Switch Claude identities. Keep your context.

Named accounts — work, personal, client-A, as many as you need.
altergo work and you are in. Isolates Claude. Shares everything else.

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Why altergo

You have more than one Claude Code subscription. Switching between them normally means juggling separate terminals, losing your session history, or manually swapping credential files. That is friction you should not have to think about.

altergo runs each Claude account in its own isolated HOME, so credentials never mix. Session history, settings, and tool configs are shared across all accounts via symlinks — pick up any conversation from any account, instantly.

No daemon. No sync service. No config files to wrangle. One Python file.

Before and after

Before altergo	With altergo
Separate terminals per account, or swap credential files by hand Log out, log in, lose your place Each account has its own session history — hard to find "where was I?" Tool configs (AWS, gcloud, kubectl) randomly break as you jump around Mixing a work question into a personal session, then panicking	One terminal. altergo work → you are in the work account. Credentials swap instantly, no login dance Session history shared across all accounts — altergo --resume picks from everywhere AWS, gcloud, Docker, kubectl stay shared by default — nothing breaks Each account is isolated at HOME, so wires never cross

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Install

pip (recommended — always up to date from PyPI)

pip install altergo

pipx (isolated environment)

pipx install altergo

curl (single-file, no pip required)

curl -fsSL \
  https://raw.githubusercontent.com/thepixelabs/altergo/main/altergo.py \
  -o ~/.local/bin/altergo
chmod +x ~/.local/bin/altergo

Homebrew

brew install thepixelabs/tap/altergo

Requirements: Python 3.10+, Claude Code CLI installed, macOS or Linux.

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Quick start

# Create named accounts — repeat for as many as you need
altergo --setup --name work
altergo --setup --name personal

# Launch Claude as that account
altergo work

# Open the interactive session picker across all accounts
altergo --resume

That is the full workflow. The first time you run altergo work, Claude authenticates under that account's isolated credentials. Every session you create is visible from every account.

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Features

Feature	What it means
Named accounts, unlimited	work, personal, client-a, or any name. Each gets its own Claude credentials.
One command to switch	altergo work launches Claude with the right credentials. No flags, no config editing.
Credential isolation	Only Claude's OAuth token is isolated per account. AWS, GCP, Docker, kubectl, and GitHub CLI stay shared by default.
Configurable sharing	altergo --settings opens a curses TUI — space to toggle which CLI tools share credentials, s to save.
Interactive session picker	Full-screen TUI with arrow keys, j/k vim bindings, page up/down, and a preview of each session's final message.
Session preview	See project name, last modified time, size, and last message before you resume.
Zero dependencies	Ships as a single Python file. Standard library only.
Cross-platform	macOS and Linux wherever Python 3.10+ is available.
Silent auto-migration	Existing v0.4.x installs upgrade automatically on first run. No manual steps.

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Command reference

Command	What it does
altergo <name>	Launch Claude as the named account (e.g. altergo work)
altergo	Launch Claude as the default account (backwards compatible)
altergo --resume	Open the interactive TUI session picker (all accounts)
altergo --resume <id>	Resume a specific session by ID directly
altergo --list	Print recent sessions as a plain table
altergo --setup --name <n>	Create a named account, wire symlinks automatically
altergo --teardown	Remove symlinks (account directory and credentials untouched)
altergo --teardown --name <n>	Remove a specific named account's symlinks
altergo --settings	Configure which CLI tool credentials are shared (interactive TUI)
altergo <name> shell	Interactive shell inside the named account HOME
altergo <name> -- <cmd>	Run one command with HOME set to the named account directory
altergo --version	Show version number
altergo --help	Show help text

Keyboard shortcuts (interactive picker)

Key	Action
↑ / k	Move up
↓ / j	Move down
PgUp / PgDn	Page scroll
g / G	Jump to top / bottom
Enter	Resume session
q / Esc	Quit

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How it works

altergo sets HOME=~/.altergo/accounts/<name> for the Claude process. Each account's token lives at ~/.altergo/accounts/<name>/.claude/.credentials.json. Everything else is shared via symlinks back to your primary ~/.claude/.

~/.claude/                        Your primary Claude Code account (untouched)
    ├── .credentials.json
    ├── projects/
    └── ...

~/.altergo/
    └── accounts/
        ├── default/              Default alt account
        │   └── .claude/
        │       ├── .credentials.json   ← isolated per account
        │       ├── projects/        ──→ symlink to ~/.claude/projects/
        │       ├── settings.json    ──→ symlink to ~/.claude/settings.json
        │       └── CLAUDE.md        ──→ symlink to ~/.claude/CLAUDE.md
        └── work/                 Named account (altergo --setup --name work)
            └── .claude/
                ├── .credentials.json   ← isolated per account
                ├── projects/        ──→ symlink to ~/.claude/projects/
                └── ...

What gets symlinked (shared across all accounts): projects/, tasks/, session-env/, file-history/, shell-snapshots/, agents/, plans/, cache/, settings.json, CLAUDE.md, keybindings.json

What stays separate: .credentials.json

CLI tool credentials are shared or isolated per tool, configurable via altergo --settings. Shared by default: .aws, .config/gcloud, .azure, .docker, .kube, .terraform.d, .config/gh. Isolated by default: .ssh, .gitconfig, .gnupg, .npmrc, .config/glab.

Running other tools in account context

Some tools (gh, git, SSH) read credentials from your home directory. Use altergo <name> shell or altergo <name> -- <cmd> to run them inside a specific account's HOME:

# Authenticate gh for the work account
altergo work shell
gh auth login
git config --global user.email me@work.com
exit

# Or run a single command directly
altergo work -- gh auth login
altergo work -- gh auth status

Credentials set this way persist in ~/.altergo/accounts/work/ and are available every time you run altergo work. The same pattern works for the default account with altergo shell or altergo -- <cmd>.

macOS Keychain note

Claude Code may store tokens in the system Keychain rather than a flat file. When you authenticate inside altergo work, the token is stored under a separate Keychain entry keyed to that account's email. The .credentials.json file may appear empty — this is expected. Auth still works correctly.

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Migrating from v0.4.x

If you have an existing ~/.altergo/ directory from v0.4.x, altergo migrates it automatically on first run. Your old setup becomes the default account at ~/.altergo/accounts/default/. A backup is preserved at ~/.altergo/.legacy-backup/. No manual steps required.

Full details: https://altergo.pixelabs.net/docs/migration-0.5

Migrating from claude100-resume

If you used the earlier claude100-resume tool with ~/claude100-home/, your credentials and alias are not picked up automatically. See docs/migration.md for step-by-step instructions.

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Contributing & License

See CONTRIBUTING.md · MIT License

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altergo is an independent open-source project by Pixelabs · not affiliated with Anthropic PBC

altergo depends on the internal directory structure of Claude Code. Anthropic may change this without notice — if altergo breaks after a Claude Code update, please open an issue. Back up ~/.claude/ before first use. Full terms in DISCLAIMER.md.