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Managing profiles

Setting a profile up, running one command under it, and deleting it.

claude-profile-clone SOURCE TARGET

Copy configuration from one profile into another, so a new profile does not start from nothing.

claude-profile-clone default work
claude-profile-clone default work --force    # overwrite what is already there
Copied Never copied
settings.json, CLAUDE.md .credentials.json - belongs to one account
plugins/, skills/, agents/, commands/ .claude.json - account identity and per-project state
projects/, sessions/, history.jsonl - conversation history

Anything already present in the target is left alone unless you pass --force, and the command tells you what it skipped.

Global MCP servers are not cloned

They live in .claude.json alongside account identity, so copying that file would carry the wrong account with it. Re-add them under the new profile: claude-profile work && claude mcp add ...

claude-profile-exec PROFILE COMMAND [ARGS...]

Run a single command under a profile without switching your shell.

claude-profile-exec work claude -p "summarise this repo"
claude-profile-exec client claude mcp list

The profile applies only to that command. Your shell's own profile is unchanged, so this is the right tool for scripts, cron jobs, and one-off checks against another account.

Exits 2 with a usage message if you omit the command, and 1 if the profile does not exist.

claude-profile-remove NAME

Delete a profile: its directory, its conversations, and its stored credentials.

claude-profile-remove client

It shows what will be destroyed and asks you to type the profile name to confirm:

about to permanently delete profile client
  directory : ~/.claude-profiles/client  (12.4MB)
  account   : you@company.com
  sessions  : 37 conversation(s) - deleted with it
  keychain  : Claude Code-credentials-fd54d734

type the profile name to confirm:
Flag Effect
-y, --yes skip the confirmation prompt (for scripts)

Why not just rm -rf? On macOS, credentials live in the Keychain rather than in the profile directory. Deleting the directory by hand leaves an left behind Keychain entry behind. This command removes both.

It also resets your current shell to default if you delete the profile you are standing in, so you are not left pointing at a directory that no longer exists.

Guards. It refuses to delete default - your original ~/.claude - and refuses unknown names, listing what is available instead.

This is not recoverable

Every conversation in that profile is deleted with it. If you want to keep one, hand it off to another profile first: claude-handoff default <session-id>.