Running two Claude Code accounts side by side with separate config folders

On October 25, 2026, the AI section of DEV Community published a guide titled "Running two Claude Code accounts at the same time". The author discloses that they build Claude Sessions Pro, a paid Mac and Windows app for running several Claude accounts at once, notes that everything in the article works without it, and reserves a clearly marked section near the end for the app.

The article describes a common setup: a user has a work Claude account and a personal one, or one account per client. Claude Code signs in to a single account, so switching between them means running /logout and /login, dealing with a browser tab, and losing your place in the conversation. An hour later the reverse switch may be needed again.

The method presented relies on where Claude Code stores its state. Login, settings, history, and MCP servers all live in one folder per account, so pointing the CLI at a different folder at launch lets two terminals run two accounts side by side without repeated /logout and /login. The article walks through the steps on macOS, Linux, Windows (PowerShell, cmd, and Windows Terminal), plus VS Code and CI, and closes with a list of common mistakes that cause both terminals to silently share the same login.

No further developments have been reported since the article was published, so the technique rests on that single write-up and its instructions stand as given, unverified by any other coverage. A follow-up note suggests the approach extends to GPT, Gemini, and other similar coding assistants.