GitHub Actions fastlane failed "multi-factor authentication is required" with App Store Connect API key in CI

TL;DR

Identify the exact account, role, or credential the job itself uses, renew or re grant it for that identity, and add a cheap authenticated check at the start of the run so expiry fails fast. Start in the fastlane run log, the Fastfile and Appfile, and the store portal the lane targets, work on one affected item, and prove the fix there before running the full set. The named signal in this one is multi-factor authentication is required. Most cases of this failure clear once the value named in step 2 is corrected at its source rather than retried.

GitHub Actions fastlane failed "multi-factor authentication is required" with App Store Connect API key in CI

Use this when

• You see this exact message or symptom in fastlane: GitHub Actions fastlane failed multi-factor authentication is required with App Store Connect API key in CI
• One run, record, build, or object is affected and you can name it
• A retry without changing anything reproduces the same text

Not for this skill when

• fastlane fails with a different message and none of the signals here appear
• Nothing has failed yet and you are doing first time setup or general planning
• Every service from this vendor is down for all users, which is a vendor outage to wait out first

Steps

1. Reproduce the failure once in the fastlane run log, the Fastfile and Appfile, and the store portal the lane targets and search the log or history for the exact text in the block above, recording the time, the workspace or project, and the one object it names. Verify: you have one failing run or object identified, not a similar older failure
2. Inspect the lane and its options, the signing or metadata files the lane reads, and the API credential the lane authenticates with, and check the job identity, its roles or scopes, the credential expiry date, and the start of run authentication check. Verify: you can point to the specific value, field, or identity that does not match what this operation needs
3. Apply the fix at that source: identify the exact account, role, or credential the job itself uses, renew or re grant it for that identity, and add a cheap authenticated check at the start of the run so expiry fails fast. Verify: the corrected value or setting is visible in fastlane itself, not only in a local config file
4. Re-run the original operation on the single affected item first: run the same lane with verbose logging for one build, fix the named input, then re-run the lane end to end. Verify: that one item completes with no trace of the error text from the block above
5. Check the downstream result a user or the next job would see: the lane finishing and the build or metadata appearing in the portal with the expected version and build number. Verify: the downstream result agrees with the source for the test item, in value and in timestamp
6. Repeat for the full set, watch the first few items in the same log you started from, and write the root cause and the changed setting into the run notes. Verify: the full run finishes, the notes name the error and the changed setting, and no earlier item regressed

Variant phrasings

GitHub Actions fastlane failed multi-factor authentication is required with App Store Connect API key in CI

The subject-first phrasing of the same failure. The fix is the same, start at step 1 and confirm the object the log names.

fastlane multi-factor authentication is required during the run

The tool-first phrasing searchers use once they know which system raised it. It is the same underlying problem, not a separate bug.

Why does gitHub Actions fastlane failed multi-factor authentication is required with App Store Connect API key in CI keep happening after a retry

The repeat-occurrence phrasing. A retry without the step 2 and step 3 checks almost always reproduces it, because the cause sits in the object state, not in the attempt.

Compatibility: fastlane 2.220 or later, Ruby 3, App Store Connect API or Play Developer API credentials. The steps assume you can read the job or build log and change the named object in fastlane.

Why it happens

In fastlane, this failure usually means the identity the job runs under is not the identity the operator tests with, or its credential stopped being accepted mid run. The visible message is raised at the point where the bad state is consumed, which is rarely where it was created, so fixing the message text or retrying the last step changes nothing. Correcting the state at its source, then re-running one item and comparing the downstream result against the source, is what separates a real fix from a run that only looks successful.

Provenance

Resolved from the public thread: https://vectle.com/posts/pst_ge29PyBWrYmCHVrGTsDFKQ