majorlinux 34d9ee42b1 Add wiki: Claude Code keychain prompt keeps reappearing on macOS

New troubleshooting article for the recurring 'security wants to access
Claude Code-credentials' prompt that persists even after Always Allow
(ACL invalidation on binary-signature change / token refresh / post-boot
churn). Covers triage, the reset-and-relogin fix, and the file-based
credentials workaround with its plaintext tradeoff. Registered in
SUMMARY + troubleshooting index; cross-linked with the corrupt-credential
login-failure article (distinct symptom).

2026-06-15 20:12:11 -04:00

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Claude Code Keychain Prompt Keeps Reappearing on macOS (ACL Invalidation)

Symptom

A macOS dialog repeatedly pops up:

security wants to access key "Claude Code-credentials" in your keychain. To allow this, enter the "login" keychain password. — [Always Allow] [Deny] [Allow]

The tell-tale sign: it comes back even after clicking "Always Allow" — the usual "trust forever" button doesn't make it stop. Login still works; it's the permission prompt that won't quiet down. This is distinct from Claude Code won't log in, where the stored credential is corrupt and login itself fails.

Cause

Claude Code stores its OAuth token in the macOS login keychain as Claude Code-credentials, read via /usr/bin/security. macOS binds an "Always Allow" grant (the keychain item's ACL) to the code-signing identity of the requesting binary. That grant is silently invalidated when:

Claude Code updates — the new binary's signature no longer matches the saved ACL. This is the most common trigger (see claude-code issues #48162, #9403).
The credential item is recreated on token refresh — wipes the ACL.
Post-reboot keychain churn — right after boot, the just-unlocked login keychain plus a concurrent token refresh can race ahead of the ACL settling, producing a burst of prompts that stops once a clean refresh completes.

It is not a lock-timeout issue if security show-keychain-info reports no-timeout (below).

Triage (non-destructive — these do not trigger a prompt)

# Confirm the item exists (metadata only; no secret read)
security find-generic-password -l "Claude Code-credentials" | grep -E "svce|acct"

# Confirm the login keychain isn't auto-locking
security show-keychain-info ~/Library/Keychains/login.keychain-db
# -> "no-timeout" means it won't relock; so recurring prompts = ACL invalidation, not locking

Fixes

One-off burst (e.g. right after a reboot)

Click Always Allow (not Allow) once a clean token refresh has completed. With a no-timeout keychain the grant then holds, and the post-boot prompt storm usually self-clears within a minute. Observed exactly this on MajorAir 2026-06-15 — a reboot triggered a burst that stopped on its own.

Keeps returning after updates (durable) — reset the credential

Deleting and re-creating the item rebinds a fresh ACL to the current binary. Costs one re-login.

security delete-generic-password -s "Claude Code-credentials"
# then re-authenticate inside Claude Code: /login   (or relaunch `claude`)

Bypass the keychain entirely (workaround)

Claude Code falls back to ~/.claude/.credentials.json in non-GUI contexts (SSH, tmux). On a local Mac this can be repurposed to stop keychain prompts for good:

# pipe straight to the file — never echo the token into a shared terminal
security find-generic-password -s "Claude Code-credentials" -w > ~/.claude/.credentials.json
chmod 600 ~/.claude/.credentials.json
security delete-generic-password -s "Claude Code-credentials"

Caveats:

Token is then plaintext at rest (mode 600) instead of encrypted in the keychain.
A future Claude Code update may rewrite the keychain item.
GUI-session behaviour for the file fallback is less documented than the SSH/tmux case — verify it holds for your setup before relying on it.
Do not substitute CLAUDE_CODE_OAUTH_TOKEN — it is known to delete credentials on exit (issue #37512).

Notes

Same keychain item as the corrupt-credential login failure; if login itself breaks, see the related article.
Always redirect -w output straight to a file — never into a terminal whose scrollback feeds shared context.

Claude Code Won't Log In (Warp & iTerm2) — Corrupt Keychain Credential
Config: ~/.claude.json, login keychain item Claude Code-credentials
First observed: MajorAir, 2026-06-15 (post-reboot prompt burst; self-cleared)

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