Sometimes I want to change my CC configuration by installing some skills, plugins or having some MCP connections. However the more I customize my CC the more is gets convoluted because it is hard to keep it clean. Wanna try an experimental hook or new CLAUDE.md behavior? You have to change your current setup, then if you didn't like, you have to revert it back.
Over time, it became a nuisance to deal with all of the changes, then I wanted to use 2 different accounts, that's where I have discovered that we can actually have isolated CC instances, which is a spectacular way to have multiple CC setups. By default, CC utilized CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR which points to ~/.claude, if you want to have a fresh CC, just run this:
mkdir ~/.claude-personal CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR=~/.claude-personal claude
an you'll have separate CC instance, you may configure however you want and even have an alias for this: alias claude-personal='CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR=~/.claude-personal claude'
(put this into your ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc) and you are good to go!
I have created several CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR and being able to use them in parallel feels great.
For example, I have experimental CC setup that is loaded with community plugins and skills (caveman, i-have-adhd, context-mode, etc) and I can access this setup just by typing "claude-experimental". And another setup where I even use different account! They both work isolated.
To make things easy, I've created a small tool to manage and share isolated claude-code setups: https://github.com/ramazanpolat/claude-playbooks/
Single static binary, no dependencies, MIT licensed.
Feedbacks are welcome!
Comments URL: [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49068803](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49068803)
Points: 1