# Show HN: Limitbreak – Claude Code switches accounts mid-session on a limit > Source: > Published: 2026-10-25 23:43:55+00:00 ``` ★ L I M I T B R E A K ★ ADA [██████████] LIMIT → spent GRACE [░░░░░░░░░░] ready → takes the hit ``` Use several Claude accounts from **one** Claude Code install, and switch between them automatically when an account's usage limit is hit, without restarting the session or losing its history. A small local proxy (a single Go binary, standard library only, a few MB of RAM) sits between `claude` and Anthropic's API. It sends each request on the active account's own login. When Anthropic answers that the account's 5-hour or weekly window is spent, the proxy remembers that account until its reset time and **replays the same request on the next account** before Claude Code ever sees the error. To the session nothing happened. ``` claude ──ANTHROPIC_BASE_URL──▶ proxy 127.0.0.1:48617 ──▶ api.anthropic.com │ active account's token └─ 429 "rejected"? mark spent, retry on the next account ``` Try it without touching any real login: `limitbreak video` plays a simulated switch in your terminal as a little arcade battle. ``` git clone https://github.com/radu2lupu/limitbreak && cd limitbreak ./install.sh # builds and starts the background service echo 'source "$HOME/.local/bin/limitbreak-shell.sh"' >> ~/.zshrc # or ~/.bashrc limitbreak add # sign in another account (browser), repeat per account ``` Open a new terminal and run `claude` as usual. When one account's limit is hit, the next one answers. - Only `/v1/messages*` requests are sent on an account's token. Everything else (claude.ai connectors, MCP, artifacts, profile) goes through untouched with Claude Code's own credentials, so those keep working. - It never sets `CLAUDE_CODE_OAUTH_TOKEN` (that makes Claude Code drop its connectors and local MCP servers). - Accounts are the logins Claude Code already holds: the default one plus every `~/.claude-` config directory that has a login. Tokens are read from the macOS Keychain item Claude Code keeps per config dir, or from`/.credentials.json` . They are never copied, logged, or exposed by`GET /_status` . - An expired token is refreshed by running one tiny `claude -p` under that account's directory, so Claude Code stays the only thing that refreshes a login. - If no account can serve a request, it passes through with Claude Code's own login: never worse than no proxy. - Only a window rejection (`429` with`anthropic-ratelimit-unified-status: rejected` ) switches accounts. Ordinary rate limits go back to Claude unchanged. Needs Go 1.22+ to build, macOS or Linux. Prebuilt binaries are attached to each [release](https://github.com/radu2lupu/limitbreak/releases). ``` git clone https://github.com/radu2lupu/limitbreak cd limitbreak ./install.sh # builds, installs ~/.local/bin/limitbreak, starts a launchd / systemd user service ``` Then add the printed line to `~/.zshrc` or `~/.bashrc`: ``` source "$HOME/.local/bin/limitbreak-shell.sh" ``` That defines a `claude` function that points Claude Code at the proxy when it is running and runs plain `claude` when it is not. Use `./install.sh --binary ` on a host without Go. ``` limitbreak add # signs in a new account in your browser, names it account-N limitbreak add work # or pick the name limitbreak list # accounts, who they are, which one is active (*) limitbreak remove work # sign it out and delete its login from this machine ``` `add` runs Claude Code's own browser sign-in into its own config directory (`~/.claude-`), checks the login landed, tells you which email it is, and warns if you added the same account twice. The running proxy picks it up within 30 seconds; no restart. The default account is whatever plain `claude auth login` signs in. Raw status for scripts: `curl -s http://127.0.0.1:48617/_status`. Every switch is logged (`~/Library/Logs/limitbreak.log` on macOS, the journal on Linux): the account that ran out, when it resets, and the one now serving. `limitbreak serve --port 48617 --upstream https://api.anthropic.com --home ~ --credentials auto|keychain|file` A request path may begin with `/_c//` to give a client (an agent, a tool) its own active account; the prefix is stripped before forwarding. - **Terms of service.** This uses the official`claude` binary with accounts you own, but spreading load across subscription accounts may conflict with Anthropic's terms for your plan. Read them; you are responsible for your use. Not affiliated with or endorsed by Anthropic. - **Don't copy a login between machines.** Refresh tokens rotate; two machines holding the same one will log each other out. Sign in once per machine. - **Headless hosts.** On macOS over SSH the Keychain is locked; run the proxy as a user service in the login session (what`install.sh` does). - The reset time is read from Anthropic's response headers, which are not a documented contract and may change. macOS: `launchctl bootout gui/$(id -u)/dev.limitbreak; rm ~/Library/LaunchAgents/dev.limitbreak.plist`. Linux: `systemctl --user disable --now limitbreak`. Then remove `~/.local/bin/limitbreak*` and the `source` line from your shell profile. Accounts you added stay as ordinary `~/.claude-` logins; `limitbreak remove ` deletes one. ``` go vet ./... && go test ./... ``` MIT, see [LICENSE](https://github.com/radu2lupu/limitbreak/blob/main/LICENSE).