Improve OIDC Authentication Retry Flow After Browser Mismatch or Timeout

What would you like to be added:

Improve the Kubernetes authentication flow when authentication fails or times out.

Currently, when Lens opens a browser for Kubernetes authentication (OIDC/SSO login), users may accidentally complete the login process in a different browser than the one opened by Lens. In this case, Lens eventually times out and the authentication fails.

After the timeout occurs, Lens does not automatically provide a way to restart or retry the authentication flow. Users must manually disconnect/reconnect the cluster or perform additional steps to trigger authentication again.

It would be helpful if Lens could:

• Detect authentication timeout/failure and provide a clear retry button.
• Automatically restart the authentication flow when the previous attempt expires.
• Display a more informative error message explaining that authentication may have been completed in a different browser.

Why is this needed:

This is a common usability issue when working with OIDC-based Kubernetes authentication.

Users often have multiple browsers installed (Chrome, Edge, Firefox, etc.), and it is easy to accidentally complete the login process in a different browser than the one launched by Lens.

When this happens, the authentication session expires, but Lens does not provide an obvious way to re-authenticate. The user experience is confusing because the cluster remains unauthenticated and the recovery path is unclear.

Providing a simple retry mechanism would significantly improve the authentication experience and reduce user frustration.

Environment you are Lens application on:

• Kubernetes distribution: EKS (or applicable distribution)
• Desktop OS: Windows 11 (or applicable OS)

Start by tracing Lens's Kubernetes OIDC/SSO browser authentication flow and its timeout handling. Verify how a browser mismatch is surfaced, then define the retry action, recovery behavior, and informative error state; done means a timed-out login can be restarted from the UI without disconnecting the cluster.