connector started failing with

"Authentication Failed: Bad credentials" (MCP error -32603).

1. Used the in-app GitHub connector "reconnect" action multiple times — no change.
2. Checked GitHub's own settings directly:

• Settings > Applications > Installed GitHub Apps: "Claude" listed, active,

all-repo access, correct permissions.

• Settings > Applications > Authorized GitHub Apps: "Claude" also listed

separately, "last used within the last 2 weeks."

• Settings > Applications > Authorized OAuth Apps: no Claude entry (expected,

since it's a GitHub App, not a classic OAuth app).
Despite the installation appearing fully healthy, calls still failed.

1. Fully uninstalled the app via Settings > Installed GitHub Apps > Claude >

Danger Zone > Uninstall.

1. Also revoked the separate entry under Settings > Authorized GitHub Apps.
2. In Claude's own settings, there is no explicit install/uninstall control for

the GitHub connector — only an on/off toggle. Toggled it off, then on again.

1. Result: GitHub now shows "Claude" as authorized again under

Authorized GitHub Apps, but it never reappears under Installed GitHub Apps.
Toggling the connector appears to re-run only the OAuth-style authorization
step, never the actual GitHub App installation step (choosing account/repos).

1. All mcp__github__* tool calls continue to fail with the same "Bad credentials"

error in this authorized-but-not-installed state.

Claude Model

Not sure / Multiple models

Is this a regression?

Yes, this worked in a previous version

Last Working Version

_No response_

Claude Code Version

Claude 1.18286.0 (259c3f) 2026-07-02T07:11:03.000Z

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

macOS

Terminal/Shell

Terminal.app (macOS)

Additional Information

_No response_