agentprofiles-cli

Manage per-project configuration profiles for LLM agent tools via direnv.

Currently supports Claude Code and OpenCode.

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The Problem

You use an AI coding assistant. Maybe Claude Code, maybe OpenCode. You have multiple contexts where you work—personal projects, work repos, client codebases—and you want different settings, histories, or API keys for each.

The tools support this. Both Claude Code and OpenCode read their configuration from a directory specified by an environment variable (CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR, OPENCODE_CONFIG_DIR). Point the variable at a different directory, and you get a completely isolated profile.

But managing this manually is tedious:

• You can't just set the variable in your shell config—that's global, one profile for everything.
• You can't add it to each project's dotfiles—that's not portable across projects with similar needs.
• You don't want to remember to export variables before launching your editor every time.

agentprofiles-cli solves this. It gives you named profiles, stores them centrally, and uses direnv to automatically activate the right profile when you enter a project directory.

# Create profiles once
agentprofiles add claude work
agentprofiles add claude personal

# Activate per-project
cd ~/work/client-project
agentprofiles set claude work --allow

cd ~/personal/side-project
agentprofiles set claude personal --allow

# Now "cd" handles everything. Enter a directory, get the right profile.

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FAQ

"Just use your global config"

The problem: There's only one global config. If you work across multiple contexts (personal/work/clients), you're constantly mixing histories, API keys, and settings that shouldn't mix.

Some people create separate user accounts on their machine for this. That works, but it's heavy-handed for what should be a simple configuration switch.

"Just use project-local config"

The problem: Project-local configs aren't portable. If you have 10 work repos that should all use your "work" profile, you'd need to copy the same configuration into all 10. When you update it, you update it in 10 places.

A profile should be defined once and applied to projects, not duplicated into each one.

"Just set the env var before launching"

The problem: This works for one-off commands, but breaks down for real workflows:

• Interactive sessions that spawn subprocesses inherit the environment—but only if you remembered to set it.
• Multiple terminals need the same treatment.
• You have to remember which profile goes with which project, every time.

Humans are bad at remembering things. Computers are good at it. Let the computer remember.

"Why direnv specifically?"

direnv is a mature, widely-used tool for per-directory environment management. It:

• Automatically loads/unloads environment variables when you cd in and out
• Has a security model (direnv allow) so you explicitly trust changes
• Works with any shell (zsh, bash, fish, etc.)
• Is already installed on many developer machines

We didn't want to reinvent this. direnv does one job well; agentprofiles-cli just makes it easy to use for agent tool profiles.

"Do I really need another CLI tool?"

Fair question. You could manage this yourself with handwritten .envrc files. agentprofiles-cli is worth it if you value:

• Named profiles you can list, create, and remove
• Consistent file structure without thinking about it
• Clean .envrc files that only contain a small bootstrap block
• Guardrails like profile name validation and direnv hook detection

If you're comfortable managing raw env vars yourself, you don't need this. But if you want the convenience of agentprofiles set claude work, this is for you.

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Requirements

Node.js 20+

This is a Node.js CLI tool.

direnv (required)

agentprofiles-cli generates direnv-compatible files. Without direnv installed and hooked into your shell, those files won't do anything.

Install direnv:

# macOS
brew install direnv

# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt install direnv

# Or see https://direnv.net/docs/installation.html

Hook it into your shell (add to your shell's rc file):

# ~/.zshrc
eval "$(direnv hook zsh)"

# ~/.bashrc
eval "$(direnv hook bash)"

# ~/.config/fish/config.fish
direnv hook fish | source

After adding the hook, restart your shell or source the rc file.

Verify it works:

direnv --version

When you cd into a directory with an .envrc, you should see direnv print a message about loading or blocking the file.

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Installation

npm install -g agentprofiles-cli

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Getting Started

1. Initialize

agentprofiles setup

This creates the config directory (~/.config/agentprofiles/ by default) and sets up subdirectories for each supported agent tool.

2. Create profiles

agentprofiles add claude work
agentprofiles add claude personal
agentprofiles add opencode work

Or let it prompt you for a name:

agentprofiles add claude
# Suggests a random name like "jolly-curie", or enter your own

3. Activate a profile in a project

cd /path/to/your/project
agentprofiles set claude work --allow

This writes two files:

• .envrc — with a small bootstrap block
• .envrc.agentprofiles — with the actual export statements

The --allow flag runs direnv allow automatically. Without it, you'll need to run direnv allow manually.

4. Work normally

Now every time you cd into that project, direnv automatically exports CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR pointing to your "work" profile. When you cd out, it unloads.

5. Switch or remove profiles

# Switch to a different profile
agentprofiles set claude personal --allow

# Remove a profile from this project (keeps the profile itself)
agentprofiles unset claude --allow

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Commands

Command	Description
setup	Initialize the agentprofiles system (alias: init)
list [agent]	List profiles, optionally filtered by agent
add <agent> [name]	Create a new profile
edit <agent> <name>	Open a profile's directory in your editor
remove <agent> [name]	Delete a profile (alias: rm)
set <agent> [name]	Activate a profile for the current directory
unset <agent>	Deactivate a profile for the current directory

Common flags

• --allow / -y — Auto-run direnv allow after modifying files (for set and unset)
• --quiet / -q — Suppress the banner

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How It Works

Files in your project

When you run agentprofiles set claude work, it creates/updates:

.envrc — Contains a small bootstrap block:

### agentprofiles:begin
watch_file .envrc.agentprofiles
source_env_if_exists .envrc.agentprofiles
### agentprofiles:end

.envrc.agentprofiles — Contains the actual exports:

# tool-generated; do not edit

### agentprofiles:begin claude
export CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR="$HOME/.config/agentprofiles/claude/work"
### agentprofiles:end claude

Only the block between ### agentprofiles:begin and ### agentprofiles:end in .envrc is managed by this tool. Your other environment variables are left alone.

Profile storage

Profiles are stored in your config directory:

~/.config/agentprofiles/
├── config.json
├── claude/
│   ├── .gitignore          # Ignores runtime artifacts
│   ├── work/
│   │   └── meta.json       # Profile metadata
│   └── personal/
│       └── meta.json
└── opencode/
    ├── .gitignore
    └── work/
        └── meta.json

Each profile directory is the config directory for that tool. When CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR points to ~/.config/agentprofiles/claude/work, Claude Code reads its settings, history, and cache from there.

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Troubleshooting

"Nothing happens when I cd into the project"

direnv isn't hooked into your shell.

1. Verify direnv is installed: direnv --version
2. Add the hook to your shell rc file (see Requirements)
3. Restart your shell or source the rc file
4. Re-enter the directory or run direnv reload

"direnv says the .envrc is blocked"

This is direnv's security model. Run:

direnv allow

Or use --allow when running agentprofiles set or agentprofiles unset.

"The env var isn't set correctly"

Debug checklist:

1. Check the files exist: cat .envrc and cat .envrc.agentprofiles
2. Verify direnv loaded: direnv status
3. Check the variable: echo $CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR
4. Look for conflicts: Are you exporting the same variable elsewhere?

Force direnv to reload:

direnv reload

I already have a .envrc

That's fine. agentprofiles only manages the section between its markers. Keep your existing content outside that block.

If you export the same variable elsewhere in the file, the last assignment wins.

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What to Commit

This depends on your team, but common approaches:

File	Recommendation
.envrc	Commit it. The bootstrap block is generic and portable.
.envrc.agentprofiles	Usually gitignore. It contains paths that may differ per machine. Have each developer run agentprofiles set locally.

If your team uses identical paths (e.g., everyone uses defaults), committing .envrc.agentprofiles is fine.

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Configuration

Default locations

• Config directory: ~/.config/agentprofiles/ (or $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/agentprofiles/)
• Content directory: Same as config directory by default

Environment variable overrides

Variable	Purpose
AGENTPROFILES_CONFIG_DIR	Override where config.json lives
AGENTPROFILES_CONTENT_DIR	Override where profile directories live

You can also set contentDir in config.json to point to a different location.

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Removing agentprofiles from a project

To stop using agentprofiles in a specific project:

# Remove all agent blocks
agentprofiles unset claude --allow
agentprofiles unset opencode --allow

# Then manually remove the bootstrap block from .envrc
# and delete .envrc.agentprofiles if it's now empty

Or manually:

1. Delete the ### agentprofiles:begin / ### agentprofiles:end block from .envrc
2. Delete .envrc.agentprofiles
3. Run direnv allow

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Development

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Run in development
npm run start -- --help

# Build
npm run build

# Run all checks (matches CI)
npm run format:check && npm run lint && npm run typecheck && npm run test

Script	Description
npm run build	Compile TypeScript to dist/
npm run typecheck	Type-check without emitting
npm run start	Run via tsx (no build needed)
npm run test	Run tests
npm run lint	Lint with ESLint
npm run format	Format with Prettier

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License

MIT