Linux Setup Guide

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+ — Install via your package manager or nvm

  # Using nvm (recommended)
  curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvm-sh/nvm/v0.40.3/install.sh | bash
  nvm install --lts
  
  # Ubuntu / Debian
  sudo apt install nodejs npm
  
  # Fedora
  sudo dnf install nodejs

• Claude Code — npm i -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code

Setup

1. Run the init wizard

npx claude-account-switch init

2. Shell integration (automatic)

The init wizard auto-detects all available shells on your system and installs integration for each one. On Linux, this typically includes:

• bash (~/.bashrc) — default on most distros
• zsh (~/.zshrc) — if .zshrc exists
• fish (~/.config/fish/config.fish) — if fish is installed

No manual shell selection needed.

3. Activate

# For bash
source ~/.bashrc

# For zsh
source ~/.zshrc

# For fish
source ~/.config/fish/config.fish

# Or just open a new terminal window

4. Use

claude           # Launch Claude with the active profile
cpf <name>       # Quick switch
claude-pick      # Interactive picker

How Shared Settings Work

On Linux, shared files (settings.json, commands/) are symlinked from _shared/ into each profile. Changes to shared settings automatically apply to all profiles.

WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux)

If you're running Linux via WSL, this guide applies as-is. WSL is treated as a standard Linux environment.

Troubleshooting

command not found: claude

Make sure Claude Code is installed and in your PATH:

npm i -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code
which claude

Permission errors with global npm install

Use nvm to manage Node.js (avoids sudo for global packages), or fix npm permissions:

mkdir -p ~/.npm-global
npm config set prefix '~/.npm-global'
echo 'export PATH=~/.npm-global/bin:$PATH' >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc

Shell integration not working after restart

Verify the source line was added:

grep "shell-integration" ~/.bashrc   # or ~/.zshrc

If missing, run:

npx claude-account-switch install-shell