Why did I see 'claude-cli: exit status 1'?

That is the CLI exiting with an error and no readable message — most often because its login expired. Sign back in to the CLI in a terminal (run 'claude', 'codex', or 'agy') and retry. Newer atbridge versions detect this and show a plain-language sign-in message instead of the raw exit status.

Do I need an API key to fix this?

No. A CLI connector uses your own subscription login, not an API key. The fix is to re-run the CLI's own sign-in, never to paste a key into atbridge.

How do I know the CLI is signed in?

Run the CLI once in a terminal and send it a short prompt. If it answers without asking you to log in, it is signed in and atbridge can use it.

When your AI CLI needs to sign in again

In short: a CLI connector runs on your own subscription login, not an API key. If the chat fails with a sign-in error — or a bare claude-cli: exit status 1 — open a terminal, sign back in to the CLI, and retry. Nothing to paste into atbridge.

This page is about a CLI subscription you connected in the atbridge AI Chat — Claude Code (claude), Antigravity (agy), or OpenAI Codex (codex). atbridge runs the CLI you already pay for as the model behind the chat, using the login you set up in that CLI. When that login expires or was never completed, the CLI exits with an error and the chat can’t get a reply.

(If instead atbridge says it can’t find the CLI at all, that’s a different fix — see When atbridge can’t find your AI CLI.)

The fix: sign back in to the CLI

Open a normal terminal (not the atbridge AI Chat) and sign in to the CLI you connected:

claude

Follow the prompts to sign in with your Claude subscription (inside the app you can also type /login). Once it answers a prompt without asking you to log in, you’re set.

codex

agy

Then go back to atbridge AI Chat and send your message again.

Why it happens

Your session expired. These CLIs keep you signed in for a while, then ask you to log in again. atbridge can only use the CLI while it’s signed in.
You never finished signing in. If you installed the CLI but didn’t complete its first-run login, the very first chat will fail until you do.
A different OS user or machine. The login lives with your user account on this computer — signing in elsewhere doesn’t carry over.

Still failing after signing in?

Switch the provider away and back in the AI Chat (or pick the model again) so atbridge starts a fresh CLI session.
Restart Thunderbird. The bridge picks the CLI up cleanly on a fresh start.
Run the CLI once in a terminal and send it a test prompt. If it errors there too, fix the CLI itself first — atbridge can only be as healthy as the CLI it runs.

Still stuck?

Email contact@atbridge.ai with the CLI name (claude, agy, or codex) and the text behind Show details. We usually answer within a day.

Where to go next

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