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Claude Code 2.1.186: MCP Login Straight From the CLI — Even Over SSH

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With 'claude mcp login' and 'claude mcp logout' you can now authenticate MCP servers right in the terminal, no interactive menu required. A new '--no-browser' mode handles SSH. Version 2.1.187 quietly cleans up orphaned worktrees on the side.

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Small releases, big everyday relief. Claude Code 2.1.186 ships a detail that anyone working a lot with MCP servers will appreciate — especially those doing it remotely over SSH.

MCP auth without the menu detour

Until now, signing in to an MCP server meant going through the interactive /mcp menu. With this release you can do it straight from the command line:

  • claude mcp login <name> — signs you in to an MCP server
  • claude mcp logout <name> — signs you back out

Sounds unspectacular, but in practice it’s a real workflow difference. You stay in your shell’s flow, script the authentication if you want, and never have to pop open the interactive UI.

The actual gem is the --no-browser flag: it lets you complete the login flow via stdin redirect even when there’s no browser around — say, on a remote machine you’ve SSH’d into. That’s exactly where MCP auth used to be a pain. On top of that there’s status filtering (press f) in the /workflows agent detail view, so you can quickly narrow long lists down to what you actually care about.

2.1.187: cleaning up after killed agents

Right behind it came 2.1.187 with a fix most people won’t notice — but anyone who’s been stuck in a broken Git worktree will value. When an agent was aborted or killed, locked registrations were left behind under .git/worktrees/. Those orphaned entries are now cleaned up automatically. Fewer mysterious worktree corpses, less manual tidying.

My take

These aren’t headline features — but they’re exactly the kind of update that makes the tool feel grown-up. The more MCP servers you connect, the more often you hit auth friction; the more parallel agents you run, the more likely one leaves a mess in a worktree. Tackling both shows where Anthropic is polishing Claude Code: precisely where power users bump into it every day. Browserless SSH login is one of those things you only miss once you’ve had it — and then never want to give up.

Sources: Claude Code Release v2.1.186, Claude Code CHANGELOG