stablyai/orca · warning · Error

A Claude account switch is in progress. Try again after it f

Error message

A Claude account switch is in progress. Try again after it finishes.

What it means

First of four identical-message guards. Thrown at the preflight of one pty spawn controller when isClaudeLaunchCommand(args.command) is true AND the module-level switchInProgress flag in live-pty-gate.ts is true. switchInProgress is set by beginClaudeAuthSwitch and cleared by endClaudeAuthSwitch — it marks a Claude account switch mid-flight during which spawning a new Claude CLI would inherit half-rotated credentials.

Source

Thrown at src/main/ipc/pty.ts:4491

        await assertFolderWorkspacePtyPathUsable(args.worktreeId)
      }
      const cwd = resolvePtySpawnStartupCwd(args.worktreeId, args.cwd)
      const provider = getProvider(args.connectionId)
      const freshSpawnRecovery = preAdoptedStablePane
        ? undefined
        : recoverFreshSpawnProviderRouting(
            provider,
            args.connectionId,
            args.sessionId,
            args.isNewSession
          )
      if (freshSpawnRecovery) {
        await freshSpawnRecovery
      }
      const isClaudeLaunch =
        !preAdoptedStablePane && !args.connectionId && isClaudeLaunchCommand(args.command)
      if (isClaudeLaunch && isClaudeAuthSwitchInProgress()) {
        throw new Error('A Claude account switch is in progress. Try again after it finishes.')
      }
      // Why: runtime-created terminals carry no renderer-computed projectRuntime; resolve from worktreeId to honor the project's Windows runtime.
      const terminalRuntimeOptions =
        process.platform === 'win32' && !args.connectionId
          ? resolveLocalWindowsTerminalRuntimeOptions({
              requestedShellOverride: undefined,
              settings: getSettings?.(),
              projectRuntime: resolveLocalProjectRuntimeForWorktreeId(store, args.worktreeId),
              fallbackHostShell: process.env.COMSPEC || 'powershell.exe'
            })
          : { shellOverride: undefined, terminalWindowsWslDistro: null }
      const daemonShellOverride = terminalRuntimeOptions.shellOverride
      const isDaemonHostSpawn =
        !args.connectionId &&
        !(provider instanceof LocalPtyProvider) &&
        !routesFreshSpawnsToLocalProvider(provider)
      const callerRequestedSessionId = args.sessionId?.trim()
      const requestedSessionId =

View on GitHub (pinned to 1136503c6a)

Solutions

1. Retry the spawn after the switch completes — the message is literal.
2. If the error persists, the switch flag may be stuck: ensure beginClaudeAuthSwitch/endClaudeAuthSwitch are wrapped so endClaudeAuthSwitch always runs (try/finally).
3. Gate the UI: disable the 'new Claude terminal' action while isClaudeAuthSwitchInProgress() returns true.
4. For a stuck flag, restart the main process to reset the module-level boolean.

Example fix

// before
beginClaudeAuthSwitch()
await doSwitch()
endClaudeAuthSwitch()

// after — guarantee the flag clears even on throw
beginClaudeAuthSwitch()
try {
  await doSwitch()
} finally {
  endClaudeAuthSwitch()
}

import { isClaudeAuthSwitchInProgress } from '../claude-accounts/live-pty-gate'

function canSpawnClaudeNow(): boolean {
  return !isClaudeAuthSwitchInProgress()
}

function isClaudeAuthSwitchInProgressError(err: unknown): boolean {
  return err instanceof Error && err.message === 'A Claude account switch is in progress. Try again after it finishes.'
}

try {
  await spawnPty(args)
} catch (err) {
  if (isClaudeAuthSwitchInProgressError(err)) {
    // surface as 'please retry' — do not count as a hard failure
    return { kind: 'retry' }
  }
  throw err
}

When it happens

Trigger: Launching a Claude command (detected by isClaudeLaunchCommand) while a managed Claude account switch is running. isClaudeLaunch requires no preAdoptedStablePane and no connectionId (i.e. a fresh local Claude pane), then checks isClaudeAuthSwitchInProgress().

Common situations: User clicked 'switch Claude account' and immediately opened a new Claude terminal; programmatic switch (settings sync, account picker) racing a workspace-restore spawn; switch that crashed without calling endClaudeAuthSwitch leaving the flag stuck true.

Related errors

• This Claude launch defines explicit Anthropic auth environme
• The Codex account credentials for this session are temporari
• The selected Codex account credentials are temporarily unava
• token is required
• GitHub request failed ${res.status} ${res.statusText}: ${bod

AI-assisted analysis of stablyai/orca@1136503c6a (2026-08-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/8262de4eb7af9177. Report an issue: GitHub.