Desktop apps and launchers

macOS

Desktop apps such as Claude Desktop sign in to one account at a time. Agent Switch can open each app as a specific account, keep several of them open side by side, and give you a Dock or Spotlight icon per account.

The apps themselves are never copied, patched or re-signed. Agent Switch only starts them with a separate data folder or settings folder per account.

Supported apps

agent-switch apps

App id	App	Account type	How the account is kept apart
`claude-desktop`	Claude Desktop	Claude	its own data folder per account
`codex-desktop`	Codex	Codex	the account’s `CODEX_HOME`, plus its own data folder
`codex-ide`	VS Code (for the Codex extension)	Codex	the account’s `CODEX_HOME`
`antigravity`	Antigravity	Antigravity	its own data folder per account

A filled dot in the apps list means the app is installed.

Open an app as an account

agent-switch open claude-desktop work
agent-switch open codex-desktop personal
agent-switch open claude-desktop          # your preferred Claude account

If that account’s window is already open, it is brought to the front instead of starting a second copy (not for VS Code, which just opens).
The first time an account opens an app, the app starts signed out. Sign in once; the login is saved in that account’s data folder.
Your normal Claude Desktop data (~/Library/Application Support/Claude) is never touched. Each account gets its own folder under ~/.agent-switch/<tool>/<account>/gui/.

The desktop app’s menu-bar popover has the same thing as a button per account, and Tools › Apps manages it per account.

Launchers in the Dock and Spotlight

A launcher is a small app in ~/Applications/Agent Switch/, for example Claude Desktop – work.app. Starting it runs agent-switch open for that account. Drag it into the Dock, or find it with Spotlight.

Create a launcher.

agent-switch launcher add claude-desktop work

Start it from Spotlight, or drag it from ~/Applications/Agent Switch/ into the Dock.

List or remove launchers.

agent-switch launcher list
agent-switch launcher remove claude-desktop work

Launchers are built on your Mac and signed locally, so macOS does not ask before opening them. They carry the app’s icon.

Renaming an account rebuilds its launchers; removing an account removes them; agent-switch uninstall removes them all.
If Node or Agent Switch moved (for example after a reinstall), rebuild them:
Terminal window
```
agent-switch launcher repair
```

Copy Claude Desktop settings to an account

A new account’s Claude Desktop starts empty. Copy your MCP servers, preferences and installed extensions from your normal Claude Desktop, or from another account:

agent-switch app-settings copy claude-desktop --from default --to work
agent-switch app-settings copy claude-desktop --from work --to personal

Quit Claude Desktop on the target account first; it would overwrite the copy when it quits.
Never copied: the login and its token cache (config.json), cookies and web storage, session folders, and preferences tied to one account.
Chats, Projects and memory belong to the account on Anthropic’s side and are not on your Mac to copy.
Files that get replaced are kept as *.pre-copy.

This works for Claude Desktop only.

Which account ran what in Claude Desktop

agent-switch desktop
agent-switch desktop --json

This lists, per Claude Desktop instance, which accounts ran sessions in it. An account’s own instance that was used with another account’s login is marked <- not this profile's account.

claude.ai in the browser Claude only

web opens claude.ai in a browser that keeps its own profile per account, so each account stays signed in to the website too:

agent-switch web work

The browser profile lives in ~/.agent-switch/claude/<account>/browser. Sign in once; the next web reuses it. This needs Playwright, which is not installed with Agent Switch:

npm install playwright
npx playwright install chromium

Unlike the rest of this page, web is not limited to macOS. On a Linux machine without a display there is no window to open.

Caveats

Start the app through Agent Switch. Opening Claude Desktop from Finder or its own Dock icon starts it on its normal data, not on an account. Use open, a launcher, or the menu-bar popover.
macOS only. apps, open, launcher and app-settings need macOS.
Apps change. No vendor offers an account switch in these apps, so an app update can change how they start. If an app stops keeping accounts apart, please open an issue.

Next steps

The desktop app The menu-bar popover opens apps per account with one click.

Codex accounts Codex app and VS Code per account.

Platform matrix What works on which OS.