kohen: claude-key — Claude Code on the API key when the login is what failed

2026-10-15 21:08Z: the daemon's proactive OAuth refresh failed (no
incident at Anthropic; most likely a cross-process race on the
single-use refresh token), the credential was dropped, and every
session on the VM showed "Login expired · Please run /login" until a
browser login took at 23:50Z — two "Login interrupted" first. The gate
was off; the fallback of 4acd56c4 could not help, because it is the
same OAuth credential.

scripts/claude-key starts Claude Code on the Anthropic API key from
~/.config/shorashim/upstream_keys (read at launch, never written),
direct to Anthropic whatever settings.json says. Proven:
`claude-key auth status` → authMethod api_key, apiKeySource
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY; a -p run from a directory with a dead gate armed in
project settings answered. KOHEN.md: the login recovery (claude-key,
`claude auth login` from the shell, `auth status --text`).

Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5.1 <noreply@anthropic.com>

KOHEN.md

@@ -633,6 +633,10 @@ while the gate is armed there. Three tools, all in `scripts/` (install to
 claude-direct             # start Claude Code straight to Anthropic, whatever
                           # settings.json says (a --settings JSON on the command
                           # line outranks every settings file); OAuth as usual
+claude-key                # the same, on the Anthropic API KEY from
+                          # ~/.config/shorashim/upstream_keys instead of the
+                          # subscription's OAuth token: no browser, no /login.
+                          # Billed to the API console account, not the Max plan.
 claude-bikoret            # start behind the gate; probes the gate first and, if
                           # it does not answer, says so and starts claude-direct.
                           # BIKORET_STRICT=1 claude-bikoret refuses instead.
@@ -643,10 +647,28 @@ bikoret-settings on|off|status
                           # it, not the builder; `off` is the recovery.
 ```
 
-Order of recovery: `claude-direct` (always works), then `bikoret-settings
-off` if background sessions must also recover, then fix the pod
-(`curl -s https://bikoret.ch/kodesh/health` names the failed check), then
-`bikoret-settings on` and `claude-bikoret` again.
+Order of recovery: `claude-direct` (always works while the OAuth token
+is good), then `bikoret-settings off` if background sessions must also
+recover, then fix the pod (`curl -s https://bikoret.ch/kodesh/health`
+names the failed check), then `bikoret-settings on` and `claude-bikoret`
+again.
+
+**When it is the login, not the gate.** Every session on the VM shares
+one OAuth credential (`~/.claude/.credentials.json`); the access token
+lives eight hours and the daemon refreshes it ahead of time. On
+2026-10-15 21:08Z that refresh failed with no incident at Anthropic
+(most likely two processes racing on the single-use refresh token), the
+credential was dropped, and every session said "Login expired · Please
+run /login" for 2 h 43 min. The browser flow from a remote shell is
+fragile ("Login interrupted" twice before it took). Recovery:
+
+```bash
+claude-key                # work NOW on the API key; nothing to log in to
+claude auth login         # from the shell, not inside a session: prints the
+                          # URL, paste the code it gives back; `--console`
+                          # signs in to the API account instead of the plan
+claude auth status --text # says which credential a launch would use
+```
 
 ### The second scroll — *Mishneh haTorah*