Accounts Skill

Manages multiple Claude Code accounts using isolated CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR directories. One directory per account keeps auth tokens, session history, and settings separate. Shell aliases let the user pick an account before Claude Code starts — no /logout//login needed.

Script: scripts/manage-accounts.py. Registry: ~/.claude-accounts/accounts.json.

Quick reference

Task	Command
Add an account	python3 scripts/manage-accounts.py add <name>
Add with a named alias	python3 scripts/manage-accounts.py add work --alias cwork
List all accounts	python3 scripts/manage-accounts.py list
Validate all accounts	python3 scripts/manage-accounts.py check
Launch an account	python3 scripts/manage-accounts.py launch <name>
Share skills, agents, commands from ~/.claude	python3 scripts/manage-accounts.py link [<name>]
Register toolkit hooks in every account's settings.json	./install.sh (vexinstall apply; see docs/installer-layout.md)
Install/update aliases	python3 scripts/manage-accounts.py install-aliases
Preview alias changes	python3 scripts/manage-accounts.py install-aliases --dry-run
Remove an account	python3 scripts/manage-accounts.py remove <name>

Setup flow for 10+ accounts

1. Add accounts

python3 scripts/manage-accounts.py add work --alias cwork
python3 scripts/manage-accounts.py add personal --alias cpersonal
python3 scripts/manage-accounts.py add max1 --alias cm1
# … repeat for as many accounts as needed

Use named aliases (cwork, cpersonal) rather than sequential ones (c1, c2) — named aliases are self-documenting and you won't need list to remember which is which.

Each add creates ~/.claude-accounts/<name>/, assigns the alias, installs aliases into your shell config, and links the account's skills/, agents/, and commands/ to ~/.claude.

How the toolkit reaches every account

./install.sh installs once into ~/.claude. Every account dir holds symlinks to ~/.claude/skills, ~/.claude/agents, and ~/.claude/commands, so each skill exists once and every account sees the same set. Run link (no name means all accounts) to repair an account made before this, or one where Claude Code created its own skills/ dir. link moves non-conflicting content, such as skills/synced/<account-id>/, into ~/.claude first. It stops and reports on a real conflict.

2. Log in to each account

After add, the script prints a login command. Run it once per account:

CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR=~/.claude-accounts/work claude
# inside Claude Code: /login
# exit, then repeat for each account

3. Verify

python3 scripts/manage-accounts.py list
python3 scripts/manage-accounts.py check

list shows every account including the default ~/.claude one. check validates that each registered account has credentials and shares the toolkit dirs.

4. Use

Reload your shell once, then use aliases from any terminal:

cwork            # opens Claude Code with the 'work' account
cpersonal        # opens Claude Code with the 'personal' account
cwork --resume   # resumes the last session for the 'work' account

Shell alias format

Fish (~/.config/fish/config.fish):

function cwork
    set -lx CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR "~/.claude-accounts/work"
    claude --dangerously-skip-permissions --chrome --system-prompt="." $argv
end

Bash/Zsh (~/.bashrc / ~/.zshrc):

alias cwork='CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR="~/.claude-accounts/work" claude --dangerously-skip-permissions --chrome --system-prompt="."'

install-aliases also writes cm0, which starts the default profile (~/.claude). It runs env -u CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR claude ...: it clears an inherited value and never sets one, because setting CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR (even to ~/.claude) moves Claude's state off ~/.claude.json and breaks the default login. cm0 is reserved; add rejects it.

Every alias and launch pass DEFAULT_CLAUDE_ARGS from scripts/manage-accounts.py before your own arguments. Edit that tuple and re-run install-aliases to change them.

The managed block is idempotent — re-run install-aliases any time to sync after adding accounts. Use --dry-run to preview changes before writing:

python3 scripts/manage-accounts.py install-aliases --dry-run --shell fish

Manual alternative (2 accounts only)

If you have exactly two accounts and prefer not to use the script:

# ~/.config/fish/config.fish
function cwork
    set -lx CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR "$HOME/.claude-accounts/work"
    claude $argv
end
function cpersonal
    set -lx CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR "$HOME/.claude-accounts/personal"
    claude $argv
end

Create dirs and log in manually:

mkdir -p ~/.claude-accounts/work ~/.claude-accounts/personal
CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR=~/.claude-accounts/work claude   # /login
CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR=~/.claude-accounts/personal claude  # /login

Notes

• Accounts share the same Claude Code binary and one vexjoy-agent install in ~/.claude.
• Usage limits are per-subscription — no automatic failover between accounts.
• Session histories are isolated; --resume picks up the right history per alias.
• remove preserves the config directory so credentials are not accidentally deleted. To fully purge, delete the directory manually after remove.
• Shell config mutation note: install-aliases writes a managed block between header/footer markers. Do not delete the markers manually; doing so causes the next run to append a second block instead of replacing. Use --dry-run to inspect before writing.
• The default ~/.claude account (no alias, opened by bare claude) is always shown in list but not managed by this script.