ccam compared with shell aliases

A shell alias per account is the simplest way to run several Claude Code accounts. ccam does the same thing underneath and adds sharing, switching and usage tracking.

	Shell alias	ccam
Separate logins	Yes	Yes
Setup per account	Edit ~/.bashrc, log in	ccam add
Works in scripts and other programs	No, aliases are shell-only	Yes, ccam work and shortcuts such as ccwork are real commands
Shared settings, CLAUDE.md, extensions	Copy or link by hand	Per item, with backups
Shared MCP servers	By hand, per account	ccam mcp add once
Continue a conversation in another account	No	ccam next --continue
Usage of every account	No	ccam usage
Pick the account with the most room	No	ccam next --auto
Account name in the status line	No	ccam statusline install
Repair broken links	By hand	ccam doctor --fix
Extra software	None	One static binary

Choose aliases if you have two accounts and want nothing shared between them. Choose ccam if you want the accounts to feel like one setup. You can start with aliases and move to ccam later: ccam import registers existing ~/.claude-* folders where they are.

How to use two accounts on one computer explains both approaches step by step.