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Rundock runs your agents through Claude Code, using the sign-in already on your machine. When that Claude Code sign-in expires, the next message fails with an authentication error and Rundock shows a recovery card explaining what to do. This is expected from time to time: Claude Code sessions expire on their own, and Rundock cannot keep them alive. The fix takes under a minute, and your conversations are safe.

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What you will see

A message like this, in the app or in the underlying error: 
Failed to authenticate. API Error: 401
{"type":"error","error":{"type":"authentication_error","message":"Invalid authentication credentials"}}
It means your Claude Code sign-in has ended. It does not mean anything is wrong with Rundock or that you have lost any work.

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How to fix it

  1. Open a terminal.
  2. Run claude. This starts Claude Code and shows whether you are signed in.
  3. If you are already signed in, sign out and back in: 
    claude auth logout
claude auth login
    Follow the prompts to sign in to your Anthropic account.
  4. Return to Rundock and resend your message. It will work normally again.

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Why this happens

Rundock does not store your Anthropic credentials. It relies entirely on the Claude Code sign-in on your machine, the same one you use when you run claude directly. When that sign-in expires (or you have signed in elsewhere), Claude Code rejects the request with a 401, and Rundock surfaces it as the recovery card above. Because the sign-in lives with Claude Code, the fix also lives there: re-running claude and signing in refreshes the session for both Claude Code and Rundock.

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Still stuck?

  • Confirm Claude Code itself works: run claude in a terminal and send it a message. If that also fails to authenticate, the issue is with the Claude Code sign-in, not Rundock.
  • Check your sign-in status directly with claude auth status.
  • If claude works in the terminal but Rundock still shows the error, fully quit and reopen Rundock so it picks up the refreshed session.