---
title: Sign in
description: Sign in with looot login, approve the code on looot.ai, see where the CLI saves your token, and sign out with looot logout, which revokes it.
---

You need an account at [looot.ai](https://looot.ai/auth/sign-up), a token and a funded balance to
run anything. Signing up adds no credit; see [Before your first run](/money#before-your-first-run).
`looot login` creates the token for you in the browser, so you never copy a secret by hand.

This page is about the CLI. An agent that connects over MCP (Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Gemini
CLI and others) signs in on its own through the browser and gets its own token. See
[Connect your agent](/connect).

## looot login

```bash
looot login
```

The CLI prints a link and a short code, then opens the link in your browser:

```txt
Open this URL to approve looot login:
  https://looot.ai/cli/approve?...

Confirm this code matches what the browser shows: 3F9A-C21B

Waiting for approval (up to 10 minutes)... Press Ctrl+C to cancel; nothing is saved until it's approved.
```

If the browser doesn't open, copy the link by hand. The link carries only a one-way digest of the
token, never the token itself.

## The approve page

Sign in on looot.ai if asked. The page shows:

- **The code**, large, with your machine's hostname, operating system, CLI version and the time
  of the request. Check the code matches your terminal. If you didn't just run `looot login`,
  click **Deny**.
- **The organization** the token is created in. Switch organization at the top of the page first
  if it's the wrong one.
- **Label**, the name the token gets in Settings.
- **Scopes**, the checkboxes for what the token may do. Only scopes your account can grant are
  listed:

  | Scope | Lets the token |
  | --- | --- |
  | `catalog.read` | search and inspect the catalog |
  | `runs.read` | read runs and their evidence |
  | `runs.execute` | start and cancel runs (this spends your balance) |
  | `usage.read` | read the balance |
  | `connections.read` | list your connected provider accounts |
  | `workflows.read`, `workflows.execute` | read and run workflows |

- **Expires**, one of 1 hour, 1 day, 7 days, 30 days (the default) or 90 days.

Click **Approve**. The approving account must be an owner or admin of the organization. Within a
few seconds the terminal prints your organization, role and scopes.

## Where the token is stored

The CLI saves it to `~/.config/looot/config.json` (or `$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/looot/config.json` when
that variable is set). The directory is created readable only by you (mode 700) and the file is
mode 600. The token is also listed in Settings, **Agent tokens**, on looot.ai, where you can see
when it expires and revoke it.

The CLI looks for a token in this order:

1. `LOOOT_TOKEN` in the environment
2. `COSET_LOCAL_TOKEN`, the old name from before looot. It still works, but set `LOOOT_TOKEN`
   instead.
3. the saved `config.json`

There is no `--token` flag, so a secret never lands in your shell history.

```bash
looot whoami       # organization, role, scopes, and the last 4 characters of the token
```

## Use the token in scripts and agents

`looot token --reveal` prints the saved token to stdout and writes a warning to stderr. Without
`--reveal` it refuses, on a terminal and in a pipe alike, so an agent can't print it into its log
by accident. To set `LOOOT_TOKEN` in your shell profile:

```bash
export LOOOT_TOKEN="$(looot token --reveal 2>/dev/null)"
```

`2>/dev/null` drops the warning, which would otherwise show at every shell start. If your profile
still has an older `$(looot token)` line, `LOOOT_TOKEN` ends up empty and MCP clients that read it
fail to sign in. Change the line to the one above. `looot doctor` flags this case.

## Without a browser

On a server or in CI, create a token in Settings, **Agent tokens**, on looot.ai, then either set
`LOOOT_TOKEN` or pipe it to the CLI once:

```bash
printf '%s' "$TOKEN" | looot login --token-stdin
```

`--token-stdin` checks the token against the gateway once and saves it.

## Sign out

```bash
looot logout
```

`logout` revokes the saved token on the server, then deletes `config.json`. The gateway may still
accept the token for about 30 seconds after the revoke. If the revoke can't reach the server, the
file is deleted anyway and the message says so. The token then stays valid until it expires or you
revoke it in Settings.

`logout` never revokes a token that came from `LOOOT_TOKEN`, because that one may be shared with
CI or another machine. Revoke those in Settings.

## If login fails

| Message | What to do |
| --- | --- |
| `Approval was not received within 10 minutes. Nothing was saved.` | Run `looot login` again and approve within 10 minutes. |
| `login_forbidden` | The account that clicked Approve must be an owner or admin of the organization. |
| `config_corrupt` or `config_unreadable` | Delete `~/.config/looot/config.json` and run `looot login` again. `login` and `logout` still work with a broken file. |

## Next

Your workspace starts at $0. [Add the minimum top-up](/money#before-your-first-run) before your
first run; `looot balance` shows the amount and the link.

<Related />