Run two Claude Code accounts at the same time

Yes, you can run two Claude Code accounts at the same time on one Mac, as long as each account has its own configuration folder. Sessions that use the same folder share one login. Sessions that use different folders do not, so you can have a work account in one Terminal window and a personal account in another, both working.

Open one window per account:

claude-work

claude

The first line assumes the alias from How to use several Claude Code accounts on one Mac, which sets CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR=~/.claude-work for that command only. The plain claude uses the default configuration, the ~/.claude folder and the ~/.claude.json file.

Why separate folders can run in parallel

Anthropic's documentation says each configuration directory has its own settings, session history and claude.ai login or API key (authentication). On macOS the Keychain entry follows the folder as well: a session with a different CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR reads a different entry. The login is not shared, so two sessions in two folders are signed in independently. (Your shell environment is shared, which matters for API keys; see below.) The details of what each folder keeps are in CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR explained.

Why sessions in one folder are not independent

Anthropic says parallel sessions on one machine "share a saved login and coordinate its renewal", and that if you sign in with your claude.ai account in another window that uses the same configuration directory, a session showing "Not logged in" starts using that login on its own (troubleshooting, errors).

So three terminals in ~/.claude are three sessions of one account, drawing on the same limits. That is fine if you want it.

The flip side: running /login as a different account in one of those sessions changes the login all of them share. Users have reported confusing results when they do this, and what they saw is in Switch Claude Code accounts without logging out. Give each account its own folder and never reuse a folder for two accounts.

Limits when two accounts are working

Each account has its own limits. On paid plans Anthropic describes "a session limit that resets every five hours, and weekly limits that reset once every week" (usage and length limits), although verified Ultra accounts have no five-hour limit (Ultra plan). Two accounts means two separate sets of figures, and the work you do in one does not count against the other.

Within one account, everything counts together. The same page says that usage of "all different Claude product surfaces (claude.ai, Claude Code, Claude Desktop) counts towards the same usage limit". Anthropic also says IDE usage "counts toward the same usage limits shared across Claude and Claude Code" (Claude Code with Pro, Max or Ultra). So three sessions on one account drain one allowance faster than one session would.

A note on purpose. This post is about two accounts that each have their own role, for example your own plan for your own projects and your employer's Team seat for work. It does not suggest a second account as a way to get more usage. Anthropic says "Advertised usage limits for Pro, Max, and Ultra plans assume ordinary, individual usage of Claude Code and the Agent SDK" (legal and compliance); its other words on accounts are quoted in Is it allowed to have more than one Claude account?.

The IDE and desktop caveat

A terminal alias controls only the terminal session it starts.

• Claude Desktop includes Claude Code in its Code tab and uses the account signed in to the app (Claude Code with Team and Enterprise). Your terminal folder does not choose that account.
• The VS Code extension does not read your terminal alias. It has its own environmentVariables setting for the Claude process it starts, and Anthropic's VS Code page says a CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR entry there "applies only when its value is an absolute path; the extension doesn't expand ~ and ignores a relative value" (VS Code). So /Users/you/.claude-work works there and ~/.claude-work does not. The pages we checked do not say how other IDEs pick a folder, so check which account the IDE shows (in VS Code, /status shows it) before you rely on it.
• An API key exported in your shell profile is in every terminal you open, whatever the folder. Anthropic's authentication page says ANTHROPIC_API_KEY applies to the CLI and the surfaces that wrap it, including the VS Code extension, and that Claude Code uses the key once you approve it (authentication). See Claude Code API key overrides subscription.

Users have also reported that Claude Desktop's embedded Claude Code rotating the CLI's refresh token has caused repeated login prompts on macOS (GitHub issue 94464, open). If you see repeated prompts after opening Desktop, that report is a place to start.

Keep track of which window is which

The most common slip is typing into the wrong window. Cheap fixes:

• Name the aliases after the role, such as claude-work and claude-acme, not after numbers.
• Use a different terminal profile colour or tab title for each account.
• Run /status when you open a session in a folder. It shows the account.

Seeing both accounts' limits together

When two accounts are active, it helps to see both without running /usage in each window. Headroom is a free Mac menu bar app, independent of Anthropic and not made, endorsed or supported by it. It shows each Claude Code account signed in on your Mac as a row, with session use, weekly use and a status, so you can see where each one stands at a glance. The menu bar number is the average session use of the tracked accounts that have a session limit. It checks every five minutes and when you open the panel. It does not switch accounts or change limits. See the Headroom home page, and Add a second Claude Code account to Headroom for setup.