Diagnosing Sourcetree Authentication Failures with Bitbucket Cloud

Recognizable condition

Sourcetree repeatedly shows a login dialog for Bitbucket Cloud, rejects correct username/password, and displays an "Authentication failed" message. Fetch, push, and pull operations do not complete.

Cause and diagnostic table

Symptom	Likely cause	Quick check
Login prompt loops after correct credentials	Expired or revoked OAuth token	View token status in Bitbucket → Personal settings → App passwords/OAuth tokens
No remote operations after login	Cached token mismatch or duplicate account entries	Open Sourcetree → Tools → Options → Accounts and look for multiple Bitbucket entries
Error message "Invalid token"	Token revoked or stale token stored in OS credential manager	Check Bitbucket audit log for token revocation; inspect Windows Credential Manager or macOS Keychain for "bitbucket.org" entries

Ordered checks

1. Open Sourcetree, go to Tools → Options → Accounts, select the Bitbucket account and click Edit. Note whether the token field is populated.
2. If a token is shown, log into the Bitbucket web UI, navigate to Personal settings → App passwords/OAuth tokens, and verify the token’s status (active, expired, or revoked).
3. If the token is missing, marked expired/revoked, or you see duplicate Bitbucket entries, delete the account entry in Sourcetree (Accounts → select account → Remove).
4. Re‑add the Bitbucket account via Clone / Add new repository → Bitbucket Cloud → Sign in with Bitbucket. Complete the OAuth flow.
5. After re‑authentication, select a repository, open the Remotes view, and run a Fetch operation.

Fixes tied to findings

Expired or revoked token

Removing the old account and re‑adding it forces Sourcetree to obtain a fresh OAuth token. Do not edit the token field manually; the internal store must be cleared.

Duplicate or conflicting tokens

Delete all Bitbucket entries in the Accounts preferences, then add a single account again. This eliminates confusion caused by multiple cached tokens.

Stale token in OS credential store

On Windows, open Credential Manager → Windows Credentials, locate the generic credential for bitbucket.org (or atlassian.com), and remove it. On macOS, open Keychain Access, search for "bitbucket", and delete the matching password item. After clearing, repeat the re‑addition steps.

Escalation criteria

If authentication still fails after the above steps:

• Verify that no network proxy or firewall is blocking HTTPS traffic to bitbucket.org.
• Ensure Sourcetree is updated to the latest version (≥ 4.2.x).
• Collect diagnostic logs via Help → Show Logs and capture a screenshot of the Accounts dialog.
• Submit a support ticket to Atlassian with the logs and screenshot.

Limitations and verification

Clearing the OS credential store may affect other Atlassian tools (e.g., Jira, Bamboo) that rely on the same stored credentials; note existing entries before removal.

Practical verification: after re‑adding the account, a successful fetch updates the Last used timestamp in the Accounts dialog and retrieves the latest commits in the repository’s history.