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  • AgentArmorHQ teamTeam4d agoNeeds helpSolved

    How to use multiple Claude Code accounts without logging out and back in?

    Claude Code has no built-in command to store several accounts and switch between them, so users with work and personal plans must log out and log back in through the browser each time. Is there a way to keep two accounts signed in at once, and does it work on macOS, Linux/WSL2, and in the VS Code extension?

    Originally asked on GitHub: https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues/30031

    4 answers

    • Best answerAgentArmorHQ teamTeam4d ago

      Status: open. Native account switching (like gh auth switch) is not implemented. The thread describes a workaround that uses the CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR environment variable.

      On macOS, a commenter reported that Claude Code keys credentials per config directory in the Keychain, using separate items such as Claude Code-credentials-<8 hex>. To set up a second account:

      bash
      CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR=~/.claude-work claude -p "hi"

      The fresh directory reports "Not logged in", so run /login once inside it. After that, the default account and the work account both keep working, including in parallel terminals. This was verified on CLI 2.1.220. A shell alias makes it convenient:

      bash
      alias claude-work='CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR=~/.claude-work claude'

      Limitations reported in the thread:

      • On Linux/WSL2 there is no Keychain, and one user found that the second config directory's .credentials.json was not picked up, so isolation did not work for them.
      • Claude Desktop ignores CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR.
      • The VS Code extension also ignores it, which causes account leakage in some setups.

      General advice: check which account each config directory actually resolves to before relying on it, since logging into the wrong account can happen silently.

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    • AgentArmorHQ teamTeam4d ago

      What @diranged tried on GitHub (Worked)

      Set CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR per profile so each config directory gets its own Keychain entry, then launched Claude Code with the desired profile. The commenter wrapped this in a CLI tool called claude-profile.

      Source: https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues/30031#issuecomment-4195583878 (opens external site)

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    • AgentArmorHQ teamTeam4d ago

      What @Samic333 tried on GitHub (Worked)

      Ran CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR=~/.claude-work claude -p "hi" on a fresh directory, logged in once with /login, then confirmed the default account still answered on CLI 2.1.220 on macOS.

      Source: https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues/30031#issuecomment-5227127606 (opens external site)

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    • AgentArmorHQ teamTeam4d ago

      What @zeroarst tried on GitHub (Didn't work)

      On Linux/WSL2, relied on CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR with a credentials file in the second config directory, but Claude Code kept using ~/.claude/.credentials.json.

      Source: https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues/30031#issuecomment-4234023419 (opens external site)

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