Danny Kopping d936a99e6b fix(cli): error when CODER_SESSION_TOKEN env var is set during login (#22879)
_Disclaimer: created with Opus 4.6 and Coder Agents._

## Problem

When `CODER_SESSION_TOKEN` is set as an environment variable with an
invalid value, `coder login` fails with a confusing error:

```
error: Trace=[create api key: ]
You are signed out or your session has expired. Please sign in again to continue.
Suggestion: Try logging in using 'coder login'.
```

The suggestion to run `coder login` is what the user just did, making it
circular and unhelpful.

## Root cause

The `--token` flag is mapped to `CODER_SESSION_TOKEN` via serpent. When
the env var is set, `coder login` picks it up as the session token and
tries to use it to create a new API key, which fails because the token
is invalid. Even if login were to succeed and write a new token to disk,
subsequent commands would still use the env var (which takes precedence
over the on-disk token), so the user would remain stuck.

## Fix

Before attempting login, check if `CODER_SESSION_TOKEN` is set in the
environment. If so, return a clear error telling the user to unset it:

```
the environment variable CODER_SESSION_TOKEN is set, which takes precedence
over the session token stored on disk. Please unset it and try again.

    unset CODER_SESSION_TOKEN
```

## Testing

Added `TestLogin/SessionTokenEnvVar` that verifies the error is returned
when the env var is set.
2026-03-10 09:41:05 +00:00
2022-04-04 11:55:06 -05:00

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