Claude Code: Please run /login · API Error: 401 OAuth token has expired

What it means

Your saved login is no longer valid. A revoked token means you signed out everywhere or an admin removed access; an expired token means the automatic refresh failed mid-session. The revoked variant reads OAuth token revoked · Please run /login. In -p mode and the Agent SDK it reads Failed to authenticate. API Error: 401 OAuth token has expired.

Causes

• Signing out everywhere or an admin removing access
• Automatic token refresh failing mid-session
• An expired or revoked long-lived token in CLAUDE_CODE_OAUTH_TOKEN
• An inaccurate system clock (token validation depends on correct timestamps)

How to fix it

1. 1
   Fix 1.

   Run /login at the Claude Code prompt to sign in again.

   Slash command

   Copy

   /login

2. 2
   Fix 2.

   For automation that cannot sign in interactively, authenticate with ANTHROPIC_API_KEY or generate a long-lived token.

   Terminal

   Copy

   claude setup-token

3. 3
   Fix 3.

   If you use CLAUDE_CODE_OAUTH_TOKEN, generate a fresh token with claude setup-token and restart with it, or unset the variable and run /login.

4. 4
   Fix 4.

   If prompted to log in repeatedly, check your system clock; on macOS run claude doctor and unlock the login Keychain if it reports macOS Keychain is not writable.

   Snippet

   Copy

   security unlock-keychain ~/Library/Keychains/login.keychain-db