claude-code-accounts

Use multiple Claude Code accounts on one machine. Shared settings, separate credentials.

The problem

Claude Code Pro costs $20/month and gives you generous usage limits. If you hit those limits, the only upgrade is Max at $100/month — 5× the cost for 5× the limits.

But what if you just need 2× or 3× the capacity? You can grab another Pro account for $20, but now you're stuck with:

• Constant login/logout — switching accounts means re-authenticating every time
• Lost settings — your plugins, skills, MCP servers, and preferences don't carry over
• Separate histories — project context and session history stay locked to each account

claude-code-accounts fixes all of this. Every account shares your settings, plugins, skills, and project history through symlinks. Only credentials stay separate. Switch accounts by typing claude-alt instead of claude — no login screens, no re-configuring, no friction.

2 Pro accounts ($40/month) > 1 Max account ($100/month) for most people who just need more capacity.

Install

npm install -g claude-code-accounts

Quick start

claude-acc add alt          # creates account, configures shell, opens Claude to log in
claude-alt                  # use your second account

That's it. One command does everything:

1. Creates the account directory with symlinks to ~/.claude
2. Detects your shell and adds aliases to ~/.zshrc / ~/.bashrc (asks permission)
3. Opens Claude Code so you can /login

How it works

All accounts share settings, plugins, skills, and history from ~/.claude via symlinks. Only OAuth credentials are separate. Install a plugin once — every account sees it.

~/.claude/              ← primary account (source of truth)
~/.claude-alt/          ← symlinks to ~/.claude + own credentials
~/.claude-team/         ← symlinks to ~/.claude + own credentials

Commands

Command	Description
claude-acc add <name>	Create account, configure shell, log in
claude-acc remove <name>	Remove an account (with confirmation)
claude-acc list	Show all accounts
claude-acc sync	Sync symlinks + version info
claude-acc config	View what's shared across accounts
claude-acc config exclude <item>	Stop syncing an item
claude-acc config include <item>	Resume syncing an item

Daily usage

claude              # default account
claude-alt          # second account (auto-syncs before launch)
claude-team         # third account

All arguments pass through: claude-alt -c, claude-alt "fix the bug", etc.

After updating Claude Code

Nothing to do — shell functions auto-sync before every launch. New plugins, skills, and version info are picked up automatically.

Selective sync

By default, everything in ~/.claude is shared. You can exclude specific items if you want accounts to have independent data for certain things.

claude-acc config                       # view what's shared and what's excluded
claude-acc config exclude projects      # stop sharing project history
claude-acc config include projects      # share it again

Available items you can exclude or include:

Item	What it contains
settings.json	Claude Code settings and preferences
plugins	Installed plugins
skills	Custom skills
projects	Project-specific context and memory
plans	Saved plans
todos	Todo lists
tasks	Background tasks
sessions	Session data
history.jsonl	Command history
cache	Cached data
statsig	Feature flags
telemetry	Usage telemetry

Config is stored in ~/.claude-acc.json. Excluding an item immediately removes its symlink from all accounts. Including it adds it back.

What's shared vs separate

Shared (default)	Always separate
Settings, plugins, skills	OAuth credentials
Projects, history, plans	Keychain entries (macOS)
Everything in ~/.claude	.claude.json per account
Configurable via config	Crash recovery backups

Requirements

• Node.js 18+
• Claude Code installed
• macOS or Linux

License

MIT