The active OpenWork Cloud account changed while reconnecting

Error message

The active OpenWork Cloud account changed while reconnecting. Try again in this workspace.

What it means

waitForFreshMcpAuthorization polls for a freshly authorized MCP connection after a browser OAuth callback. Before each poll (and after the async listConnections await) it re-checks isScopeCurrent(); if the active OpenWork Cloud account changed mid-reconnect, continuing could attach the new account's connections to the old scope, so it throws immediately. This is a stale-scope guard, not an auth failure.

Source

Thrown at apps/app/src/react-app/domains/session/surface/mcp-chat-reconnect.ts:50

  connectionId: string
  connectionName: string
  previousConnectedAt: string | null
  listConnections: () => Promise<DenExternalMcpConnection[]>
  isScopeCurrent: () => boolean
  timeoutMs?: number
  intervalMs?: number
  now?: () => number
  sleep?: (milliseconds: number) => Promise<void>
}): Promise<DenExternalMcpConnection> {
  const timeoutMs = input.timeoutMs ?? CHAT_MCP_RECONNECT_TIMEOUT_MS
  const intervalMs = input.intervalMs ?? CHAT_MCP_RECONNECT_POLL_INTERVAL_MS
  const now = input.now ?? Date.now
  const sleep = input.sleep ?? ((milliseconds) => new Promise((resolve) => window.setTimeout(resolve, milliseconds)))
  const startedAt = now()

  while (now() - startedAt < timeoutMs) {
    if (!input.isScopeCurrent()) {
      throw new Error("The active OpenWork Cloud account changed while reconnecting. Try again in this workspace.")
    }
    try {
      const connections = await input.listConnections()
      if (!input.isScopeCurrent()) {
        throw new Error("The active OpenWork Cloud account changed while reconnecting. Try again in this workspace.")
      }
      const connection = connections.find((entry) => entry.id === input.connectionId)
      if (connection && hasFreshMcpAuthorization(connection, input.previousConnectedAt)) return connection
    } catch (error) {
      if (error instanceof Error && error.message.startsWith("The active OpenWork Cloud account changed")) throw error
      // A transient list failure should not turn a successful browser callback
      // into a false failure. Keep polling until the bounded timeout.
    }
    await sleep(intervalMs)
  }

  throw new Error(`Authorization for ${input.connectionName} did not finish. Complete it in the browser, then try reconnecting again.`)
}

View on GitHub (pinned to 2b7df46e8a)

Solutions

Retry the reconnect from scratch in the (now current) workspace, as the message advises — the poll state is bound to the previous account.
Ensure only one cloud account session is active, or complete the OAuth flow without switching accounts mid-way.
If this happens without any user action, check for multiple tabs/windows sharing the account store and triggering account refreshes.

Example fix

// before
const connection = await handleMcpReconnect(input); // throws if account flips
// after
try {
  const connection = await handleMcpReconnect(input);
} catch (e) {
  if (e instanceof Error && e.message.includes("active OpenWork Cloud account changed")) {
    showToast("Account changed — press Reconnect again");
    return;
  }
  throw e;
}

Defensive patterns

Strategy: retry

Validate before calling

if (!input.isScopeCurrent()) {
  showToast("Account changed — restart the reconnect");
  return;
}
await handleMcpReconnect(input);

Type guard

function isScopeChangedError(e: unknown): e is Error {
  return e instanceof Error && e.message.startsWith("The active OpenWork Cloud account changed");
}

Try / catch

try {
  await handleMcpReconnect(input);
} catch (e) {
  if (isScopeChangedError(e)) {
    showToast("Account changed — press Reconnect again");
    return; // do not blanket-retry: scope is stale
  }
  throw e;
}

Prevention

Don't switch or sign out of cloud accounts while an OAuth reconnect is pending.
Close duplicate tabs that share the account store during auth flows.
Treat this error as restart-the-flow, not retry-in-place — the poller's scope is permanently stale.

When it happens

Trigger: During the reconnect polling loop, the user (or another tab/window) signs out or switches the active cloud account, making isScopeCurrent() false either right before a poll iteration or after the awaited listConnections call resolves.

Common situations: User switches accounts in another tab while waiting for the OAuth browser flow; session restored in a different profile; automated account switching during long-running reconnects.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of different-ai/openwork@2b7df46e8a (2026-09-01). Data as JSON: /api/errors/46c05860981cdc58. Report an issue: GitHub.