---
title: "Claude Code Won't Log In (Warp & iTerm2) — Corrupt Keychain Credential"
domain: troubleshooting
category: claude-code
tags: [claude-code, authentication, oauth, keychain, macos, warp, iterm2]
status: published
created: 2026-06-09
updated: 2026-06-09
---

# Claude Code Won't Log In (Warp & iTerm2) — Corrupt Keychain Credential

## Symptom
Claude Code (v2.1.169) would not log in from Warp. The login flow never completed.
The same failure occurred in iTerm2, which ruled out a terminal-specific cause.

## Investigation path
1. **Version** — `claude --version` = 2.1.169. Already well past the v2.1.105–2.1.107
   bracketed-paste regression (fixed in 2.1.108), so the known paste bug was not it.
2. **Environment / overrides** — none of `ANTHROPIC_API_KEY`, `CLAUDE_CODE_OAUTH_TOKEN`,
   `ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN`, `ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL`, or `CLAUDE_CODE_PATH` were set, so no stale
   key or shim was hijacking auth. System clock was correct (rules out token-time skew).
3. **Account record** — `~/.claude.json` had `oauthAccount` and `userID` populated
   (`maj.linux@gmail.com`), i.e. Claude Code believed it already had an account.
4. **Keychain** — a `Claude Code-credentials` generic-password item existed, but
   `security find-generic-password -s "Claude Code-credentials" -w` returned an
   **empty / non-JSON payload** (failed to parse). The credential entry was present but
   its secret was empty/corrupt.

## Root cause
A **corrupt (empty) Keychain credential** named `Claude Code-credentials`. Claude Code saw
an existing credential, tried to read/refresh it, failed to parse it, and wedged *before* it
could start a clean login. Because the account also existed in `~/.claude.json`, the CLI kept
trying to use the broken credential instead of prompting fresh auth. This is system-level
(Keychain), which is why it reproduced across both Warp and iTerm2.

## The fix
```bash
# 1. Remove the broken credential
security delete-generic-password -s "Claude Code-credentials"

# 2. Re-authenticate
claude            # then /login, or:
claude /login
```
If `/login` still hangs after that, also clear the stale account record and retry:
```bash
cp ~/.claude.json ~/.claude.json.bak
python3 -c "import json,pathlib; f=pathlib.Path.home()/'.claude.json'; d=json.load(open(f)); d.pop('oauthAccount',None); json.dump(d,open(f,'w'),indent=2)"
claude /login
```
Resolved on step 1+2 — login succeeded after deleting the corrupt Keychain item.

## Notes
- On macOS, Claude Code credentials live in the **login Keychain** (`Claude Code-credentials`),
  not in `~/.claude/.credentials.json` (that path is Linux/other).
- Quick triage command to spot the same failure again:
  ```bash
  security find-generic-password -s "Claude Code-credentials" -w | python3 -m json.tool
  ```
  If that errors with "Expecting value", the stored secret is empty/corrupt — delete and re-login.

## Related
- Config: `~/.claude.json` (oauthAccount, userID), login Keychain item `Claude Code-credentials`
- Other Claude Code note: `claude-mem-setting-sources-empty-arg.md`