ctx

Manage multiple Claude CLI accounts and share context across them.

Claude Code keeps both its config and its context in one directory (default ~/.claude, overridable with CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR). If you run more than one account, for example:

CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR=~/.claude-work claude

then each account has its own isolated directory, and your session history (projects/), skills, rules, and settings are siloed per account. ctx fixes that: it keeps each account's identity separate (credentials and auth) while sharing the context and reusable assets through one canonical store, using symlinks.

How it works

A single store at ~/.claude-shared/ holds the real copies of the shared items. Each account directory gets a symlink into the store:

~/.claude-shared/projects/        <- real files live here
~/.claude/projects        -> ~/.claude-shared/projects
~/.claude-work/projects   -> ~/.claude-shared/projects

Identity and account-scoped state stay per account and are never touched: .credentials.json, .claude.json, policy-limits.json, remote-settings.json, settings.local.json, and the various caches.

Install

Requires Node 20+.

npm install
npm run build
npm link        # optional, puts `ctx` on your PATH

Or run it directly: node dist/cli.js <command>.

Quick start

ctx init            # create the store, pick what to sync, seed from ~/.claude
ctx link --all      # symlink every account into the store
ctx status          # check the result
ctx run work        # launch: CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR=~/.claude-work claude

ctx init is interactive: it lists the shareable items it finds and lets you toggle which ones to sync before writing the config. Pass -y to accept the defaults non-interactively.

Commands

Command	What it does
ctx accounts (alias ls)	List account dirs and a link-status rollup.
ctx init [--from <account>]	Create and seed the store; choose what to sync.
ctx link [account] [--all] [--only <items...>] [--force] [--no-backup]	Merge an account's items into the store, back up the originals, and replace them with symlinks.
ctx unlink [account] [--all] [--only <items...>]	Replace symlinks with independent real copies of the current store content.
ctx status [account]	Per-account, per-item state (linked / unlinked / adoptable / broken).
ctx repair [account] [--all]	Fix broken or wrong-target symlinks.
ctx run <account> [-- <claude args...>]	Launch claude for an account.

Global flags (usable before or after the subcommand): --dry-run, -y/--yes, --json, --verbose, --config <path>, --store <path>.

Every destructive command prints its plan first. Without -y it asks once before proceeding; --dry-run shows the plan and changes nothing.

What gets shared

Defaults (shared when present, skipped when absent):

• Directories: projects, todos, commands, agents, output-styles, skills, rules, plugins, plans
• Files: settings.json, CLAUDE.md, history.jsonl

You choose the actual set during ctx init. It is stored in ~/.claude-shared/ctx.config.json, which you can edit by hand. The tool refuses to share anything listed as protected (neverTouch), so a bad edit cannot turn your credentials into a symlink.

Safety

• Real replacements always run in the order merge/seed, then back up, then symlink, so the store holds a superset before the account's copy is removed. An interrupted run is safe to re-run.
• Originals are moved to ~/.claude-shared/.ctx-backups/<account>/<timestamp>/ before being replaced. Use --no-backup to skip.
• When a file (for example CLAUDE.md) differs between an account and the store, the store wins. ctx link skips such files unless you pass --force (or -y); the account's version is preserved in the backup either way.
• unlink never depends on backups; it copies the live store content back out.

Caveats

• Two claude processes writing to the shared projects/ at once is fine: sessions are separate files with unique ids. Prefer to close running sessions before link/unlink, since the move/replace step could race a live writer.
• history.jsonl and plugins/ are shareable but higher risk (append races and per-account repo paths, respectively). They are in the defaults because they were opted in; uncheck them in ctx init if you would rather not.
• Session transcripts become physically shared, but each account's .claude.json still holds its own project registry and per-project trust. Sessions show up from the projects/ directory on disk; project-level trust and MCP settings remain per account.
• Linux, Node 20+. Windows and macOS symlink behavior is out of scope for now.

Testing

Unit and integration tests run against temporary directories and never touch your real ~/.claude*:

npm test

An end-to-end check runs entirely inside a container against a throwaway home:

docker build -f test/docker/Dockerfile -t ctx-e2e .
docker run --rm ctx-e2e

Status

This focuses on the Claude CLI. Support for other AI CLIs may come later.