Tighten the README and document the profile-reset-after-update fix
Adds a troubleshooting entry: Claude's auto-updater relaunches the app with no profile flags, landing in the default profile. Turning off auto-updates via the disableAutoUpdates policy (macOS, Windows, Linux locations) avoids it. Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
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@@ -1,13 +1,8 @@
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Run multiple isolated [**\***](#isolation) Claude profiles on macOS — each one
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its own Claude Desktop **and** its own paired Claude Code setup — and tell their
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windows apart at a glance.
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Your normal Claude install is left alone. It stays as it is and keeps working
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normally; shannoncoat only adds profiles alongside it.
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A menu-bar item allows quick switching and profile management.
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Run multiple isolated [**\***](#isolation) Claude profiles on macOS from a
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menu-bar item — each its own Claude Desktop **and** paired Claude Code setup,
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its windows tagged to tell them apart. Your normal install is untouched.
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---
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> [!NOTE]
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@@ -15,142 +10,92 @@ A menu-bar item allows quick switching and profile management.
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Claude built the GUI app out of it — most of the Swift, the icon, and this
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README — working from human direction, review, and dogfooding.
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## Requirements
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- macOS 13 or later
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- Claude Desktop
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## Install
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macOS 13+, Claude Desktop.
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1. Download `shannoncoat.app.zip` from the
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[latest release](https://github.com/bdeshi/shannoncoat/releases/latest).
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2. Unzip it and move **shannoncoat.app** to `/Applications` or `~/Applications`.
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3. Open it. macOS will block the first launch, because the app isn't notarized.
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Go to **System Settings → Privacy & Security**, find the blocked item, and
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click **Open Anyway**.
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4. When prompted, grant **Accessibility**. The window tags are drawn from
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Accessibility data and won't appear without it.
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## First run
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With nothing running, shannoncoat offers a list of your profiles and starts
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whichever you tick. You can start several at once.
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[latest release](https://github.com/bdeshi/shannoncoat/releases/latest),
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unzip, and move to `/Applications` or `~/Applications`.
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2. First launch is blocked (not notarized): **System Settings → Privacy &
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Security → Open Anyway**.
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3. Grant **Accessibility** when prompted; the tags need it.
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## Everyday use
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The menu bar shows a coloured dot per running profile — dot and name when only
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one is up, dots alone when there are more (hover for the names).
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With nothing running, shannoncoat offers a checklist and starts whichever
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profiles you tick. The menu bar shows a dot per running profile in its colour,
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plus the name when only one is up; hover for the rest.
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Open the menu and:
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- **Click a profile** — switch to it; the others are quit, even if it's already
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running.
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- **Shift-click** — open it *alongside* them, or focus it if already up.
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- **Click a profile** to switch to it. Every other running profile is quit
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first, so you end up with just that one — including when the profile you
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clicked is already up, in which case it's the neighbours that go.
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- **Shift-click a profile** to open it *alongside* whatever is already running,
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or to bring its window forward if it's already up, leaving everything else
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where it is.
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**Settings → Click a profile to** swaps the two. `⇆` marks the last one you
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switched to. **Close Profile** quits one, **Quit Claude** all (shannoncoat
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stays), **Manage Profiles…** opens the main window.
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If you open alongside more often than you switch, **Settings → Click a profile
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to** swaps the two around.
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A `⇆` marks the profile you last switched to. **Close Profile** quits one
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profile; **Quit Claude** quits all of them and leaves shannoncoat running.
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**Manage Profiles…** opens the main window.
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Quitting Claude by hand, from the Dock, or via Force Quit is picked up within
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about a second — the menu bar always reflects what is actually running.
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## Window tags
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Each managed Claude window carries a small tag in that profile's colour, so two
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otherwise identical windows are easy to tell apart.
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Drag a tag anywhere on its window; each profile remembers where you put its own.
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If you'd rather have something smaller, **Settings → Window tag → Colored dot**
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replaces the name chip with a plain dot.
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Each managed window carries a tag in its profile's colour — drag it anywhere, and
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each profile remembers its spot.
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## Profiles
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**default** is your real, untouched Claude install. shannoncoat can start and
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stop it but never manages it, so it gets no tag and can't be deleted.
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**default** is your real Claude install: start/stop only, never managed, so it
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gets no tag and can't be deleted.
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To add a custom isolated profile, open **Manage Profiles… → +** and enter a
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name. The directories are optional — leave them blank and the profile gets
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`~/.shannoncoat/data/<name>/app` and `~/.shannoncoat/data/<name>/code`. Point
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them anywhere you like if you'd rather keep a profile's data with a project.
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**Manage Profiles… → +** adds one. Directories are optional — blank gives
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`~/.shannoncoat/data/<name>/{app,code}`. Two profiles may not share a directory;
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that would silently merge their sessions, so shannoncoat refuses to start and
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names the collision.
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Selecting a profile shows both paths, ready to copy.
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Each profile is a small JSON file at `~/.shannoncoat/<name>.json`, named after
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the profile. Two profiles may not share a directory — that would silently merge
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their Claude sessions, so shannoncoat refuses to start and tells you which files
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collide.
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Deleting a profile removes only that pointer file. **Its Claude data stays on
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disk**, so you can recreate the profile later and pick up where you left off. If
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it's running, it's quit first.
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Profiles are JSON files in `~/.shannoncoat/`. Deleting one quits it and removes
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just that file — **the Claude data stays on disk**, so recreating it resumes
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where you left off.
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## Settings
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- **Launch at Login** — start shannoncoat automatically.
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- **Click a profile to** — whether plain click switches and Shift-click opens
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alongside, or the reverse.
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- **Launch at Login**
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- **Click a profile to** — switch or open alongside; Shift-click does the other.
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- **Window tag** — name chip or coloured dot.
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- **Automatically check for updates** — once a day at most.
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## Updates
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shannoncoat compares its version against the one published on GitHub. The
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automatic check posts a quiet notification; **Check for Updates…** in Settings
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reports either way.
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It never replaces itself. When a new version exists, download it from the
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releases page and swap the app in yourself.
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- **Automatically check for updates** — once a day at most, against the latest
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GitHub release, or **Check for Updates…** on demand. It never self-updates;
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download and swap the app in yourself.
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## Troubleshooting
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**The window tags don't appear.** Almost always Accessibility. Check
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**System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility**.
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**Tags don't appear.** Almost always Accessibility. If shannoncoat is listed *and
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ticked* under **Privacy & Security → Accessibility**, remove it with **−** and
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re-add — a differently-signed build leaves the old entry visible but inert, and
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toggling won't help.
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If shannoncoat is listed *and already ticked* but the tags still don't show,
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select it, remove it with **−**, then add it back. This happens after replacing
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the app with a build that has a different code signature; the old entry stays
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visible but no longer applies, and toggling it off and on won't fix it.
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**A profile restarts into the default one.** Claude's auto-updater relaunches
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the app with no profile flags. Turn auto-updates off with the
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`disableAutoUpdates` policy, then update by hand and restart from shannoncoat:
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**Claude Desktop can't be found.** shannoncoat looks in `/Applications` and
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`~/Applications`. If yours is somewhere else, you'll be asked to locate it the
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first time you start a profile.
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| OS | Where |
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| --- | --- |
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| macOS | `/Library/Managed Preferences/com.anthropic.claudefordesktop.plist` — `<key>disableAutoUpdates</key><true/>` |
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| Windows | `HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Claude` — `disableAutoUpdates` (DWORD `1`) |
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| Linux | `/etc/claude-desktop/managed-settings.json` — `{"disableAutoUpdates": true}` |
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**A profile won't quit.** Claude was asked to quit and declined — usually its
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own "unsaved work" or "still generating" dialog. shannoncoat deliberately waits
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rather than killing Claude underneath it. Answer the dialog.
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**A profile won't quit.** Claude declined — usually its "unsaved work" or "still
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generating" dialog. shannoncoat waits rather than killing it.
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## Build from source
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Local builds require the Xcode Command Line Tools.
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```
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xcode-select --install
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```
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Needs the Xcode Command Line Tools (`xcode-select --install`).
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Then run the build script
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```bash
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./build.sh
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```
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The app is written to `.build/shannoncoat.app`; copy it to `/Applications` or
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`~/Applications`.
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One thing worth setting up: an unsigned local build gets a new code identity
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every time, which silently invalidates its Accessibility grant on each rebuild.
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`.env.example` walks through creating a self-signed certificate once so the
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permission survives.
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Lands in `.build/shannoncoat.app`. Unsigned builds get a new code identity each
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time, silently voiding Accessibility on every rebuild; `.env.example` covers a
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one-off self-signed certificate that avoids it.
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## Isolation
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> [!IMPORTANT]
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> Perfect isolation is not guaranteed. Claude and Claude Code can have functionally
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> full disk access regardless of which profile it's running from, including access
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> to default configuration folders.
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>
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> Some Claude integrations — skills, plugins, etc — may also hardcode the
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> `~/.claude` path which may modify content in there.
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> Isolation isn't perfect. Claude and Claude Code can have effectively full disk
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> access from any profile, default config folders included, and some integrations
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> — skills, plugins — hardcode `~/.claude` and write there.
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