SwitchBuild status Keep work and personal Claude accounts easy to tell apart
Give each account a recognizable name, a consistent color and a predictable place in your profile list. In Switch, those choices make it easier to choose the intended Claude Desktop account without signing out of the others.
A guide from Switch, an independent Claude Desktop profile manager. Switch is currently a personal build; there is no public download yet.
Use names that answer which account this is
Start with names such as Work and Personal. If you have a third account, name it for its actual purpose rather than using another variation of Work. The goal is to recognize the account at a glance, including when you are moving quickly between windows.
Switch offers eight colors and individual colored Claude or letter icons. Pick distinct colors for accounts you commonly use together. Keep the same names and colors over time so that a familiar icon continues to mean the same thing.
These are visual cues, not checks on what you type or which files you open. Before sharing something sensitive with Claude, confirm the signed-in account inside Claude itself.
Keep the list and shortcuts predictable
Switch uses a small profile list with manual ordering. Drag profiles into an order that matches how you use them. Put frequently used profiles where they are easy to find, then set each profile’s shortcut to a combination you can remember.
For example, Work might use Control–Command–1 and Personal Control–Command–2. Switch displays the assigned shortcuts in the manager. Check those displayed assignments after changing your setup rather than assuming a list position determines the shortcut.
The Switch Dock icon opens the manager directly. Each profile also has its own colored Dock icon, so the manager is not your only route into an account.
Sign in and connect services separately
Each profile keeps a separate Claude login. Sign in with the account you intended for that profile and verify it before beginning work. Creating a profile does not create a new Anthropic account or supply a subscription.
Cloud connector authorization remains per account. If a connector is available in Work, do not assume it has also been authorized in Personal. Decide which services belong with each account, and follow any workplace rules for connecting them.
Supported local Claude Code skills, commands, plugins and MCP definitions are a different category. Switch can share selected definitions while leaving credentials and existing choices separate. Sharing a definition is not the same as granting a second account access to a cloud service.
Move deliberately between contexts
When you change tasks, select the intended profile through its Dock icon, the manager or its shortcut. Your other profiles can stay signed in. Switch makes account selection quicker; it does not decide which account should handle a task for you.
For a Claude Code project, a local handoff checkpoint can capture where you stopped. The next chat opens the same project folder and continues from that checkpoint’s short identifier. This is a manual workflow, not automatic transfer of your conversation.
See the local checkpoint guide for what to include and what stays separate. If you are still choosing between browser and desktop profiles, read the Mac account setup comparison.