[BUG] macOS desktop app loses auth ~daily on two machines; abandoned sessions remain active server-side

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?

Environment

• Claude desktop app (macOS), version 1.26832.0 (056ee2), built 2026-08-06
• Two machines (MacBook + Mac Studio), both affected independently; both typically sleep overnight
• Claude Max, individual account (no Enterprise/Team session policy); email-code login
• Melbourne, AU (times AEST)

Symptom

Since ~Aug 7, 2026, the desktop app on both Macs requires a full email-code re-login roughly every 24h, usually at first use in the morning.

Evidence this is client-side credential loss, not server-side expiry

• Settings → Account → Active sessions accumulated 16 sessions. Desktop sessions abandoned by the app remained listed as active, some still receiving Updated timestamps 2+ days after creation. The server is not revoking or expiring them.
• One machine produced a clean daily chain: new sessions created Aug 7 3:21 PM → Aug 8 10:38 AM → Aug 9 9:36 AM, each right after the previous stopped updating — while a session from the other machine survived ~2 days in parallel.
• All forced logins (Aug 7–11) occurred on the same build (1.26832.0), so this is not the update-wipes-auth issue.
• Performed "log out of all devices" Aug 11 for a clean baseline; will update whether daily loss recurs with fresh tokens.

Possibly related

#85149 reports refresh-token invalidation on transient DNS failures during macOS DarkWake (CLI). My machines also sleep overnight and fail by morning, so the root cause may be the same class — a failed refresh invalidating the credential rather than retrying — but I have no client logs to confirm the DNS trigger. Happy to collect logs if pointed at the right location for the desktop app.

Expected

The app silently refreshes its token while in use; a transient refresh failure retries rather than discarding a credential the server still honors.

Impact

Passwordless login only + institutional mail filtering (codes take 10–15 min, sometimes arriving expired) → each occurrence costs 10–30 minutes. Daily.

What Should Happen?

Login should refresh seamlessly?

Error Messages/Logs

Steps to Reproduce

N/A

Claude Model

None

Is this a regression?

Yes, this worked in a previous version

Last Working Version

desktop app is constantly updated - this worked a few weeks ago

Claude Code Version

n/a

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

macOS

Terminal/Shell

Terminal.app (macOS)

Additional Information

_No response_