Use multiple Claude Code accounts with CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR

Claude Code keeps one login per configuration directory. Give each account its own directory and a shell alias, sign in once in each, and a personal plan and a work plan can stay signed in side by side, in different terminals, at the same time.

Updated 2 November 2026

How CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR works

CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR tells Claude Code where to keep its configuration instead of the default ~/.claude. Settings, session history and plugins live there, and so does the login: each directory has its own claude.ai login or API key.

On macOS the login itself is stored in the Keychain, in an entry keyed to the directory. A session started with a different CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR reads a different entry, so each account keeps its own login.

1. Add an alias for each extra account

Keep claude for your default account and add an alias for every other one. In zsh, the macOS default shell, that goes in ~/.zshrc; in bash, in ~/.bashrc.

# ~/.zshrc
alias claude-work='CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR=$HOME/.claude-work claude'

Add one line per extra account, each with its own directory. Open a new terminal so the alias loads.

2. Sign in once per directory

Run claude-work. The first time, Claude Code walks you through login and setup for the new directory, so sign in with the account that belongs there. After that, every claude-work session uses that account.

To confirm which account a terminal is using, type /status in Claude Code. It shows the version, model, account and connectivity.

3. See every account's limits at once

/usage only reports the account of the terminal you type it in. To see all of them together, notch-limits puts one ring per account around the MacBook notch. Hover it and it expands into each account's five-hour session and weekly windows, with the time each one resets. With two or more Claude Code accounts, the one with the most headroom gets a "Best now" tag.

In most setups there is nothing to configure. At launch, and whenever you open Settings, notch-limits looks at the folders directly inside your home folder:

So the ~/.claude-work folder from step 1 shows up as "Claude Work" the next time the app starts or you open Settings. Discovery only checks that these files exist: it doesn't open them, read your shell configuration or touch the Keychain. Automatic discovery and the Settings window need notch-limits 1.1 or later.

Manage accounts in Settings

Click the gear in the expanded notch, or in the menu bar panel on a Mac without a notch. Every account, found or configured, has a row where you can:

• Show or hide it. The last visible account can't be hidden.
• Rename it, for example from "Claude" to "Claude Personal". Press Return or click elsewhere to apply.
• Pick its icon.
• Move it up or down. The first half of the list sits left of the notch, the rest on the right.

Changes apply immediately, with no restart and no network request, and are saved to ~/.config/notch-limits/accounts.json.

When you still need accounts.json

Only for config folders that aren't directly in your home folder, or aren't named .claude… or .codex…. Add an entry for each one by hand. The easiest start is to change anything in Settings first: it writes every account to the file, and you add yours to that list.

// ~/.config/notch-limits/accounts.json
[
  { "name": "Claude Personal",
    "provider": "claude", "path": "~/.claude" },
  { "name": "Claude Work", "icon": "briefcase.fill",
    "provider": "claude", "path": "~/.claude-work" },
  { "name": "Claude Client", "icon": "building.2.fill",
    "provider": "claude", "path": "~/clients/acme/claude" },
  { "name": "Codex",
    "provider": "codex", "path": "~/.codex" }
]

• Use the same directory as the alias. path is the value your alias passes as CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR.
• The file wins. Once accounts.json exists, it decides what is shown and in what order. Any found account that isn't in it is added hidden, so your setup stays as it was; turn it on in Settings.
• Your original is kept. Before Settings first overwrites a file you wrote or edited by hand, it copies it to accounts.json.bak. An existing backup is never replaced.
• Apply hand edits by restarting the app or clicking the gear: every click re-reads the file and your home folder.

What it reads for each account

For each directory, notch-limits reads the usage snapshot Claude Code already keeps in that directory's .claude.json (for the default account, ~/.claude.json). It reads the login from the Keychain entry Claude Code created for that directory, through /usr/bin/security, so there is no permission prompt. It only calls the usage endpoint when the snapshot is more than 10 minutes old, and it never refreshes, rewrites or uploads tokens.

Codex works the same way with CODEX_HOME: every ~/.codex… folder with an auth.json is found on its own, and homes kept anywhere else go in accounts.json as codex entries.

Troubleshooting

• "Credential not found in Keychain". That directory has no login yet, or a hand-written path doesn't match the alias. Run the alias once, sign in, and check the path. If it's an old folder you no longer use, hide it in Settings.
• "Token expired — open the CLI to renew it". Access tokens are short-lived and notch-limits never refreshes them, so it doesn't race your CLI. Run that account's alias once and it comes back on the next refresh.
• An account is missing. Open Settings: if you already had an accounts.json, a newly found account starts hidden there, so turn it on. If it isn't listed at all, check that the folder sits directly in your home folder, that its name starts with .claude or .codex, and that it contains .claude.json (Claude Code) or auth.json (Codex). Anything else needs an accounts.json entry. If that file isn't valid JSON, notch-limits ignores it and uses the accounts it finds.

Next: how to check Claude Code usage limits on a Mac →

Sources

• Claude Code docs: Log in with multiple accounts
• Claude Code docs: Credential management
• Claude Code docs: Environment variables (CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR)
• Claude Code docs: Commands (/status, /usage)
• notch-limits README: Configuration

notch-limits is an unofficial community project, not affiliated with or endorsed by Anthropic or OpenAI. Claude Code changes often; the linked docs are the source of truth.