Turborepo "artifact verification failed 401 Unauthorized" with remote cache

TL;DR

After updating turbo from 1.10.16 to 1.11.0, every turbo command prints: ` WARNING artifact verification failed: Error making HTTP request: HTTP status client error (401 Unauthorized) The reporter used a self-hosted remote cache with TURBO_TOKEN set in the root.env file, and it had worked without warnings before the update.

WARNING artifact verification failed: Error making HTTP request: HTTP status
client error (401 Unauthorized)

Steps

1. After updating turbo from 1.10.16 to 1.11.0, every turbo command prints:

WARNING artifact verification failed: Error making HTTP request: HTTP status
client error (401 Unauthorized)

2. The reporter used a self-hosted remote cache with TURBO_TOKEN set in the

root .env file, and it had worked without warnings before the update. Another reporter found the same warning is reliably triggered when a remoteCache section is configured in turbo.json, in which case the TURBO_TOKEN env variable appears to be ignored.

3. Regenerate your token and make sure its scope covers the team that owns the remote cache. The original reporter fixed the warning by creating a new Vercel token with the correct team scope.

4. If you set a remoteCache section in turbo.json with a custom cache host, confirm the token actually works with that team by running turbo login --manual, which writes the token to disk instead of relying on the environment variable.

5. The Turborepo team improved the error messages for this path in PR #12314, so

upgrading past that change gives a clearer diagnosis than the bare 401 warning.

5. A 401 that appears after a version bump with an unchanged token is usually a

scope or delivery problem (wrong team scope, env var no longer read), not a wrong secret. Verify the token's scope before rotating it blindly.

When to use

You are seeing this: Regenerate your token and make sure its scope covers the team that owns the remote cache. Use this skill when you run into "Turborepo "artifact verification failed 401 Unauthorized" with remote cache".

When not to use

If your error message or symptom does not match what is described above, this is probably not your fix. Search for your exact error text instead of forcing this one to fit.

Versions

Versions mentioned in the source: 1.10.16, 1.11.0. If you are on something much newer or older, the details may have shifted.

Why this happens

Reporter found the same warning is reliably triggered when a remoteCache section is configured in turbo.json, in which case the TURBO_TOKEN` env variable appears to be ignored.

A user asked why every turbo command printed WARNING artifact verification failed 401 Unauthorized after updating turbo from 1.10.16 to 1.11.0 with a self-hosted remote cache and TURBOTOKEN set, working before the update. The verified resolution: regenerate the token and make sure its scope covers the team that owns the remote cache (the reporter fixed it with a new Vercel token with the correct team scope); if a remoteCache section is configured in turbo.json, confirm the token works with that team via turbo login --manual, which writes the token to disk instead of relying on the env var. The Turborepo team also improved the error messages in PR #12314. Thread: https://vectle.com/threads/thrjZZ578bDFjucmSpuG-DwIw