shannoncoat/README.md

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

Run multiple isolated [**\***](#isolation) Claude profiles on macOS — each one
its own Claude Desktop **and** its own paired Claude Code setup — and tell their
windows apart at a glance.

Your normal Claude install is left alone. It stays as it is and keeps working
normally; shannoncoat only adds profiles alongside it.

A menu-bar item allows quick switching and profile management.

---
> [!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.

## Requirements

- macOS 13 or later
- Claude Desktop

## Install

1. Download `shannoncoat.app.zip` from the
   [latest release](https://github.com/bdeshi/shannoncoat/releases/latest).
2. Unzip it and move **shannoncoat.app** to `/Applications` or `~/Applications`.
3. Open it. macOS will block the first launch, because the app isn't notarized.
   Go to **System Settings → Privacy & Security**, find the blocked item, and
   click **Open Anyway**.
4. When prompted, grant **Accessibility**. The window tags are drawn from
   Accessibility data and won't appear without it.

## First run

With nothing running, shannoncoat offers a list of your profiles and starts
whichever you tick. You can start several at once.

## Everyday use

The menu bar shows a coloured dot per running profile — dot and name when only
one is up, dots alone when there are more (hover for the names).

Open the menu and:

- **Click a profile that isn't running** to switch to it. Every other running
  profile is quit first, so you end up with just that one.
- **Click a profile that is already running** to bring its window forward,
  leaving everything else where it is.
- **Shift-click a profile** to open it *alongside* whatever is already running.

A `⇆` marks the profile you last switched to. **Close Profile** quits one
profile; **Quit Claude** quits all of them and leaves shannoncoat running.
**Manage Profiles…** opens the main window.

Quitting Claude by hand, from the Dock, or via Force Quit is picked up within
about a second — the menu bar always reflects what is actually running.

## Window tags

Each managed Claude window carries a small tag in that profile's colour, so two
otherwise identical windows are easy to tell apart.

Drag a tag anywhere on its window; each profile remembers where you put its own.
If you'd rather have something smaller, **Settings → Window tag → Colored dot**
replaces the name chip with a plain dot.

## Profiles

**default** is your real, untouched Claude install. shannoncoat can start and
stop it but never manages it, so it gets no tag and can't be deleted.

To add a custom isolated profile, open **Manage Profiles… → +** and enter a
name. The directories are optional — leave them blank and the profile gets
`~/.shannoncoat/data/<name>/app` and `~/.shannoncoat/data/<name>/code`. Point
them anywhere you like if you'd rather keep a profile's data with a project.

Selecting a profile shows both paths, ready to copy.

Each profile is a small JSON file at `~/.shannoncoat/<name>.json`, named after
the profile. Two profiles may not share a directory — that would silently merge
their Claude sessions, so shannoncoat refuses to start and tells you which files
collide.

Deleting a profile removes only that pointer file. **Its Claude data stays on
disk**, so you can recreate the profile later and pick up where you left off. If
it's running, it's quit first.

## Settings

- **Launch at Login** — start shannoncoat automatically.
- **Window tag** — name chip or coloured dot.
- **Automatically check for updates** — once a day at most.

## Updates

shannoncoat compares its version against the one published on GitHub. The
automatic check posts a quiet notification; **Check for Updates…** in Settings
reports either way.

It never replaces itself. When a new version exists, download it from the
releases page and swap the app in yourself.

## Troubleshooting

**The window tags don't appear.** Almost always Accessibility. Check
**System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility**.

If shannoncoat is listed *and already ticked* but the tags still don't show,
select it, remove it with **−**, then add it back. This happens after replacing
the app with a build that has a different code signature; the old entry stays
visible but no longer applies, and toggling it off and on won't fix it.

**Claude Desktop can't be found.** shannoncoat looks in `/Applications` and
`~/Applications`. If yours is somewhere else, you'll be asked to locate it the
first time you start a profile.

**A profile won't quit.** Claude was asked to quit and declined — usually its
own "unsaved work" or "still generating" dialog. shannoncoat deliberately waits
rather than killing Claude underneath it. Answer the dialog.

## Build from source

Local builds require the Xcode Command Line Tools.
```
xcode-select --install
```

Then run the build script
```bash
./build.sh
```

The app is written to `.build/shannoncoat.app`; copy it to `/Applications` or
`~/Applications`.

One thing worth setting up: an unsigned local build gets a new code identity
every time, which silently invalidates its Accessibility grant on each rebuild.
`.env.example` walks through creating a self-signed certificate once so the
permission survives.

## Isolation

> [!IMPORTANT]
> Perfect isolation is not guaranteed. Claude and Claude Code can have functionally
> full disk access regardless of which profile it's running from, including access
> to default configuration folders.
> 
> Some Claude integrations — skills, plugins, etc — may also hardcode the
> `~/.claude` path which may modify content in there.