Using two (or more) Claude accounts with Claude Code.

Without Mastlight

1. Give each account its own configuration folder

   Claude Code reads the CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR environment variable to decide where its settings, session history and login live. Point it at a different folder per account and each keeps its own settings, history and sign-in. Your first account can stay on the default, ~/.claude. On a Mac, in zsh or bash, an alias does it. Add this to ~/.zshrc or ~/.bashrc:

   alias claude-work='CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR=~/.claude-work claude'Copy

   In Windows PowerShell, set the variable for the session and then start Claude Code:

   $env:CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR = "$env:USERPROFILE\.claude-work"; claudeCopy

   The variable stays set for that PowerShell window. To get back to your default account, open a new window, or clear it with Remove-Item Env:CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR.

2. Sign in once per folder

   Open a new terminal and run claude-work. The first time, Claude Code walks you through login and setup for that folder. From then on claude uses your first account and claude-work uses the other.

3. Check which account you are in

   Inside a session, /status shows the version, model and account. /login signs in again, and /logout signs out.

4. Know what is and is not separate

   Each folder has its own session history, so a conversation started under one account does not show up under the other. /usage shows your plan usage limits. One caveat from Claude Code’s docs: two Claude Console sign-ins that do not use an API key are not kept apart by folders, because Claude Code stores that kind of sign-in outside the configuration directory.

The by-hand setup is simple, and it is enough for one terminal at a time. It gets fiddly when you have six sessions open across two accounts: nothing on screen says which account a given tab is using unless you ask /status in each, and the limits are one more command per account.

A note on terms: each account should be your own. Anthropic’s Consumer Terms do not allow sharing a login.

How Mastlight does it

Mastlight does the same thing underneath: every account is a CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR, and every session starts under the account you pick. You just never type the variable.

• Add an account inside the app. It opens a built-in terminal running claude for that account, and you sign in with Claude’s own /login. Mastlight never sees, stores or types a credential. Accounts you already have (~/.claude and any ~/.claude-* folder) are offered for import in place, never moved.
• Pick the account per session. ⌘ N Ctrl Shift N asks for a folder and an account.
• One list for every account. Group sessions by state, by project, or by account. Each account has its own colour chip, so you can see at a glance whose session it is.
• Restore remembers the account. After a crash or a restart, the next launch offers to restore your sessions, and each one comes back in its own folder under its own account. With aliases, that is on you to remember.
• Each account’s limits, in view. The 5-hour and weekly gauges sit under the session list without opening anything. Limits Pilot forecasts when the 5-hour limit will run out, warns quietly at 80% and 95%, and shows when your other account has more room. It never switches accounts for you.

Drawn for this page: sessions grouped by account.

Two accounts, with the limit banner, on a Mac with sample data.