Claude Desktop Switcher

Zero-Impact Isolation<br>Separate your Claude Desktop App by use case.

Keep chat, Projects, Claude Cowork, Artifacts, and Claude Design apart by account and use case, with Claude Code linked when you want it. A macOS utility for the whole Claude Desktop App suite.

Download for macOS (.dmg)<br>Read Documentation

Separate the whole<br>Desktop App suite

Switching CLI profiles is already well handled by existing tools like direnv and claude-swap. Claude Desktop Switcher (CSW) is for the rest of your Claude work: keep chat, Projects, Cowork, Artifacts, and Claude Design separated by account and use case, whether you live entirely in the desktop app, pair Cowork with Claude Code and Claude Design, or mainly use Cowork and chat. Claude Code links to the same environment when you want it: switch the GUI by picking an environment, and sync a separate terminal with one command.

Customizable Separation

Choose how much carries over from your existing setup. Separate the account only and keep one continuous workspace, separate conversations and memory too while reusing your rules and skills, or separate everything for full independence. The account is always separate.

Localized Application

Your Mac's global system settings remain untouched. The active environment applies strictly locally, only to the Claude Desktop App launched via this tool or your specific terminal tab. This prevents unexpected bleeding into your usual environment, with the actual separation level depending on how much you chose to carry over.

See it in action.

The whole environment system lives in one settings window. Create an environment by choosing how much carries over, inspect exactly what each environment carries over, and switch environments right there.

Every environment gets its own data directories. You choose per component what carries over and what stays separate; the account sign-in is always kept apart.

Create an environment in seconds. Choose how much carries over: the account only, conversations and memory too, or everything.

A short first-run tour shown only the first time. Your current setup is preserved as “Existing Claude” and never modified.

Designed for real workflows.

Adapt the level of isolation to match how you actually work on a single machine.

01<br>Separate the whole suite per project/client

When running multiple clients or projects in parallel, you want to avoid mixing chat history, Projects memory, Cowork working folders, and Artifacts.

Pick "Separate everything" and nothing carries over: each environment gets its own data directory and stays fully independent, so one client's work never leaks into another across the desktop suite.

02<br>Work and personal on one Mac (no terminal)

You want to keep your business and personal accounts apart without touching the terminal.

Just pick an environment and that account's Claude Desktop App launches without signing in again. No terminal needed; it is complete in the GUI.

03<br>Split by purpose while reusing your setup

You want separate accounts by purpose, but want to reuse your common rules and settings.

Pick "Separate conversations & memory too" to carry over your common rules, skills, plugins, and tool permissions, while keeping conversation history and auto-memory to this environment. The account stays separate either way.

04<br>Separate billing while keeping one workspace

You want to run research and development on separate accounts, but keep working in one continuous space.

Pick "Separate the account only" to carry over conversation history and auto-memory too; the only thing that becomes separate is the account. Split the billing while your work continues uninterrupted.

05<br>Link the CLI to your GUI separation

You want to use the environment you chose in the GUI from the CLI as well (for developers).

Sync the environment you chose in the GUI to Claude Code (CLI) in a separate terminal with a single command. This adds GUI-level consistency on top of what existing CLI-only switchers already solve. See Terminal Integration below for the exact command.

GUI Workflow.

Everything for the Desktop app is just a few clicks, with no terminal or scripts to manage. Link Claude Code (the CLI) to the same environment with one command only when you want it.

01

Install & Launch

Drag to Applications and run. Setup is complete.

02

Create Environments

Generate separate "Work" or "Research" environments with single clicks.

03

Launch in an Isolated Environment

Select an environment, and its Claude Desktop App launches against its own isolated directory. Environments that share settings open one at a time, so quit the running Claude before switching to another. Environments set to "separate everything" share nothing, so you can open them in a new window alongside a running Claude, without quitting.

Terminal (Claude Code) Integration

The built-in terminal inside the app inherits its environment automatically. For a separate external terminal (like...