hc auth status - Harness CLI

Usage

hc auth status

Description

The hc auth status command checks your current authentication status by reading your saved credentials and validating them against the Harness API. This command confirms that you’re logged in and that your credentials are still valid. The status check performs an actual API call to Harness services to verify your token is active and has the necessary permissions.

Flags

This command has no flags.

What Gets Checked

When you run hc auth status, the CLI:

Reads Local Config - Loads credentials from ~/.harness/auth.json
Validates Token - Checks that an API token exists
Validates Account - Checks that an account ID exists
API Verification - Makes a GET request to /ng/api/accounts/{accountID}
Displays Details - Shows authentication information

Output

When Authenticated

Successful authentication displays comprehensive details:

$ hc auth status
Checking authentication status...
Authentication Status: ✓ Authenticated
API URL:      https://app.harness.io
Account ID:   abc123def456

With Organization and Project

If you logged in with organization and project scope:

$ hc auth status
Checking authentication status...
Authentication Status: ✓ Authenticated
API URL:      https://app.harness.io
Account ID:   abc123def456
Org ID:       default
Project ID:   myproject

When Not Authenticated

If you’re not logged in:

$ hc auth status
Checking authentication status...
Error: not logged in: no API token found. Please run 'hc auth login' first

When Token is Invalid

If your token has expired or been revoked:

$ hc auth status
Checking authentication status...
Error: authentication validation failed: authentication failed with status 401 Unauthorized. Please check your credentials

Examples

Quick Status Check

Verify you’re logged in before running commands:

$ hc auth status
Checking authentication status...
Authentication Status: ✓ Authenticated
API URL:      https://app.harness.io
Account ID:   abc123def456

$ hc pipeline list
# Proceeds with API call

Confirm successful authentication after login:

$ hc auth login --api-token $HARNESS_TOKEN --non-interactive
Validating credentials...
✓ Credentials validated successfully
Successfully logged into Harness
API URL:      https://app.harness.io
Account ID:   abc123def456

$ hc auth status
Checking authentication status...
Authentication Status: ✓ Authenticated
API URL:      https://app.harness.io
Account ID:   abc123def456

Check Before Deployment

Validate authentication in deployment scripts:

deploy.sh

#!/bin/bash
set -e

echo "Checking Harness authentication..."
if hc auth status; then
  echo "Authenticated successfully"
  hc pipeline execute --id prod-deployment
else
  echo "Not authenticated. Please run 'hc auth login' first"
  exit 1
fi

CI/CD Health Check

Verify authentication in CI/CD pipelines:

name: Deploy with Harness

on:
  push:
    branches: [main]

jobs:
  deploy:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v3
      
      - name: Login to Harness
        env:
          HARNESS_API_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.HARNESS_API_TOKEN }}
        run: |
          hc auth login \
            --api-token $HARNESS_API_TOKEN \
            --non-interactive
      
      - name: Verify Authentication
        run: hc auth status
      
      - name: Deploy Application
        run: hc pipeline execute --id my-pipeline

Multi-Account Verification

Verify which account you’re currently using:

$ hc auth status
Checking authentication status...
Authentication Status: ✓ Authenticated
API URL:      https://app.harness.io
Account ID:   prod-account-123
Org ID:       production

# Oops, wrong account! Switch to staging
$ hc auth logout
Successfully logged out from Harness

$ hc auth login --api-token $STAGING_TOKEN --non-interactive
Successfully logged into Harness

$ hc auth status
Checking authentication status...
Authentication Status: ✓ Authenticated
API URL:      https://app.harness.io
Account ID:   staging-account-456
Org ID:       staging

Automated Health Check Script

Monitor CLI authentication status:

check-auth.sh

#!/bin/bash

# Colors for output
GREEN='\033[0;32m'
RED='\033[0;31m'
NC='\033[0m' # No Color

echo "Checking Harness CLI authentication..."

if hc auth status > /dev/null 2>&1; then
  echo -e "${GREEN}✓ Harness CLI is authenticated${NC}"
  hc auth status
  exit 0
else
  echo -e "${RED}✗ Harness CLI is not authenticated${NC}"
  echo "Please run: hc auth login"
  exit 1
fi

Status Check with JSON Parsing

Extract specific information from status:

# Check if authenticated (exit code based)
if hc auth status > /dev/null 2>&1; then
  echo "Authenticated"
else
  echo "Not authenticated"
  exit 1
fi

# Extract account ID
ACCOUNT_ID=$(hc auth status 2>/dev/null | grep "Account ID:" | awk '{print $3}')
echo "Current account: $ACCOUNT_ID"

Validation Process

The status command validates credentials by:

Loading Config - Reading ~/.harness/auth.json
Checking Token - Ensuring API token is present
Checking Account - Ensuring account ID is present
API Call - GET request to /ng/api/accounts/{accountID}
Response Check - Verifying 200 OK status
Parse Response - Validating account data structure

Error Messages

Not Logged In (No Token)

$ hc auth status
Checking authentication status...
Error: not logged in: no API token found. Please run 'hc auth login' first

Solution: Log in first

hc auth login

Not Logged In (No Account ID)

$ hc auth status
Checking authentication status...
Error: not logged in: no account ID found. Please run 'hc auth login' first

Solution: Re-authenticate

hc auth logout --force
hc auth login

Invalid Credentials

$ hc auth status
Checking authentication status...
Error: authentication validation failed: authentication failed with status 401 Unauthorized. Please check your credentials

Possible Causes:

Token has expired
Token has been revoked
Account ID doesn’t match token
Token lacks necessary permissions

Solution: Log in with fresh credentials

hc auth logout
hc auth login --api-token $NEW_TOKEN

Network Issues

$ hc auth status
Checking authentication status...
Error: authentication validation failed: error connecting to Harness API: dial tcp: lookup app.harness.io: no such host

Solution: Check network connectivity

# Test connectivity
ping app.harness.io
curl -I https://app.harness.io

# Try status again
hc auth status

Timeout Error

$ hc auth status
Checking authentication status...
Error: authentication validation failed: error connecting to Harness API: context deadline exceeded

Solution: The API call timed out after 10 seconds. Check:

Network connection speed
Firewall rules
VPN settings
Harness service status

Use Cases

Pre-flight Check

Verify authentication before important operations:

echo "Pre-flight checks..."

if ! hc auth status; then
  echo "Error: Not authenticated with Harness"
  exit 1
fi

if ! git status > /dev/null 2>&1; then
  echo "Error: Not in a git repository"
  exit 1
fi

echo "All checks passed. Proceeding with deployment..."
hc pipeline execute --id critical-deployment

Debug Authentication Issues

Troubleshoot login problems:

echo "Debugging authentication..."

# Check if auth file exists
if [ -f ~/.harness/auth.json ]; then
  echo "✓ Auth file exists at ~/.harness/auth.json"
else
  echo "✗ No auth file found"
  exit 1
fi

# Check file permissions
PERMS=$(stat -c %a ~/.harness/auth.json 2>/dev/null || stat -f %A ~/.harness/auth.json 2>/dev/null)
echo "File permissions: $PERMS"

# Try status check
if hc auth status; then
  echo "✓ Authentication is valid"
else
  echo "✗ Authentication check failed"
fi

Session Information Display

Show current session details in prompts:

# Add to .bashrc or .zshrc
hc_auth_prompt() {
  if hc auth status > /dev/null 2>&1; then
    ACCOUNT=$(hc auth status 2>/dev/null | grep "Account ID:" | awk '{print $3}')
    echo "[HC:$ACCOUNT]"
  else
    echo "[HC:not-auth]"
  fi
}

# Use in PS1
PS1='$(hc_auth_prompt) \u@\h:\w\$ '

Automated Re-authentication

Auto-login if status check fails:

auto-auth.sh

#!/bin/bash

if hc auth status > /dev/null 2>&1; then
  echo "Already authenticated"
else
  echo "Not authenticated. Logging in..."
  
  if [ -z "$HARNESS_API_TOKEN" ]; then
    echo "Error: HARNESS_API_TOKEN environment variable not set"
    exit 1
  fi
  
  hc auth login \
    --api-token "$HARNESS_API_TOKEN" \
    --account "$HARNESS_ACCOUNT_ID" \
    --non-interactive
  
  if hc auth status > /dev/null 2>&1; then
    echo "Successfully authenticated"
  else
    echo "Authentication failed"
    exit 1
  fi
fi

Exit Codes

Exit Code	Meaning
0	Successfully authenticated
1	Not authenticated or validation failed

Use exit codes in scripts:

hc auth status
if [ $? -eq 0 ]; then
  echo "Authenticated"
else
  echo "Not authenticated"
fi

Best Practices

Check Before Critical Operations - Always verify auth status before important commands
Use in Scripts - Add status checks to automation scripts
Monitor in CI/CD - Verify authentication in pipeline steps
Regular Checks - Periodically verify your credentials haven’t expired
Error Handling - Properly handle status check failures in scripts
Display in Prompts - Show auth status in shell prompts for awareness
Log Status Output - Capture status output in logs for troubleshooting

Information Displayed

The status command shows:

Field	Description	Always Shown
Authentication Status	Whether you’re authenticated	Yes
API URL	Harness API endpoint	Yes
Account ID	Your Harness account identifier	Yes
Org ID	Organization scope (if set)	No
Project ID	Project scope (if set)	No

API Request Details

The validation request:

GET /ng/api/accounts/{accountID} HTTP/1.1
Host: app.harness.io
x-api-key: pat.abc123.xyz789.qwe456

Successful response:

{
  "data": {
    "identifier": "abc123def456",
    "name": "My Account",
    "createdAt": 1234567890000
  }
}

hc auth login - Authenticate with Harness
hc auth logout - Remove saved credentials

Troubleshooting

Status Shows Authenticated but Commands Fail

If status check passes but other commands fail:

$ hc auth status
Authentication Status: ✓ Authenticated

$ hc pipeline list
Error: 403 Forbidden

Cause: Token lacks necessary permissions Solution: Use a token with appropriate permissions or contact your Harness admin

Intermittent Status Failures

If status check sometimes fails:

Check network stability
Verify Harness service status
Check for rate limiting
Review timeout settings

Status Hangs

If the status command hangs:

Wait for the 10-second timeout
Check network connectivity
Verify API URL is correct
Try with a different network

Authentication

Registry

Artifact

Infrastructure as Code

Global Options

Utility Commands

​Usage

​Description

​Flags

​What Gets Checked

​Output

​When Authenticated

​With Organization and Project

​When Not Authenticated

​When Token is Invalid

​Examples

​Quick Status Check

​Verify After Login

​Check Before Deployment

​CI/CD Health Check

​Multi-Account Verification

​Automated Health Check Script

​Status Check with JSON Parsing

​Validation Process

​Error Messages

​Not Logged In (No Token)

​Not Logged In (No Account ID)

​Invalid Credentials

​Network Issues

​Timeout Error

​Use Cases

​Pre-flight Check

​Debug Authentication Issues

​Session Information Display

​Automated Re-authentication

​Exit Codes

​Best Practices

​Information Displayed

​API Request Details

​Related Commands

​Troubleshooting

​Status Shows Authenticated but Commands Fail

​Intermittent Status Failures

​Status Hangs

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