cprofile

cprofile is a small shell tool for managing multiple Claude Code profile directories on one machine.

It works by switching ~/.claude to point at one saved profile under ~/.claude-profiles/<name>. Plain claude then uses the currently active profile.

Repo: caotin/cprofile

Paths

cprofile uses these global locations:

• Command: ~/.local/bin/cprofile
• Profile root: ~/.claude-profiles/
• Active profile pointer: ~/.claude
• Active profile state file: ~/.config/claude-profile-switch/active

The script source in this repo is bin/cprofile.

Install

Local install from a checked out copy:

bash install.sh

Public install with curl:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/caotin/cprofile/main/install.sh | bash

Public files:

• Repo: caotin/cprofile
• Installer: install.sh
• Script: bin/cprofile

Commands

cprofile list
cprofile current
cprofile add <name>
cprofile add <name> --wizard
cprofile add <name> -w
cprofile update <name> --wizard
cprofile update <name> -w
cprofile clone <name>
cprofile use [--force] <name>
cprofile login [--force] <name> [-- <claude auth login args...>]

Quick Start

List profiles:

cprofile list

Show the active profile:

cprofile current

Create a new profile:

cprofile add work

Create a new profile and fill Claude settings from terminal input:

cprofile add local --wizard

Short form:

cprofile add local -w

That prompts for:

• host name
• model opus
• sonnet model
• model haiku

Example:

Host name: http://127.0.0.1:1234
Model opus: gpt-5.4
Model sonnet: gpt-5.4-mini
Model haiku: gpt-5.4-mini

Update an existing profile with the same wizard flow:

cprofile update local --wizard

Short form:

cprofile update local -w

Clone the current active Claude settings into a new profile:

cprofile clone local-copy

That copies:

• ~/.claude/settings.json
• ~/.claude/statusline-command.sh if it exists

Then it prints the new settings path so you can edit it directly.

update also prints the profile settings path after rewriting it.

Switch Claude to that profile:

cprofile use work

Log into Claude for that profile:

cprofile login work

Pass login flags through to Claude:

cprofile login work -- --email you@example.com
cprofile login work -- --console
cprofile login work -- --help

If Claude is already running, close it before switching profiles. To override that check:

cprofile use --force work

Create A New Profile And Edit Settings Quickly

Fastest workflow:

cprofile add myprofile
cp ~/.claude-profiles/default/settings.json ~/.claude-profiles/myprofile/settings.json
open -e ~/.claude-profiles/myprofile/settings.json
cprofile use myprofile

That creates a new profile, copies the default settings, opens the file in TextEdit, and activates the profile.

You can also generate the settings file directly during profile creation:

cprofile add myprofile --wizard

To edit an existing profile with prompts instead of opening the file manually:

cprofile update myprofile -w

Manual settings.json Editing

Each profile keeps its own settings.json.

Common files:

• Default profile settings: ~/.claude-profiles/default/settings.json
• A named profile settings file: ~/.claude-profiles/work/settings.json
• Active profile settings via symlink: ~/.claude/settings.json

Edit the active profile:

open -e ~/.claude/settings.json

Edit a specific profile without switching:

open -e ~/.claude-profiles/work/settings.json

Example full settings.json:

{
  "env": {
    "ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN": "your_auth_token_here",
    "ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL": "https://api.anthropic.com",
    "ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_HAIKU_MODEL": "claude-3-5-haiku-latest",
    "ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_OPUS_MODEL": "claude-opus-4-1",
    "ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_SONNET_MODEL": "claude-sonnet-4-5",
    "ANTHROPIC_MODEL": "claude-sonnet-4-5"
  },
  "statusLine": {
    "type": "command",
    "command": "bash ~/.claude/statusline-command.sh"
  }
}

Example local proxy setup:

{
  "env": {
    "ANTHROPIC_AUTH_TOKEN": "proxy_token_here",
    "ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL": "http://127.0.0.1:1234",
    "ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_HAIKU_MODEL": "gpt-5.4-mini",
    "ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_OPUS_MODEL": "gpt-5.4",
    "ANTHROPIC_DEFAULT_SONNET_MODEL": "gpt-5.4-mini",
    "ANTHROPIC_MODEL": "gpt-5.4-mini"
  },
  "statusLine": {
    "type": "command",
    "command": "bash ~/.claude/statusline-command.sh"
  }
}

After saving changes, run:

cprofile use <name>
claude

How It Works

cprofile manages these pieces:

• ~/.claude-profiles/<name> stores one Claude profile directory
• ~/.claude is a symlink to the active profile directory
• ~/.config/claude-profile-switch/active stores the active profile name

On first bootstrap, the existing ~/.claude directory is moved into ~/.claude-profiles/default, then ~/.claude becomes a symlink to that profile.

Notes And Limitation

cprofile correctly switches the Claude profile directory and its settings.json, sessions, plugins, and local profile files.

During verification, an empty temporary profile still showed a logged-in Claude account. That suggests Claude Code may also read some authentication state from outside ~/.claude. So profile switching is implemented and working, but first-party Claude login isolation may not be fully controlled by the profile directory alone.

Use this tool as a practical profile switcher, but do not assume it guarantees complete account isolation unless Claude Code’s auth storage behavior is fully confirmed.