Sharing files between accounts¶

swipe sync builds each profile's config directory from one source tree, so a command or hook you fix once is fixed for every account.

Layout¶

~/.config/swipe/
├── profiles.json
├── shared/                  # every profile gets these
│   ├── CLAUDE.md
│   ├── commands/review.md
│   ├── hooks/notify.sh
│   └── settings.json
└── profiles/
    ├── personal/            # only the personal profile
    │   └── commands/journal.md
    └── work/                # only the work profile
        ├── CLAUDE.md        # replaces shared/CLAUDE.md for work
        └── settings.json    # merged over shared/settings.json for work

Run swipe sync after adding, removing or renaming files. Edits to a file that's already synced show up straight away, because the config directory links to the source.

$ swipe sync
personal (/Users/you/.claude)
  link /Users/you/.claude/commands/review.md -> /Users/you/.config/swipe/shared/commands/review.md
work (/Users/you/.claude-work)
  link /Users/you/.claude-work/CLAUDE.md -> /Users/you/.config/swipe/profiles/work/CLAUDE.md
  write /Users/you/.claude-work/settings.json

A sync with nothing to do prints only the profile names. Running it twice in a row is always safe.

The rules¶

Files. Every file under shared/ goes into every profile at the same relative path. A file at the same path under profiles/<name>/ replaces it for that profile. On macOS and Windows, paths that differ only in letter case count as the same path.

Links or copies. Files are symlinked to the source. Where symlinks aren't allowed, swipe copies them instead (see Windows). Copies keep the source's executable bit, so hook scripts still run.

Symlinks in the source are followed, so you can point shared/skills at a folder in another repo and its files are synced like any other.

Ignored names: .DS_Store, and the .swipe-manifest.json file swipe keeps in each config directory.

Removing. When a file leaves the source, the next sync removes the link or copy it made, and any folder that's left empty.

settings.json¶

settings.json is merged instead of linked, because each profile usually needs a little of its own. swipe merges profiles/<name>/settings.json over shared/settings.json:

objects are merged key by key;
lists are combined, keeping the shared items first and adding the profile's new ones;
anything else from the profile replaces the shared value.

shared/settings.json

{ "model": "opus", "permissions": { "allow": ["Read", "Bash(ls:*)"] } }

profiles/work/settings.json

{ "model": "sonnet", "permissions": { "allow": ["Bash(git status)"] } }

~/.claude-work/settings.json (written by swipe)

{ "model": "sonnet", "permissions": { "allow": ["Read", "Bash(ls:*)", "Bash(git status)"] } }

The result is written as a real file. When both sources are removed, swipe removes the settings.json it wrote.

Edits made directly to settings.json

If anything edits the config directory's settings.json directly (you, Claude Code, or a tool that installs plugins), the next swipe sync notices and stops with a conflict for that file instead of overwriting it. Copy what you want to keep into your source settings.json, delete the config directory's settings.json, and sync again.

Conflicts¶

swipe never overwrites or deletes something it didn't create. The one exception is a file that is byte-for-byte identical to its source (or a settings.json with the same JSON content): replacing it with a link loses nothing, so swipe does. Even then it moves the original aside first, and only deletes it once the link works; if anything fails, the original goes back. When something is in the way, it reports a conflict for that file, syncs everything else, and exits with status 1:

swipe: /Users/you/.claude/hooks/notify.sh: already exists or was edited in place; move what you
want to keep into /Users/you/.config/swipe, delete it, then re-run

Message	Meaning	Fix
`already exists or was edited in place`	A file is there that `swipe` didn't write, or a copy was edited	Move it into the source tree (or delete it), then sync
`is a symlink not made by swipe`	Your own symlink is in the way	Remove it, or move its target into the source tree
`is inside …, which is a symlink`	A folder in the config directory is a symlink; writing into it would change files elsewhere	Replace the symlinked folder with a real one, or stop managing that folder
`is a directory`	A folder sits where a file should go	Move or delete the folder
`was changed outside swipe`	`settings.json` was edited, by you or by Claude Code	Fold the change into the source and delete the file
`leads back to this file`	The source file is a link to the very file in the config directory	Replace the link in the source tree with the real file
`….swipe-replacing is in the way`	A sync was interrupted while it replaced a file; this is the original	Check it, keep what you need, delete it, then sync

Windows¶

Creating symlinks on Windows needs Developer Mode (Settings → System → For developers) or an administrator shell. Without either, swipe copies files instead and says so once:

  symlinks are not allowed here, so swipe will copy files instead

Copies behave like links except that edits to the source only arrive on the next swipe sync. swipe remembers what it copied, so it updates its copies but never overwrites one you edited in place. Set SWIPE_COPY=1 to get copies on any platform.

Stopping¶

To stop syncing a profile, delete .swipe-manifest.json from its config directory. Its links still point into the source tree, so either keep the source tree or replace the links with real files first:

# macOS and Linux: turn every link into the source tree into a real copy
SRC="$HOME/.config/swipe"
find ~/.claude -type l -lname "$SRC/*" -exec sh -c \
  'target=$(readlink "$1") && rm "$1" && cp -p "$target" "$1"' _ {} \;
rm ~/.claude/.swipe-manifest.json

Repeat for each config directory. On Windows without Developer Mode the files are already copies, so deleting .swipe-manifest.json is enough.