How it works

One config directory per account

Claude Code stores each account's login, settings and history in a config directory. The default is ~/.claude; setting the CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR environment variable points Claude Code at a different one. Claude Code's authentication docs recommend exactly this for keeping a work and a personal account signed in side by side.

Where the login is kept depends on the platform:

Platform	Login stored in
macOS	The Keychain, in an entry tied to the config directory's path
Linux	.credentials.json inside the config directory
Windows	.credentials.json inside the config directory

swipe never reads or moves any of this. It only decides which directory Claude Code gets.

Picking a profile

When you run claude, the shell hook runs swipe run, which:

1. resolves the current directory to its real path, following symlinks and using the folder's real letter case;
2. finds every profile with a paths entry containing it, and picks the most specific one;
3. falls back to default if nothing matches;
4. starts the real claude with CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR set to that profile's config_dir.

The ~/.claude profile

For a profile whose config_dir is ~/.claude, swipe unsets CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR instead of setting it. On macOS, the login is tied to whether the variable is set and to its exact value. Setting it to ~/.claude explicitly would make Claude Code look for a different login, and you'd appear logged out.

If two profiles match equally well, for example because one lists a folder and another lists a symlink to the same folder, swipe refuses to guess and reports both. If the configuration is invalid or no profile matches and there's no default, claude isn't started at all, so you never end up on the wrong account by accident.

On macOS and Linux, swipe run replaces itself with claude, so signals, exit codes and the terminal behave exactly as if you'd started claude directly. On Windows it starts claude, waits for it, and passes its exit code through.

The source tree (optional)

Choosing the account is all most people need. If you also want your commands, hooks and settings kept in one place, swipe sync builds each config directory from a source tree:

~/.config/swipe/
├── profiles.json
├── shared/                 # goes into every profile
│   ├── commands/review.md
│   ├── hooks/notify.sh
│   └── settings.json
└── profiles/
    └── work/               # only for the work profile; wins over shared/
        ├── CLAUDE.md
        └── settings.json

Details in Sharing files between accounts.

What swipe will never do

• Read, copy or move your logins, history, projects, or anything else Claude Code writes for itself.
• Overwrite or delete a file it didn't create. It reports a conflict instead and leaves the file alone.
• Write or delete through a symlinked folder inside a config directory.