bdeshiandClaude Sonnet 5.5
993f82a714
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>
102 lines
4.0 KiB
Markdown
102 lines
4.0 KiB
Markdown
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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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> shannoncoat started as the shell script in the first commit, written by hand.
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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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## 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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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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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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- **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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**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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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 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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**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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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**
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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, 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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**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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**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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| 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 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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Needs the Xcode Command Line Tools (`xcode-select --install`).
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```bash
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./build.sh
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```
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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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> 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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