CLI authentication fails with valid API token on Linux

[anderson-ufrj]

Description

The Railway CLI fails to authenticate using a valid API token created from the Account Settings page. Both railway login and token-based authentication methods are not working.

Environment

• OS: Linux 6.17.0-6-generic (Ubuntu-based)
• Railway CLI versions tested:
  • 4.11.0 (binary from /usr/local/bin)
  • 4.11.1 (npm global install)
• Node.js: v20.19.4
• npm: 9.2.0

Steps to Reproduce

1. Created a new API token from https://railway.app/account/tokens
2. Attempted authentication using multiple methods:

Method 1: Browser login

$ railway login
> Open the browser? Yes
Unauthorized. Please login with `railway login`

Method 2: Browserless login

$ railway login --browserless
Browserless Login
Please visit: [URL]
Your pairing code is: salmon-enchanting-exploration
Unauthorized. Please login with `railway login`

Method 3: Token authentication

$ export RAILWAY_TOKEN="[valid-token-from-account-settings]"
$ railway whoami
Unauthorized. Please login with `railway login`
Note: Using RAILWAY_TOKEN environment variable

Additional Testing

Tested the token directly against the API:

$ curl -H "Authorization: Bearer [token]" \
  https://backboard.railway.app/graphql/v2 \
  -d '{"query":"query { me { id email } }"}' \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json"

Response: {"errors":[{"message":"Not Authorized"...}]}

What I've Tried

1. ✅ Cleared all Railway config directories (~/.config/railway/, ~/.railway/)
2. ✅ Reinstalled Railway CLI via npm
3. ✅ Created multiple new tokens from Account Settings
4. ✅ Tested with both binary and npm versions
5. ✅ Verified network connectivity to Railway API
6. ✅ Tested different authentication header formats

Expected Behavior

The CLI should successfully authenticate using a valid API token created from the Account Settings page.

Actual Behavior

All authentication methods fail with "Unauthorized" error, even with freshly created valid tokens.

Additional Context

• I have an active paid Railway account
• The same tokens work when logging into the Railway web dashboard
• There appears to be a conflict between the binary installation and npm installation on the system

Any guidance on resolving this issue would be greatly appreciated.

[coffee-cup]

This is interesting that normal CLI login is failing too, so it is not just an issue with API tokens. Some questions

• Are you able to use the API token on railway.com/graphiql?
• Is the token scoped to a specific workspace or global?

[onabitz-admin]

Starting today we're having the same problem. In our case we use the environment variable to deploy from Gitlab CI.

Unauthorized. Please login with ``railway login`` Note: Using RAILWAY_TOKEN environment variable

Running image ghcr.io/railwayapp/cli:4.11.1, yesterday it worked fine.

Any idea on how to solve this?

[rekafin]

yes i got the same case today and how to solve it ?

[elina-israyelyan]

same from my side, It started today, got the issue on images 4.11.2, 4.11.1, 4.11.0

[OlgaMaslova]

same here, started today (deployment via gitlab using railway up)

[Ventorius]

Same here, deployment via gh actions stopped working

[butterflai-ai]

same here

[EnricRovira]

same :/

[keisukee]

same here

[thedavgar]

same here

[hosmelq]

I'm getting this error on GitHub Actions and locally (macOS).