DollhouseMCP

# Complete Summary of Docker Claude Code Testing - September 22, 2025 ## What We're Trying to Do Run Claude Code CLI with DollhouseMCP in a Docker container, authenticated with an Anthropic API key, based on documentation from September 10, 2025 that showed this working. ## What We Know Works ### 1. Infrastructure ✅ - Docker image builds successfully - Claude Code CLI v1.0.110 installs via `npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code@1.0.110` - Binary is located at `/usr/local/bin/claude` (symlink to `cli.js`) - DollhouseMCP v1.9.8 builds successfully (785KB dist/index.js) - MCP configuration file exists and is valid JSON - Container runs and entrypoint executes ### 2. API Key ✅ - API key format is correct: `sk-ant-api03-...` (108 characters) - API key is successfully passed to container via `-e ANTHROPIC_API_KEY="$ANTHROPIC_API_KEY"` - API key is valid - confirmed with curl test returning HTTP 200 from Anthropic API - API key works with direct Anthropic API calls ### 3. Configuration ✅ - MCP config at `/home/claude/.config/claude-code/config.json` is valid - Contains correct DollhouseMCP server configuration - Points to `/app/dollhousemcp/dist/index.js` ## What Fails ❌ ### Authentication Problem - Claude Code CLI returns: `Invalid API key · Please run /login` - This occurs with ALL attempts: - Basic run: `claude --model sonnet` - With MCP config: `claude --model sonnet --mcp-config /path/to/config.json` - With print flag: `claude --model sonnet --print` - With allowed tools: `claude --model sonnet --print --allowedTools ...` ## Key Discoveries ### 1. `/login` is NOT a CLI command - `claude --help` does not list any `login` command - Only auth command is `setup-token` which requires Claude subscription - `/login` is a command in the Claude Code IDE environment (where user is now), not in CLI ### 2. Claude Code vs Claude Code CLI - User is currently IN Claude Code (the IDE-like environment) - User can type `/login` there and it works - The npm package `@anthropic-ai/claude-code` provides a CLI tool - This CLI tool is what we're trying to run in Docker - The CLI appears to need different authentication than just API key ### 3. Flags We Found - `--print` - Non-interactive mode for pipes (non-TTY) - `--allowedTools` - Pre-approve specific MCP tools - `--dangerously-skip-permissions` - Bypass all permissions (not recommended) - `--permission-mode` - Different permission modes - `--mcp-config` - Load MCP servers from config files ### 4. Environment Variables Tried - `ANTHROPIC_API_KEY` - Does not work - `CLAUDE_API_KEY` - Does not work - No `--api-key` flag exists ### 5. Config Options Available Cannot set API key via config. Only these keys allowed: - Local config: allowedTools, hasTrustDialogAccepted, hasCompletedProjectOnboarding, ignorePatterns - Global config: apiKeyHelper, installMethod, autoUpdates, theme, verbose, etc. - Note: `apiKeyHelper` exists but is undefined by default ## September 10 Documentation Claims According to SESSION_NOTES_2025_09_10_DOCKER_CLAUDE_CODE.md: - Same Claude Code version (v1.0.110) - Same Docker setup - Claims it worked with API key via environment variable - Shows 29 MCP tools were detected - Claims successful integration ## Critical Questions 1. **Did authentication change between Sept 10 and Sept 22?** - Same version number but different behavior - Possible server-side authentication change? 2. **Is there a different Claude CLI tool?** - Is `@anthropic-ai/claude-code` the right package? - Is there an API-key-compatible CLI we should use instead? 3. **Was there a missing step in Sept 10 documentation?** - Did they authenticate first and copy tokens? - Was there a different method not documented? ## What We Haven't Tried - Finding and copying authentication tokens from host to container - Using `claude setup-token` (requires subscription) - Different npm package or version - Building Claude Code from source instead of npm ## Next Steps Needed 1. Search web for recent changes to Claude Code CLI authentication 2. Look for documentation on using Claude Code with API keys 3. Find if there's a different Claude CLI tool for API users 4. Check if authentication method changed after September 10, 2025 ## Test Commands for Reference ```bash # Build container docker build -f docker/test-configs/Dockerfile.claude-testing -t claude-mcp-test-env . # Test with all flags (still fails with auth error) echo "Say TEST" | docker run -i --rm \ -e ANTHROPIC_API_KEY="$ANTHROPIC_API_KEY" \ --entrypoint claude \ claude-mcp-test-env \ --model sonnet \ --print \ --mcp-config /home/claude/.config/claude-code/config.json \ --allowedTools mcp__dollhousemcp__get_build_info # Result: "Invalid API key · Please run /login" ``` --- *Summary prepared before web search to preserve context* *Date: September 22, 2025* *Time: ~08:45 PST*