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Most unblocked commands — including the MCP server and every context-* command — need to call the Unblocked API on your behalf. Authentication is how you grant that access.

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Interactive auth

unblocked auth
Runs the browser-based authentication flow:
  1. The CLI opens your default browser to sign in to Unblocked.
  2. After you authorize the session, the browser hands a token back to the CLI.
  3. The CLI caches that token locally. Subsequent commands reuse it until it expires or you sign out with unblocked uninstall.
The install-mcp.sh quick install script triggers this flow automatically at the end of its run. If you installed with install.sh (CLI only), run unblocked auth manually before using any other command.

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Headless auth with an API token

In environments without a browser — CI runners, containers, remote shells — use an Unblocked API token instead of interactive auth. Set the token in the environment before running other unblocked commands: 
export UNBLOCKED_API_TOKEN=...   # personal or team token from Unblocked settings
unblocked context-research --query "..."
The same tokens that power Unblocked MCP in CI also work for the CLI. See the per-agent guides for how to generate personal or team API tokens — for example the headless automation section of the Claude Code install guide.

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Signing out

To clear the cached credentials along with all other local Unblocked state, run unblocked uninstall.