claude-desktop-swap

README

claude-desktop-swap

Switch between multiple Claude Desktop accounts without logging out of any of them.

How it works

Claude Desktop is an Electron app whose root Cookies SQLite database is the authoritative local session evidence. claude-desktop-swap stores that database as a named profile and swaps it only after Claude and its helper processes have fully stopped.

Before restoring the incoming profile, a switch checkpoints the currently tracked outgoing profile. This preserves cookie refreshes made since the previous switch. Local Storage, IndexedDB, and Session Storage are volatile account caches: they are cleared after replacement so Claude can rebuild them from the restored cookies.

Installation

Download the latest binary for your platform from the releases page.

macOS (Apple Silicon)

curl -L https://github.com/FranCalveyra/claude-desktop-swap/releases/latest/download/claude-desktop-swap_darwin_arm64.tar.gz | tar xz
sudo mv claude-desktop-swap /usr/local/bin/

macOS (Intel)

curl -L https://github.com/FranCalveyra/claude-desktop-swap/releases/latest/download/claude-desktop-swap_darwin_amd64.tar.gz | tar xz
sudo mv claude-desktop-swap /usr/local/bin/

Build from source

go install github.com/FranCalveyra/claude-desktop-swap@latest

Usage

# Save your current session as a named profile (quit Claude first)
claude-desktop-swap save personal

# Add another account interactively — no manual logout required
claude-desktop-swap add work

# Switch to a saved profile (kills and restarts Claude Desktop)
claude-desktop-swap use work

# List all saved profiles (* = active)
claude-desktop-swap list

# Show the currently active profile
claude-desktop-swap status

# Delete a profile
claude-desktop-swap delete old-account

First-time setup

1. Make sure you're logged into Claude Desktop as your first account. Quit Claude Desktop, then snapshot it:

   claude-desktop-swap save personal
   

2. Add a second account — add snapshots personal, clears the slate, opens Claude for you to log in, and saves the new session:

   claude-desktop-swap add work
   

3. Repeat add <name> for any additional accounts.

From here on, switching is one command:

claude-desktop-swap use personal
claude-desktop-swap use work

Important: Never manually log out of Claude Desktop to set up a new account — Anthropic invalidates the session server-side and the snapshot becomes useless. Always use add or save to capture a session before any logout.

save, including save --force, refuses to snapshot while Claude is running. A quiescent database is required for a safe WAL checkpoint.

Profile storage

Profiles are stored at ~/.claude-swap/profiles/<name>/ and contain:

File	Contents
Cookies	SQLite copy of your session cookies
meta.json	Non-secret format, identity, local health, timestamp, and integrity metadata

Version 2 profiles contain only these two files. Directories use 0700; files use 0600. Cookie values are never selected, decrypted, printed, or logged.

Version 1 profiles remain readable without eager migration. A locally usable v1 profile restores normally and becomes v2 only after its next successful outgoing checkpoint. Expired or incomplete v1 profiles cannot be repaired from legacy Local Storage or IndexedDB data; sign in again and save a fresh profile.

Health is based on non-secret local SQLite evidence and is reported as usable, expired, missing, or unknown. Expired, missing, unknown, unsafe, or integrity-mismatched profiles are never restored. Server-side expiry cannot be extended by this tool.

The active profile is tracked at ~/.claude-swap/current, but status reports a profile name only when live Cookies actually match a usable saved profile.

Switch safety and preserved data

A switch follows: target preflight → verified full stop → outgoing WAL checkpoint and atomic profile commit → staged incoming replacement → volatile-cache clearing → active tracking → launch. Interrupted profile writes retain the previous generation for recovery. A failed incoming replacement rolls back live Cookies and does not report success. If launch fails after commit, the incoming profile remains active and Claude can be opened manually.

Only Cookies, Cookies-journal, Cookies-wal, Cookies-shm, Local Storage/leveldb, IndexedDB, and Session Storage participate in session replacement or cache clearing. Global and machine state—including config.json, WebStorage, partitions, and ant-did—is preserved.

Platform support

OS	Status
macOS	Supported
Windows	Planned

Security

Cookie values are encrypted by Chromium using your OS keychain. claude-desktop-swap never decrypts them — it copies raw encrypted blobs, which are only usable on the machine where they were created.

Profile directories are created with 0700 permissions and profile files with 0600. Restoration refuses broader permissions.