claude-coexist

A tiny shell tool for running multiple Claude Code accounts side-by-side on macOS and Linux/WSL.

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What is it

claude-coexist is a tiny shell tool that lets you run multiple Claude Code accounts (e.g. personal + work) side-by-side on the same machine, without constant logout/login cycles.

Under the hood, it uses Claude Code's officially supported CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR environment variable: each account gets its own config directory, and the tool wires up a shell alias per account. This is not a hack — it's automation around a supported mechanism.

Why you need it

By default, Claude Code stores its credentials in ~/.claude/. Only one account can be logged in at a time, so switching accounts means logging out and logging back in, which gets old fast.

With this tool, each account gets its own isolated directory, and you switch by running an alias:

claude-work       # launches the work account
claude-personal   # launches the personal account

Install

Two ways, pick one.

Method 1: curl one-liner

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Valid-Eval/Claude-Coexist/main/install-remote.sh | bash

This installs the script to ~/.local/bin/claude-coexist. If ~/.local/bin isn't in your PATH, the installer will tell you how to add it.

You can also install and add an account in one go:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Valid-Eval/Claude-Coexist/main/install-remote.sh | bash -s -- add work

Method 2: git clone

git clone https://github.com/Valid-Eval/Claude-Coexist.git
cd Claude-Coexist
chmod +x claude-coexist.sh

Usage

Add an account

./claude-coexist.sh add work
./claude-coexist.sh add personal
source ~/.zshrc   # or source ~/.bashrc

Example output:

✓ Added alias 'claude-work' to ~/.zshrc
✓ Config directory: ~/.claude-work

Next steps:
  1. Reload your shell:      source ~/.zshrc
  2. Launch this account:    claude-work
  3. Log in when prompted (browser will open)

List accounts

./claude-coexist.sh list

Example output:

claude-work       ->   ~/.claude-work       (exists)
claude-personal   ->   ~/.claude-personal   (exists)

Switch between accounts

After sourcing your rc file, just run the alias:

claude-work        # launches work account
claude-personal    # launches personal account

Each alias launches claude with the corresponding CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR. Accounts are fully isolated.

Remove a single account

./claude-coexist.sh remove personal

This removes the alias line only. The account's config directory at ~/.claude-personal is preserved so your data is safe.

Uninstall completely

./claude-coexist.sh uninstall

Removes the entire managed block from your rc file. All ~/.claude-* config directories remain untouched.

How it works

• Creates ~/.claude-<n> for each account.

• Appends a clearly marked block to ~/.zshrc or ~/.bashrc (wrapped by # >>> claude-coexist managed block >>> DO NOT EDIT … # <<< claude-coexist managed block <<<).

• Each alias looks like:

  alias claude-<n>='CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR=$HOME/.claude-<n> claude'
  

• Running claude-<n> causes Claude Code to read/write credentials, settings, and session history from the isolated directory. Accounts don't interfere with each other.

FAQ

Can I share conversation history between accounts?

Not automatically. If you really want to, you can manually symlink ~/.claude-<n>/projects to ~/.claude/projects. But do NOT share credentials — that defeats the whole isolation purpose.

What about MCP configuration?

Each account has its own MCP configuration. If you want the same MCP setup across accounts, either configure each account separately, or manually copy the .mcp.json file.

Does this support native Windows?

No. Claude Code on Windows has a ~/.claude.json global-state conflict that makes the simple alias approach unreliable. Please use WSL. The script will also refuse to run under Git Bash, MSYS, or Cygwin — use WSL instead.

What files does this tool modify?

Exactly two things:

1. Appends a clearly marked block to ~/.zshrc (or ~/.bashrc, based on your $SHELL).
2. Creates ~/.claude-<n> directories.

Nothing else is touched. Uninstall removes the managed block but never deletes ~/.claude-<n> directories, so your data is safe.

Credits

Built on top of long-standing community practice, using Claude Code's officially supported CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR environment variable (see the official env-vars docs).

Provenance

Vendored fork of inosven/Claude-Coexist (MIT, © 2026 Quan Sun), forked at upstream commit f7ea54b and reviewed line by line before use. Install from this repository only — the installer is pinned to a specific commit and verifies the payload checksum.