# Claude account switchers compared (2026)

> claude-swap, ccswitch, clauth, Orca and Shuriken compared: when each switches Claude Code accounts, what happens to your chat, and which devices it covers.

Source: https://shuriken.sh/compare/claude-account-switchers

The free CLIs claude-swap, ccswitch and clauth switch the active Claude account at a usage threshold, and Orca swaps accounts in one click. Shuriken switches by itself at your switch point or a limit, moves the running chat mid-task with its subagents, and does it on every device at once.

By Shuriken Updated 27 October 2026 6 min read

**Contents**

We make Shuriken. We tried to be fair; corrections welcome at office@shuriken.sh.

## Quick answer #

A Claude Code account switcher stores your Claude logins and changes which one claude uses, with no /logout and /login in between. claude-swap (cswap auto), ccswitch (ccswitch daemon) and clauth are free CLIs that switch at a usage threshold, 90% by default for the first two. Orca swaps by hand, in one click. Shuriken switches automatically at your switch point (99% by default) or a provider limit, moves the running chat mid-task with its subagents, and does it on every device at once.

## At a glance #

Each tool's row comes from its own README or docs, read on 22 October 2026.

| | Switches by itself | When your running chat feels it | Devices | Interface | Price and licence |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| claude-swap | Yes: cswap auto switches when the 5-hour or 7-day window reaches 90% (default), polling every 60 s | Your next message, usually with no restart. On macOS, once a Keychain cache of about 30 s expires | One machine; export and import to move accounts | CLI, TUI, optional macOS menu bar app | Free, MIT |
| ccswitch | Yes: ccswitch daemon switches at 90% (default), while its terminal stays open | Your next message or next session, never mid-reply | One machine | CLI, plus a Claude Code skill | Free, MIT |
| clauth | Yes: a fallback chain moves you on when the active account hits its limit, with weekly and spend gates | Not stated in its docs | One machine | CLI and TUI, headless daemon | Free, MIT |
| Orca | By hand, in one click; its docs describe no automatic switch at a limit. "Switching accounts works even with live Claude sessions running" | When you click | Desktop app on macOS, Windows, Linux, plus a phone companion | Desktop app (agent IDE) | Free, MIT |
| Shuriken | Yes: at your switch point (99% by default, 50–100%) or the moment the provider reports a limit | The running turn's next request, subagents included | Every computer and server you've linked, at once | Desktop app, headless server, phone web app | Free plan (2 sources); Pro €49/month |

## When the switch lands #

In the drawing, one Claude Code turn sends six requests, req 1 to req 6, and account A reaches its threshold partway through.

A CLI switcher changes the login Claude Code reads, so account B takes over from your next message. That alone beats /logout and /login by a long way. At a 90% threshold there's usually enough of account A left to finish the turn in progress, though a very heavy turn can still hit the limit before it ends.

Shuriken sits between Claude Code and the provider. The next request of the running turn goes to account B, and a request that hit a limit is replayed there, so a refactor with five subagents keeps going without you. Other agents, Codex among them, move when their current turn ends. In both cases the chat gets a small card, "Switched to" and the account's name, over the reason: "Switch point reached" or "Limit reached". Which account comes next, and why, is in [how switching picks the next account](https://shuriken.sh/blog/how-switching-picks-the-next-account).

## What the CLIs do well #

All three are free, MIT licensed and need no account: uv tool install claude-swap, pipx for ccswitch, cargo install clauth. If you work in a terminal with Claude Code on one machine, one of them may be all you need.

### claude-swap #

The most complete. cswap list is a dashboard of every account's 5-hour and 7-day use with reset times, cswap on its own opens a keyboard-driven TUI, and a macOS menu bar app is optional. cswap run 2 starts Claude Code as account 2 in that terminal only, so several accounts run side by side. Auto mode waits out a cooldown and a hysteresis margin, so two accounts near the line don't flip back and forth, and it has two strategies: best account first (--strategy best), or use one up first. It also works with the VS Code extension.

### ccswitch #

The simplest. One background watcher, ccswitch daemon, and one threshold flag: --threshold 85 moves the switch from 90% to 85%. It checks more often as you get close to the limit. On Windows it encrypts the saved logins and shows desktop pop-ups. Don't confuse it with CC Switch, a desktop app that changes which API provider Claude Code and eleven other tools talk to, not which account they're signed in to ([CC Switch alternatives](https://shuriken.sh/compare/cc-switch-alternative)).

### clauth #

The most scriptable. clauth work switches to the profile called work, and clauth alone opens a Rust TUI with eight tabs, from Overview and Usage to Fallback and Services. The fallback chain has gates on weekly windows and spend, the Tokens tab shows API-equivalent cost, and clauth daemon runs the same loop headless. Its Claude Code plugin is an MCP server, so a live session can list accounts, switch, or hand a prompt to another account.

### Orca #

Orca is an agent IDE with worktrees and design mode, and the swap is one click inside it. It keeps your shared MCP sign-ins across a swap, so MCP servers don't ask you to sign in again, and its status bar shows usage and how close you are to a limit. The rest of Orca, feature by feature, is in [Shuriken vs Orca](https://shuriken.sh/compare/orca).

Shuriken moves a running chat to another of your own accounts when one reaches its limit, on every device.

[Download](https://shuriken.sh/download)

## Where Shuriken is different #

### Mid-task, not next-message #

A running Claude Code turn moves on its next request, and its subagents and workflows move with it. You can be away from the desk while the task finishes on account B.

### Every device at once #

The CLIs keep their state on one machine; claude-swap moves accounts between machines with an export and an import. In Shuriken, a press of Use or Switch now, and every automatic switch, reaches every computer and server you've linked at the same moment. A laptop, a desktop and a home server agree on which account is in use, so no machine burns an account that another one just emptied.

### Session limits #

Claude's 5-hour window starts the first time an account is used. With Start unused session limits on (Sources › Switch settings), an account whose window isn't running gets one tiny request in the background, once per window, from the computer it's signed in on, and its window starts. Your chats don't move for it, and the request never shows in a chat or in history. It counts toward that account's usage like any other request. Your limits then come back early. Of the CLIs, only clauth describes something similar: accounts you opt in get an auto-start that opens their 5-hour windows spaced apart ([session limits](https://shuriken.sh/features/session-clock)).

### More than Claude #

[Source switching](https://shuriken.sh/features/source-switching) isn't only for Claude accounts. It also covers ChatGPT sign-ins for Codex, Gemini, Copilot and others, plus API keys.

- API keys are a last resort you turn on (off by default). They take over only once every subscription is out, and the spend cap per fallback run ($25 by default, counted across every key the run uses) stops them there.
- Mode › Distribute spreads work on a clock: every 15, 20, 30, 45 or 60 minutes, chats move to the source with the most left.

### What you give up #

- Shuriken is a full desktop app with its own way of running chats, each chat on its own branch if you want, not a one-line install that leaves your terminal setup alone.
- The free plan holds two sources; more needs Pro.
- If you only want the claude sessions you already run to change accounts, a CLI is lighter.

## A note on the rules #

Anthropic's Consumer Terms say: "You may not share your Account login information, Anthropic API key, or Account credentials with anyone else." Every tool on this page is meant for accounts you own and are entitled to use, such as a personal and a work account. None of them is a way to share a subscription, or a reason to buy accounts to get around limits. Our reading of the terms on holding several accounts is in [can you have more than one Claude account?](https://shuriken.sh/guides/multiple-claude-accounts-rules).

## Which Claude Code account switcher to choose #

- One machine, terminal only, Claude Code only: claude-swap, or ccswitch if you want it minimal.
- TUIs and scripting: clauth.
- An agent IDE, switching by hand: Orca.
- Long tasks that must not stop, several machines, or more agents than Claude: Shuriken.

The free route with no tool at all is a second config folder per account, CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR=~/.claude-work claude, set up step by step in [how to switch Claude accounts without logging out](https://shuriken.sh/guides/switch-claude-accounts-without-logging-out). For ChatGPT sign-ins, from Codex Switcher to swapdex, see [Codex account switchers compared](https://shuriken.sh/compare/codex-account-switchers). To try automatic switching yourself, [download Shuriken](https://shuriken.sh/download).

Try the free tool: [Claude limit reset tracker](https://shuriken.sh/tools/limit-resets/claude)

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## Sources

- [claude-swap on GitHub (README)](https://github.com/realiti4/claude-swap) (accessed 22 October 2026)
- [ccswitch on GitHub (README)](https://github.com/GG-Santos/ccswitch) (accessed 22 October 2026)
- [clauth 0.17.0 on docs.rs](https://docs.rs/crate/clauth/latest) (accessed 22 October 2026)
- [Orca docs: Claude Code](https://www.onorca.dev/docs/agents/claude-code) (accessed 22 October 2026)
- [Orca home page](https://www.onorca.dev/) (accessed 22 October 2026)
- [Anthropic Consumer Terms of Service (effective 8 October 2025)](https://www.anthropic.com/legal/consumer-terms) (accessed 22 October 2026)

## Frequently asked questions

**What's a good claude-swap alternative?**

Among CLIs, ccswitch (installed with pipx) and clauth (cargo install clauth) also switch at a threshold and are MIT licensed. Shuriken is a desktop app that moves the running chat and syncs across devices. Orca swaps accounts in one click, when you choose.

**ccswitch or claude-swap?**

Both are free MIT tools that switch at 90% unless you pass --threshold. claude-swap has more in it: a TUI, a macOS menu bar app, the cswap list dashboard and cswap run for one account per terminal. ccswitch is one background watcher, ccswitch daemon, plus encrypted logins on Windows.

**Is it allowed to switch between Claude accounts?**

Anthropic's Consumer Terms forbid sharing your login or credentials with anyone else. Use only accounts you own and are entitled to use, and read our guide on the rules before relying on several accounts.

**Does switching keep my Claude Code chat?**

With claude-swap and ccswitch, the session you have open carries on and uses the new account from your next message. Shuriken moves the running turn's next request, subagents included, so a long task carries on without you.

**Do these tools work for Codex too?**

claude-swap and ccswitch are for Claude Code only. clauth can run Codex under saved ChatGPT logins and rotate them between sessions, and Orca can switch Codex accounts. Shuriken switches sources for Claude, ChatGPT (Codex), Gemini and other providers in the same way.

Source switching

One account runs dry. The next one takes over.

Add the Claude, Codex and Gemini accounts you own. At your switch point, your chats move to another of them and keep going.

[Download](https://shuriken.sh/download)

[Other platforms](https://shuriken.sh/download#main)

## Keep reading

- [Keep the same chat when you switch Claude accounts: Guide 27 Oct 2026 6 min read Claude Code saves each chat in its config folder. How to continue a session on another Claude account by hand, what breaks, and how Shuriken does it.](https://shuriken.sh/guides/keep-the-same-chat-across-claude-accounts)
- [We were tired of logging in and out of Claude: Story 27 Oct 2026 3 min read Limit reached, /logout, /login, paste the context back. We did it so often we built Shuriken: chats move to an account with room by themselves.](https://shuriken.sh/blog/why-we-built-shuriken)
- [The 5-hour clock starts when you do. So we start it.: Story 27 Oct 2026 4 min read Claude's 5-hour window only starts when you use an account, so an idle one wastes time. Shuriken starts its clock with one tiny background request.](https://shuriken.sh/blog/the-5-hour-clock-starts-when-you-do)
- [Hot swapping: chats that move when an account runs out: Story 27 Oct 2026 4 min read Hot swapping AI accounts, the way Shuriken does it: your running chats move to another of your accounts when one nears its limit. What happens at 99%.](https://shuriken.sh/blog/hot-swapping-accounts)
- [Codex with more than one ChatGPT account: Update 27 Oct 2026 4 min read Add each ChatGPT sign-in you own as a source. When one reaches its Codex limit, Shuriken moves your Codex chats to the next and they carry on.](https://shuriken.sh/blog/codex-multiple-chatgpt-accounts)
- [Every plan and key you own, working as one: Story 27 Oct 2026 4 min read Add your Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini and other plans and API keys to Shuriken as sources. When one runs out, your chats move to the next.](https://shuriken.sh/blog/what-is-a-source)
- [Distribute: spread work across accounts on a clock: Update 27 Oct 2026 4 min read Two modes: Rotation moves your chats only when an account runs out; Distribute moves them every 15 to 60 minutes to the one with the most left.](https://shuriken.sh/blog/distribute-mode)

## Free tools

- [Claude limit reset tracker](https://shuriken.sh/tools/limit-resets/claude)
- [Codex limit reset tracker](https://shuriken.sh/tools/limit-resets/codex)