claude-account: run two Claude Code subscription logins side by side and swap the active one when one hits its usage cap (Linux)

Run any number of Claude Code subscription logins side by side, switch between them, and auto-rotate to a healthy account when one hits its usage cap. Plus a one-line terminal statusline that shows which account you're on.

Files in this gist:

— the CLI: hold N subscription logins, switch/rotate between them.claude-account

— cron probe that auto-switches when the active account is capped.claude-limit-watchdog

— bash/zsh tab-completion for the CLI.claude-account.completion.sh

• Companion statusline (separate gist): https://gist.github.com/kwadwoadu/c8278b2dc005797af6034343c1b2afa5

Claude Code (Linux) stores its login as a single plaintext OAuth file at ~/.claude/.credentials.json

, and there's no built-in multi-account support.

• Conversations are not in that file. They live locally in~/.claude/projects/<cwd>/*.jsonl

, independent of the account. Switching accounts leaves every conversation in place — there is nothing to "port" on one machine. - So multi-account = keep named copies of the credentials file and swap which one is live.

claude-account status          # or: list   -- shows active slot + [capped Nm ago] marks
claude-account save <Name>     # store the current live login into a named slot
claude-account switch <Name>   # or: use    -- make that slot live
claude-account next            # rotate to the next slot (works for any number of slots)
claude-account pin             #  auto-switch: hold the current account
claude-account unpin           # resume auto-switch
claude-account --help | --version

First-time setup (repeat save

for each account):

install -m 755 claude-account ~/.claude/bin/claude-account   # ~/.claude/bin on PATH

Tab-completion (subcommands + your account names):

install -m 644 claude-account.completion.sh ~/.claude/bin/claude-account.completion.sh
echo '[ -f ~/.claude/bin/claude-account.completion.sh ] && source ~/.claude/bin/claude-account.completion.sh' >> ~/.bashrc  # and/or ~/.zshrc
install -m 755 claude-limit-watchdog ~/.claude/bin/claude-limit-watchdog
crontab -e   # add:
*/10 * * * * ~/.claude/bin/claude-limit-watchdog

Every 10 minutes it probes the active account with a tiny Fable call (caps are per-model, so a cheaper model would falsely read "healthy"). On a cap it marks that slot and rotates to the next non-capped one; it only declares all accounts capped (the both-hot

flag) when every slot carries a fresh cap mark — never guessed from a timer. The mark clears the instant an account probes healthy again.

every 10 min ─▶ probe ACTIVE account
                    │
        ┌───────────┼─────────────┐
      healthy      capped        error
        │            │             │
   clear marks   mark it,      log, wait
   clear both-hot  rotate ─▶ next NON-capped slot ──▶ switch (verify next tick)
                     │
              none left? ─▶ raise both-hot flag (all subs exhausted)

Test it without burning quota: WATCHDOG_FAKE_PROBE=ok|capped|error claude-limit-watchdog

.

Pinning (manual hold). claude-account pin

s the watchdog on the current account so it won't rotate you off, even if that account is capped; claude-account unpin

resumes. The pin follows your deliberate switch

/use

/next

moves so it never points at the wrong account. While pinned the watchdog does nothing at all (no probe, no rotation).

• A running session keeps its OAuth token in memory, so a switch only helpsnew or restarted sessions.claude --resume

after a cap picks up the switched account with context intact. - After any manual /login

, runclaude-account save <Name>

or the slot drifts stale. - Slot files are chmod 600

, the slots dir ischmod 700

— these are live credentials. The scripts copy credential files; they never print secrets. - Paths are overridable: CLAUDE_ACCOUNTS_DIR

,CLAUDE_CREDENTIALS

,CLAUDE_ACCOUNT_BIN

.