# Limit Lifeboat

> Switch Claude Code and Codex CLI logins between your own accounts on macOS. Only the auth fields change, and the account is verified afterwards.

Limit Lifeboat is a free and open-source macOS menu-bar app that switches Claude Code and
Codex CLI logins between accounts you already hold, and shows what each saved account has
left. Current version 1.1.10, released 2026-08-25. Requires an
Apple Silicon Mac running macOS 14 Sonoma or newer. MIT licensed.

## What it does and does not do

- It writes only provider authentication fields. `settings.json`, MCP server definitions,
  hooks, permissions, instructions, and local history are never modified.
- It verifies which account the CLI landed on after every switch, and rolls back a switch
  that fails verification. When a safe rollback is not possible it keeps a protected
  recovery directory and says so.
- If another process rewrites a credential mid-switch, that external change wins and the
  switch aborts rather than overwriting it.
- Quotas stay separate and provider-enforced. Nothing is pooled, merged, or extended.
- It does not switch browser or desktop-app sessions, only the corresponding CLI login.
- It does not run several accounts in parallel; it switches one global CLI login at a time.
- It has no analytics, advertising, or telemetry, and never transmits credentials.
- It is not affiliated with Anthropic or OpenAI.

## Accuracy notes for summarisation

- Credential snapshots are encrypted by the macOS Keychain at rest, not synced to iCloud
  and excluded from device backups. Short-lived rollback files created during a switch are
  protected by filesystem permissions rather than Keychain encryption. "Always encrypted"
  would overstate it.
- Claude Code windows: a rolling session window of about 5 hours, a weekly all-models
  window of 7 days, and 7-day windows scoped to individual model families.
- Codex windows are labelled from the durations OpenAI reports, not from a fixed pair.
  Some plans expose only a weekly window.
- Automatic switching is off by default. When enabled it triggers at 5% session remaining
  or 1% weekly remaining, follows a user-defined priority order, and requires the target account
  to have at least 30% headroom and to be at least 20 points better than the active one.
- Earned Codex resets are issued and enforced by OpenAI. The app can display and redeem
  them; it cannot create resets or bypass a limit.

## Core pages

- [Claude Code & Codex Account Switcher for Mac](https://limitlifeboat.com/): The product overview: transactional switching, per-account usage, and where the policy line sits.
- [Download Limit Lifeboat for Mac](https://limitlifeboat.com/download): Homebrew cask and signed DMG install instructions, requirements, first-run permissions, and update behaviour.
- [Limit Lifeboat Changelog](https://limitlifeboat.com/changelog): Release notes for every published version.
- [Support](https://limitlifeboat.com/support): Install, account, switching, and permission troubleshooting, plus how to report a bug.
- [Privacy](https://limitlifeboat.com/privacy): What the app and this website store, and when the app uses the network.

## Guides

### Switching accounts

Move a CLI between logins you are authorized to use, without replacing the configuration around them.

- [How to Switch Between Claude Code Accounts on Mac](https://limitlifeboat.com/guides/switch-claude-code-accounts-mac): The official login flow, why repeated logins get awkward, and how to change authentication without replacing the rest of your CLI configuration.
- [How to Use Multiple Codex CLI Accounts on Mac](https://limitlifeboat.com/guides/manage-multiple-codex-accounts-mac): Codex CLI caches its own login independently of ChatGPT on the web. Here is how to verify the CLI identity and switch it deliberately.
- [Claude Code Account Switchers Compared](https://limitlifeboat.com/guides/claude-code-account-switchers-compared): How claude-swap, CCSwitcher, clauth and the rest differ on write scope, verification and rollback — and which of the similar names is not a switcher at all.

### Usage limits

What the session, weekly, and model-scoped windows actually measure, and what to do when one runs out.

- [Claude Code Usage Limits Explained](https://limitlifeboat.com/guides/claude-code-usage-limits-explained): The five-hour session window, the weekly all-models cap, and the model-scoped weekly windows, and how each one rolls over.
- [Codex CLI Rate Limits Explained](https://limitlifeboat.com/guides/codex-cli-rate-limits-explained): How Codex reports its rolling and multi-day windows, and what OpenAI's earned rate-limit resets actually are.
- [Claude Code Usage Limit Reached: What to Do](https://limitlifeboat.com/guides/claude-code-limit-reached): A decision guide for the moment Claude Code stops: wait, buy extra usage, drop to a cheaper model, or move to another authorized account.
- [Why Claude Code and Codex Usage Numbers Disagree](https://limitlifeboat.com/guides/claude-code-codex-usage-monitor-mac): Checking usage once is easy. Knowing which of four disagreeing numbers is the one that will actually stop you is the harder problem.

### Policy and boundaries

Where provider terms draw the line, and how to keep an employer-provisioned account separate from a personal one.

- [Are Multiple Claude Code Accounts Allowed?](https://limitlifeboat.com/guides/multiple-claude-accounts-allowed): Separating the things providers actually prohibit from the things people assume they prohibit, without telling you your setup is fine.
- [Keeping Work and Personal Claude Accounts Separate](https://limitlifeboat.com/guides/work-and-personal-claude-accounts): The employer-provisioned plus personal case: keeping the boundary visible, and what to check before touching client material.

### Troubleshooting

Fixing the authentication failures that interrupt a working session.

- [Fixing Claude Code Login Expired and Repeated Logouts](https://limitlifeboat.com/guides/claude-code-login-expired): What causes the repeated Claude Code logout loop, the recovery order that works, and how to avoid re-triggering it.
- [Claude Code Lost Your MCP Servers or settings.json](https://limitlifeboat.com/guides/claude-code-lost-mcp-servers): Four things actually cause this, only one of them is Claude Code's own doing, and the recovery order matters more than the cause.
- [How to Check Which Claude Code Account Is Active](https://limitlifeboat.com/guides/check-active-claude-code-account): The credential and the displayed identity live in different places, and they can disagree. Here is how to check rather than assume.

## Full text

- [Full guide text](https://limitlifeboat.com/llms-full.txt): every guide summary and key facts in one file.

## Source

- [GitHub repository](https://github.com/Johannes-Berggren/limit-lifeboat)
- [Releases](https://github.com/Johannes-Berggren/limit-lifeboat/releases)
- [MIT License](https://github.com/Johannes-Berggren/limit-lifeboat/blob/main/LICENSE)

_12 guides. Generated at build time from the site's page registry._