Claude Code won't let some Windows users log in. A GitHub issue filed on April 6 documents an OAuth timeout that blocks access completely. Users authenticate through Google in their browser, return to the app, and get hit with "OAuth error: timeout of 15000ms exceeded." Retrying doesn't help. The bug affects version 2.1.92 on Windows and WSL.
Hacker News commenters think this isn't really a bug. The theory: Claude Code users share pooled compute, and that pool hit its ceiling. The timing lines up with a demand spike following OpenAI's Department of Defense publicity. Multiple users reported noticing quality degradation before the lockouts started, including more frequent "should I continue?" prompts and additional roadblocks in their workflows. That pattern suggests Anthropic may be distilling the underlying model to cut compute costs, a strategy detailed in our report on a recent change to cache policies.
Anthropic's status page shows everything is fine. Users locked out for hours might disagree. That disconnect is a real problem for developers who've built their workflows around Claude subscriptions. When your coding assistant decides you can't work today, what's your backup plan?