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Shell Integration

Setting Up Your Shell

Add this to your ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc:

eval "$(clam env)"

This exports two environment variables into your current shell session:

  • CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR — points Claude Code at the active profile's directory
  • CLAM_PROFILE — the name of the active profile

It also unsets any existing CLAUDE_* and ANTHROPIC_* variables to prevent leakage from a previous session.

clam run vs clam env

There are two ways to use a profile:

clam run — launch and forget

clam run

Spawns a new process (claude by default) with the profile environment. The environment only applies to that process — your shell isn't affected.

Best for: launching Claude Code sessions.

eval "$(clam env)" — modify your shell

eval "$(clam env)"

Exports the profile environment into your current shell. Any subsequent commands in that shell session see the profile variables.

Best for: shell startup config, running multiple commands with profile context.

Switching Profiles

After running clam use <name>, the switch takes effect for new sessions:

  • New terminals pick up the change automatically (via eval "$(clam env)" in your shell rc).
  • Existing terminals need to re-source: run eval "$(clam env)" again, or open a new shell.

Scripting

Check the active profile

clam current prints the active profile name to stdout and exits 0. If no profile is active, it prints nothing and exits 1:

if profile=$(clam current); then
  echo "Active: $profile"
else
  echo "No active profile"
fi

JSON output

Commands with --json flags produce structured output for jq:

# Get the active profile's directory path
clam status --json | jq -r '.path'

# List all profile names
clam list --json | jq -r '.[].name'

# Check which profile is active
clam list --json | jq -r '.[] | select(.active) | .name'

Run arbitrary commands with a profile

clam run accepts any command after --, not just claude:

# Check what environment a profile sets
clam run --profile work -- env | grep CLAUDE

# Run a script with a specific profile's environment
clam run --profile deploy -- ./my-script.sh

Shell Completions

Generate and install tab completions for your shell:

clam completions bash > ~/.local/share/bash-completion/completions/clam

clam completions zsh > ~/.zsh/completions/_clam

clam completions fish > ~/.config/fish/completions/clam.fish