---
title: "whoami() fails or Maestro is not connected"
description: "A bad key and a missing key produce the identical error. Answer that question first, because the obvious fix makes one of them permanent."
canonical: "https://help.sitesmojo.com/kb/troubleshooting/whoami-fails/"
---

## Do not re-run `verify()` to fix this

`verify()` **rotates** your API key. The old token stops working the instant the
new one is issued — including the copy already sitting in your client config.

So if your key was merely mistyped or stale, re-registering converts a
five-second fix into a broken setup, and the error you get afterwards looks
exactly the same. This is the single most common way a working install gets
worse.

## Answer this first: which problem do you have?

**A missing key and a rejected key report the identical error.** You cannot tell
them apart from the message, so establish it directly:

- Did you install a key at all — from the portal's Connect Claude dialog, an
  `Authorization` header, or `MAESTRO_API_KEY` in `.mcp.json`?
- If yes, the key is present and being rejected. Do not rotate. Go to the
  portal's **Connect Claude** dialog and re-show it, or rotate it there
  deliberately and update your config in the same sitting.
- If no, you have no key. Register and verify normally — nothing to invalidate.

## If a key is installed and still rejected

Work down this list:

1. **Restart the client.** Claude Code reads MCP configuration only at session
   start, so a key added mid-session is not loaded. This is by far the most
   common cause.
2. **Check the header shape** for a hosted server. It is
   `Authorization: Bearer <key>` — the word `Bearer`, one space, then the token
   with no quotes and no trailing whitespace.
3. **Check for a second install.** A server registered twice, at different
   scopes or with different keys, resolves to whichever the client found first.
4. **Confirm the URL.** A hosted key authenticates against the hosted server. A
   key pasted into a local stdio config authenticates nothing if the URL is
   wrong.

## Where the key lives, per client

| Client | Where |
|---|---|
| Claude Code, hosted | `Authorization: Bearer <key>` header on the connector |
| Claude Desktop, claude.ai | in the connector URL — `…/mcp/k/<token>` |
| Local stdio server | `MAESTRO_API_KEY` in the `.mcp.json` env block |

A key issued by `verify()` inside a running stdio session is active immediately,
with no restart.

## It connects here but not in another folder

That is a different problem with a different fix — see
[Maestro vanished in another repository](../maestro-not-in-this-repo/).