[BUG] Freshly installed Claude Code ignores settings.json

[cjpeterein]

Preflight Checklist

• [x] I have searched existing issues and this hasn't been reported yet
• [x] This is a single bug report (please file separate reports for different bugs)
• [x] I am using the latest version of Claude Code

What's Wrong?

This breaks new users in a corporate environment behind a proxy (ex: LiteLLM).

Maybe related to #13663

If you're initially installing 2.0.65 or later without having ever run a previous version (so no ~/.claude.json exists), the first run of claude doesn't pick up the environment variables from settings.json. My ~/.claude/settings.json is configured with ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL and ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN pointing at a LiteLLM instance. On a "fresh install" these settings are ignored on initial run, resulting in the prompt to "Select login method":

Claude Code can be used with your Claude subscription or billed based on API usage through your Console account.

 Select login method:

 ❯ 1. Claude account with subscription · Pro, Max, Team, or Enterprise

   2. Anthropic Console account · API usage billing

What Should Happen?

With ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL and ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN set in ~/.claude/settings.json, the initial run of claude should skip the prompt for the login method.

Error Messages/Logs

Steps to Reproduce

Keep a backup of your .claude.json and restore it later. cp ~/.claude.json ~/.claude.json.keep

1. rm ~/.claude.json
2. install specific version
3. run claude

broken = prompts for theme setup (expected) and login method (doesn't use settings.json) works = prompts for theme setup, shows security note, and asks "Do you trust the files in this folder"

Results: 2.0.75 broken 2.0.74 broken 2.0.73 broken 2.0.72 broken 2.0.71 broken 2.0.67 broken 2.0.66 broken 2.0.65 broken 2.0.64 works 2.0.63 Does Not Exist 2.0.62 works 2.0.56 works

Claude Model

Sonnet (default)

Is this a regression?

Yes, this worked in a previous version

Last Working Version

2.0.64

Claude Code Version

2.0.75 (Claude Code)

Platform

AWS Bedrock

Operating System

Ubuntu/Debian Linux

Terminal/Shell

Other

Additional Information

I found 2 workarounds: a) roll back to a previous version (2.0.64 or earlier), run claude through the configuration prompts (~/.claude.json now exists), run claude update to get the latest version. Latest version now works. b) temporarily set ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL and ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN in the shell and a fresh install and first run of 2.0.67 works.

Maybe related: The claude update process wants to stop on 2.0.65. Prior versions upgrade to 2.0.65 and another upgrade run is required to upgrade 2.0.65 to latest (2.0.67).

Edited to add:

• cvbnt provided a third workaround which I confirmed works for me: edit ~/.claude.json, set “hasCompletedOnboarding”: true, claude skips login
• up to 2.0.75 is also still broken

[github-actions[bot]]

Found 3 possible duplicate issues:

1. https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues/13663
2. https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues/4714
3. https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues/13770

This issue will be automatically closed as a duplicate in 3 days.

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🤖 Generated with Claude Code

[cvbnt]

edit .claude.json，“hasCompletedOnboarding”: true，It can skip login

[cjpeterein]

edit .claude.json，“hasCompletedOnboarding”: true，It can skip login

Confirmed. This is another workaround.