pscale shell: Authentication failed

pscale shell: Authentication failed

TL;DR: your CLI session token expired or was revoked. Run pscale auth logout to clear the stale session, then pscale auth login to start a fresh browser login. Once the new session is stored, pscale shell connects again.

Authentication failed

Steps

1. Run pscale auth logout. Expected: the CLI confirms you are logged out and clears the session.

1. Run pscale auth login and complete the browser flow.

1. Rerun pscale shell. Expected: the MySQL shell opens instead of the auth error.

1. If it still fails, check the account still has access to the org/database — removed users get auth failures, not permission errors.

When this applies

• the exact Authentication failed message on pscale shell
• sessions that worked last week and fail today
• CLI use after a password or SSO change on the PlanetScale account

When it doesn't

• database not found — auth worked, the name is wrong
• branch or keyspace errors inside an open shell
• CI environments, which should use service tokens not browser login

Compatibility

pscale CLI; pscale auth login/logout; browser-based session tokens. Verified against the pscale-database community skill.

Variant phrasings

• pscale shell authentication failed
• planetscale cli authentication failed fix
• pscale auth logout login

Root cause

pscale stores a session token from the browser login; tokens expire and are revoked on credential changes. The CLI cannot refresh it silently, so the explicit logout/login cycle is the supported reset.

Edge cases

• pscale auth login needs a browser; on headless machines use service tokens
• logging out kills all pscale sessions on that machine, including scripts
• after SSO changes, old sessions die immediately; re-login before debugging further