claude-code - 💡(How to fix) Fix [BUG] Desktop app Claude Code: cached auth state survives quit/relaunch after billing restoration (personal Max)

Preflight Checklist

• I have searched existing issues and this hasn't been reported yet
• This is a single bug report (please file separate reports for different bugs)
• I am using the latest version of Claude Code

What's Wrong?

After resolving a billing issue on a personal Max plan (credit card was successfully charged, subscription restored), Claude Code within the macOS Desktop app continued to show:

Organization access is disabled Your organization's access has been disabled. Contact your admin.

Your organization has disabled Claude subscription access for Claude Code · Use an Anthropic API key instead, or ask your admin to enable access

This error persisted through a full Cmd+Q quit and relaunch of the Desktop app. The standalone Claude Code CLI (terminal) worked fine during this time, and Claude chat in the Desktop app also worked fine — only Claude Code within the Desktop app was affected.

Root Cause

The Desktop app appears to cache the Claude Code entitlement state and does not refresh it on quit/relaunch. The server-side entitlement was correctly restored once billing was fixed (confirmed: standalone CLI worked immediately), but the Desktop app continued serving the stale "disabled" state. A full sign-out and sign-in was required to force a refresh.

The app should refresh its auth/entitlement state on relaunch, or at minimum detect a mismatch and prompt the user to re-authenticate.

Secondary UX Issue

The error references "your organization" and suggests contacting "your admin," but personal Max plans have no organization admin or any toggle to control Claude Code access. The error message should differentiate between personal and team/enterprise plans and suggest signing out/in as a troubleshooting step.

Environment

• OS: macOS
• Plan: Personal Max
• Client: Claude Desktop app (latest as of May 2026)
• Interface: Claude Code panel within the Desktop app (not standalone CLI)
• Standalone Claude Code CLI: Worked fine during the issue — only the Desktop app integration was affected

Workaround

Sign out of the Desktop app completely, then sign back in. This forces a fresh auth handshake that picks up the restored entitlement state.

What Should Happen?

Expected Behavior

• Quitting and relaunching the Desktop app should refresh auth/entitlement state from the server
• Error messaging on personal plans should not reference organization admins or settings that don't exist

Error Messages/Logs

Steps to Reproduce

1. Have a personal Max plan subscription
2. Experience a billing interruption (e.g., expired card, failed payment)
3. Resolve the billing issue — card is charged, subscription shows active
4. Open Claude Code within the macOS Desktop app
5. Observe the "Organization access is disabled" error
6. Quit and relaunch the Desktop app — error persists
7. Sign out and sign back in — error resolves

Claude Model

None

Is this a regression?

I don't know

Last Working Version

No response

Claude Code Version

Claude 1.8555.2 (a476c3) 2026-05-22T23:04:37.000Z

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

macOS

Terminal/Shell

Terminal.app (macOS)

Additional Information

No response