CLAUDE_CODE_DISABLE_AUTH_REFRESH_LOCK

Updated October 13, 2026 by Alex Sorokoletov

CLAUDE_CODE_DISABLE_AUTH_REFRESH_LOCK is a Claude Code environment variable: Turns off the lock that coordinates a GCP or AWS credential refresh across processes. With the lock on, one process refreshes and opens a single login browser instead of each process opening its own. Added in v2.1.286. Added in v2.1.286 and still present in v2.1.294. It is listed in the official reference.

How to set it

For one session, export it in the shell that starts Claude Code:

export CLAUDE_CODE_DISABLE_AUTH_REFRESH_LOCK=<value>
claude

To apply it to every session, add it to the env object of a settings file:

// ~/.claude/settings.json
{
  "env": {
    "CLAUDE_CODE_DISABLE_AUTH_REFRESH_LOCK": "<value>"
  }
}

Release notes that mention it

• Claude Code Version Tracker: Undocumented Env Vars, Feature Gates & Models
• claude-code-env-vars-v2-1-286

Related variables

• CLAUDE_CODE_HOST_AUTH_REFRESH_TIMEOUT_MS
• CLAUDE_CODE_SDK_HAS_HOST_AUTH_REFRESH
• ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN: Alternative bearer token; takes priority over API key.
• CLAUDE_BG_AUTH_SNAPSHOT_PATH: Path for snapshotting background session auth credentials to disk.
• CLAUDE_CODE_ENABLE_PROXY_AUTH_HELPER: Set to "1" to enable the proxy auth helper subsystem.
• CLAUDE_CODE_OAUTH_REFRESH_TOKEN: OAuth refresh token.
• CLAUDE_CODE_PROXY_AUTH_HELPER_TTL_MS: Cache TTL for helper-returned credentials.
• CLAUDE_CODE_SDK_HAS_OAUTH_REFRESH: Signals to the Claude Code runtime that the SDK caller has already provided an OAuth refresh token.

Frequently asked questions

All variables, searchable: Claude Code environment variables.