Claude Code
Claude Code is the one agent whose authentication Coldtea manages for you. For every other CLI you sign in yourself, in the agent's own pane. For Claude you add and manage accounts from a settings screen, and Coldtea keeps them signed in and switches between them.
There are two places Claude credentials live, and they do different jobs:
- Local accounts: the Claude Code logins you use to run agents in visible panes on your machine.
- Cloud credentials: an API key or a subscription token stored in Coldtea so background and cloud runs can use Claude without your local login.
This page covers both.
Local Claude accounts
Open Settings, then Agents, to find your local Claude Code logins. If you used Claude Code before installing Coldtea, your existing login is already listed. Coldtea reuses it rather than replacing it.
Add an account
Choose Add account. Coldtea opens a sign-in drawer and starts the Claude login for you. Finish the sign-in in the browser tab that opens. If your browser shows a code to copy back, paste it into the drawer and sign in. Most logins finish in the browser without a code.
You cannot add an account until Claude Code is installed and Coldtea can find it. If the button stays disabled, install the CLI first (see Connect agents).
Manage accounts
Each account shows whether it is connected, and which one is your default. The default sorts to the top.
You can:
- Make an account the default, so new Claude panes use it.
- Sign in again when an account has dropped.
- Rename an account to something you recognize.
- Remove an account, after a confirmation.
Rename and remove apply only to accounts you added here. Your existing Claude Code login stays put.
Quota switching
When a Claude pane hits a subscription usage limit mid-conversation, Coldtea shows a banner in that pane naming the account that ran out and, when Claude reports one, when the limit resets.
If you have another Claude account signed in, Coldtea can hand the conversation over to it and carry on where the first account stopped. If Claude is still working when you ask to switch, Coldtea waits for it to finish the turn first, so nothing is handed over half-written.
You can also switch on purpose. Select the account name in the pane header and pick another signed-in account. If there is no other account, the switcher offers to add one.
Cloud credentials for Claude
Background and cloud runs do not use your local Claude login. They use a credential stored in Coldtea for your TeaHouse, so choose a TeaHouse before you connect anything here. See Cloud agent credentials for where these settings live and how they are stored.
You have two options for Claude.
API key
Paste an Anthropic API key into the Claude field under the API keys option. Coldtea uses it for Claude cloud runs. This is the simplest path if you already have a key.
Subscription token
The subscription option lets cloud runs use your Claude subscription instead of an API key. It takes a copy and paste, so give it a minute rather than doing it in a hurry.
Choose Connect on the Claude row. Coldtea opens a drawer with a terminal in it and starts the token setup:
- Your browser opens so you can authorize.
- Once you do, the terminal in the drawer prints a token.
- Copy the token out of the terminal.
- Paste it into the field below and save.
Two things to expect. You copy the token from terminal output rather than a copy button, so select it carefully. And the paste field is masked like a password, so you will not see what you pasted until you save. If the token is wrong, the field says so and you can paste again.
Where to go next
- Connect agents for the local-versus-cloud picture across all agents.
- Cloud agent credentials for how stored credentials work per TeaHouse.
- Launch presets to set Claude's autonomy, model, and reasoning effort.
- First-run setup for the guided path through all of this.
- Agent matrix for what each agent supports at a glance.