![shannoncoat — which coat will Claude wear today?](docs/hero.png)

Run multiple isolated [**\***](#isolation) Claude profiles on macOS from a
menu-bar item — each its own Claude Desktop **and** paired Claude Code setup,
its windows tagged to tell them apart. Your normal install is untouched.

---
> [!NOTE]
> shannoncoat started as the shell script in the first commit, written by hand.
Claude built the GUI app out of it — most of the Swift, the icon, and this
README — working from human direction, review, and dogfooding.

## Install

macOS 13+, Claude Desktop.

1. Download `shannoncoat.app.zip` from the
   [latest release](https://github.com/bdeshi/shannoncoat/releases/latest),
   unzip, and move to `/Applications` or `~/Applications`.
2. First launch is blocked (not notarized): **System Settings → Privacy &
   Security → Open Anyway**.
3. Grant **Accessibility** when prompted; the tags need it.

## Everyday use

With nothing running, shannoncoat offers a checklist and starts whichever
profiles you tick. The menu bar shows a dot per running profile in its colour,
plus the name when only one is up; hover for the rest.

- **Click a profile** — switch to it; the others are quit, even if it's already
  running.
- **Shift-click** — open it *alongside* them, or focus it if already up.

**Settings → Click a profile to** swaps the two. `⇆` marks the last one you
switched to. **Close Profile** quits one, **Quit Claude** all (shannoncoat
stays), **Manage Profiles…** opens the main window.

Each managed window carries a tag in its profile's colour — drag it anywhere, and
each profile remembers its spot.

## Profiles

**default** is your real Claude install: start/stop only, never managed, so it
gets no tag and can't be deleted.

**Manage Profiles… → +** adds one. Directories are optional — blank gives
`~/.shannoncoat/data/<name>/{app,code}`. Two profiles may not share a directory;
that would silently merge their sessions, so shannoncoat refuses to start and
names the collision.

Profiles are JSON files in `~/.shannoncoat/`. Deleting one quits it and removes
just that file — **the Claude data stays on disk**, so recreating it resumes
where you left off.

## Settings

- **Launch at Login**
- **Click a profile to** — switch or open alongside; Shift-click does the other.
- **Window tag** — name chip or coloured dot.
- **Automatically check for updates** — once a day at most, against the latest
  GitHub release, or **Check for Updates…** on demand. It never self-updates;
  download and swap the app in yourself.

## Troubleshooting

**Tags don't appear.** Almost always Accessibility. If shannoncoat is listed *and
ticked* under **Privacy & Security → Accessibility**, remove it with **−** and
re-add — a differently-signed build leaves the old entry visible but inert, and
toggling won't help.

**A profile restarts into the default one.** Claude's auto-updater relaunches
the app with no profile flags. Turn auto-updates off with the
`disableAutoUpdates` policy, then update by hand and restart from shannoncoat:

| OS | Where |
| --- | --- |
| macOS | `/Library/Managed Preferences/com.anthropic.claudefordesktop.plist` — `<key>disableAutoUpdates</key><true/>` |
| Windows | `HKLM\SOFTWARE\Policies\Claude` — `disableAutoUpdates` (DWORD `1`) |
| Linux | `/etc/claude-desktop/managed-settings.json` — `{"disableAutoUpdates": true}` |

**A profile won't quit.** Claude declined — usually its "unsaved work" or "still
generating" dialog. shannoncoat waits rather than killing it.

## Build from source

Needs the Xcode Command Line Tools (`xcode-select --install`).

```bash
./build.sh
```

Lands in `.build/shannoncoat.app`. Unsigned builds get a new code identity each
time, silently voiding Accessibility on every rebuild; `.env.example` covers a
one-off self-signed certificate that avoids it.

## Isolation

> [!IMPORTANT]
> Isolation isn't perfect. Claude and Claude Code can have effectively full disk
> access from any profile, default config folders included, and some integrations
> — skills, plugins — hardcode `~/.claude` and write there.