Guise

Run all your Claude Desktop accounts at once — each in its own window, each staying logged in. No logging out, no re-entering your password.

Got a work account and a personal one? Normally Claude Desktop only holds one
login at a time — to use the other you log out, retype your email, wait for the
code, log back in, and the first account is now logged out. Every time.

guise gives each account its own private Claude profile, so they all stay
logged in side by side. You just open the one you want.

$ guise work        # opens (or focuses) your work account's window
$ guise personal    # personal's window — already logged in, no reload

How it's different

guise doesn't copy or swap your session around (that fails — Claude ties a login
to one profile and drops it the moment you sign out). Instead, each account lives
in its own permanent Claude profile folder, launched independently. Logging
into one account never touches another, so nothing ever gets logged out.

Everything stays on your computer. guise never reads, copies, or decrypts
your login — Claude owns each folder; guise only decides which one to open.
Accounts stay live together. Open two (or more) Claude windows at once and
click between them.
Set up once. Log into each account a single time; it stays logged in.

Install

Quick install — macOS:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/siddhjagani/guise/main/install.sh | bash

Quick install — Windows (PowerShell; installs to
%LOCALAPPDATA%\guise\bin and adds it to your PATH):

irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/siddhjagani/guise/main/install.ps1 | iex

Homebrew (macOS):

brew install siddhjagani/tap/guise

From source (needs a Rust toolchain):

macOS:

git clone https://github.com/siddhjagani/guise
cd guise && ./install.sh

Windows:

git clone https://github.com/siddhjagani/guise
cd guise
powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File install.ps1

macOS (Apple Silicon + Intel) and Windows. Run guise doctor any time to check
things are in order.

Get started

1. Save your first account. This opens a fresh Claude window:

$ guise add work
✓ Created work. A fresh Claude window is opening — log into this account there.

Log into that window normally. Done — work stays logged in from now on.

2. Save your other account. Opens a second window (the first stays logged in):

$ guise add personal
✓ Created personal. A fresh Claude window is opening — log into this account there.

Log into that one too.

3. From now on, just open whichever you want:

$ guise work        # opens work (or brings its window to the front)
$ guise personal    # opens personal

Both windows can be open at the same time — switch by clicking, instantly, with
no reload and no login screen.

Everyday commands

guise               # pick an account from a menu and open it
guise <name>        # open that account (● = already open)
guise all           # open every account's window at once
guise add <name>    # save a new account (opens a window to log into)
guise ls            # list your accounts (● marks the ones open now)
guise rm <name>     # forget an account (closes its window, deletes its profile)
guise doctor        # check everything's set up

Running guise on its own gives you a menu (with an "open all" option on top):

$ guise
? Open which account?
❯ ★ Open ALL accounts
  1. work ●  ·  [email protected]
  2. personal  ·  [email protected]

Add --email [email protected] to guise add if you want your email shown in the
list (Claude doesn't expose it, so guise can't fill it in for you):

guise add work --email [email protected]

See your accounts

$ guise ls
● 1. work        ·  [email protected]
  2. personal    ·  [email protected]

(The ● means that account's window is open right now.)

Telling the windows apart

Every window is still named "Claude" — macOS won't let an app be renamed
without breaking Anthropic's code signature (the app then refuses to launch), so
guise can't give each window a custom title. To move between open accounts:

guise all brings them all up, then use Mission Control (swipe up / F3)
to see every window at once.
Cmd-` (backtick) cycles through Claude's windows.
Each window's title reflects its own account's workspace/chat, so they're not
identical on screen.

On Windows, every account's window groups under the one Claude taskbar button —
hover it to pick a window, or use Alt-Tab. guise <name> also brings that
account's window to the front.

Is everything okay?

$ guise doctor
guise checkup

  ✓ Claude.app               /Applications/Claude.app
  ✓ Claude executable        /Applications/Claude.app/Contents/MacOS/Claude
  ✓ guise store              /Users/you/.config/guise

  Saved accounts:
    1. work  ·  [email protected] ● running
    2. personal  ·  [email protected]

  overall: healthy ✓

On Windows the first check reads ✓ Claude Desktop C:\Users\you\AppData\Local\Microsoft\WindowsApps\claude-desktop.exe
(or ...\AnthropicClaude\claude.exe for the older .exe install).

Where guise keeps its files

Each account is a folder under ~/.config/guise/accounts/ (on Windows,
%USERPROFILE%\.config\guise\accounts\) — its own complete Claude profile. Delete
~/.config/guise and guise forgets every account (each one's login just goes away
with its folder; nothing else on your computer is touched).

Upgrading? If you have an existing ~/.guise directory, guise automatically
migrates it to ~/.config/guise on first run and leaves a compatibility symlink
at the old path. You can also set $XDG_CONFIG_HOME to override the location.

Settings

guise config                              # show settings
guise config set app-path /path/Claude.app  # if Claude.app isn't in /Applications

On Windows guise finds Claude by itself: the claude-desktop.exe app alias of
the standard install, or %LOCALAPPDATA%\AnthropicClaude\claude.exe for the
older .exe install. If you turned the alias off (Settings → Apps → Advanced app
settings → App execution aliases), turn it back on, or point guise at Claude's
executable:

guise config set app-path "C:\path\to\Claude.exe"

Add --json to guise ls or guise doctor for scriptable output.

Good to know

macOS (Apple Silicon + Intel) and Windows. Profiles are tied to this
machine and aren't meant to be copied elsewhere.
Running two Claude windows uses roughly twice the memory of one — expected,
since they're two real app instances.
Windows — sign in with email: in the window guise add opens, choose
Continue with email and type the verification code into that window.
Google, Apple and SSO sign-in return through a claude:// link that Windows
always hands to your normal Claude profile, so they can't finish in a guise
window (or sign your normal profile in instead).
Windows — updates: when Claude updates itself it closes every Claude
window and reopens only your normal profile; run guise all to bring the
others back.
Windows: sharing Claude Code chats for meld is off by default (the linked
chats folder it needs hasn't been proven with Claude on Windows yet). To try it: guise config set share-code-sessions on,
then set meld's sessions_root to the code-sessions-root that guise config
shows, and keep meld watch running.

Uninstall