thedotmack/claude-mem · error · Error

GitHub CLI is not authenticated. Run "gh auth login". ${auth

Error message

GitHub CLI is not authenticated. Run "gh auth login".
${auth.stderr || auth.stdout}

What it means

Thrown by checkPrerequisites() when `gh auth status` exits non-zero. gh is present but not authenticated, so every subsequent gh api/pr call would fail. The message embeds gh's own auth-status output so the user sees the exact token state.

Source

Thrown at scripts/pr-babysit-status.ts:141

    const message = error instanceof Error ? error.message : String(error);
    throw new Error(`Could not parse ${label} JSON: ${message}`);
  }
}

function checkPrerequisites() {
  const git = runCommand(['git', 'rev-parse', '--is-inside-work-tree']);
  if (git.exitCode !== 0 || git.stdout.trim() !== 'true') {
    throw new Error('Not in a git repository. Run this from a checked-out repo.');
  }

  const ghVersion = runCommand(['gh', '--version']);
  if (ghVersion.exitCode !== 0) {
    throw new Error('GitHub CLI is not available. Install gh and try again.');
  }

  const auth = runCommand(['gh', 'auth', 'status']);
  if (auth.exitCode !== 0) {
    throw new Error(`GitHub CLI is not authenticated. Run "gh auth login".\n${auth.stderr || auth.stdout}`.trim());
  }
}

function targetArgs(prArg?: string): string[] {
  return prArg ? [prArg] : [];
}

function fetchPr(prArg?: string): PullRequest {
  const fields = [
    'number',
    'title',
    'url',
    'headRefOid',
    'baseRefName',
    'state',
    'isDraft',
    'mergeable',
    'mergeStateStatus',

View on GitHub (pinned to d768ba3643)

Solutions

Run `gh auth login` interactively (or `gh auth login --with-token < token.txt`) and re-run the script.
If using an enterprise host, run `gh auth login --hostname <host>`.
If the token was revoked, generate a new one and re-login.
Confirm with `gh auth status` that it reports active before retrying.

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

const a = runCommand(['gh', 'auth', 'status']);
if (a.exitCode !== 0) {
  console.error('Run `gh auth login` first.');
  process.exit(1);
}

Prevention

Run `gh auth login` (or `gh auth login --with-token`) before invoking the script.
For enterprise hosts use `gh auth login --hostname <host>`.
Refresh tokens before they expire; check `gh auth status` in CI periodically.

When it happens

Trigger: gh was never logged in. The stored token expired (OAuth) or was revoked. The token lacks a host mapping (enterprise vs github.com). gh auth status needs network to validate and the host is unreachable, returning non-zero. A token-keyring that is locked.

Common situations: First run on a new machine. A long-lived CI runner whose token expired. Switching between github.com and an enterprise host without `gh auth switch`. A revoked PAT used via GH_TOKEN.

Understand the failure class

Authentication and authorization failures — expired tokens, bad credentials, and missing scopes.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of thedotmack/claude-mem@d768ba3643 (2026-08-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/e967e00bd57003be. Report an issue: GitHub.