Clautcher

A VS Code extension for switching between Claude configuration files.

Selects a settings.*.json file from ~/.claude and writes it to settings.json.

Features

Quickly switch between different Claude settings through the command palette.

How to Use

1. Open the Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P or Cmd+Shift+P)
2. Type Clautcher: List Claude Settings (or clautcher.list)
3. Select a configuration file from the quick pick menu

The extension reads all settings.*.json files from your ~/.claude directory and copies the selected configuration to settings.json.

Commands

• Clautcher: Select Claude Settings - Temporarily switch to a Claude settings profile
• Clautcher: Set Default Claude Settings - Set a default settings profile and activate it

Settings

Default Claude Settings (clautcher.default_clautcher_settings)

The settings profile to automatically activate on VSCode startup.

When this setting is configured, Clautcher will:

• Save your current settings on startup
• Automatically switch to the specified default profile
• Restore your original settings when VSCode closes

Example: Set to "work" to automatically use your work configuration when VSCode starts.

Prevent Auto Switch (clautcher.prevent_auto_switch)

When enabled, prevents automatic switching to the default settings on VSCode startup.

• Default: false (auto-switch is enabled)
• Set to true to disable automatic switching

This is useful when you want to keep the default_clautcher_settings configured but temporarily prevent automatic switching.

Settings Merging

When you select a configuration file, Clautcher will automatically merge it with settings.base.json if it exists. The base settings provide default values that can be overridden by the selected configuration.

• Create ~/.claude/settings.base.json with common settings you want in all configurations
• Select any settings.*.json file
• Clautcher merges them using Object.assign({}, baseSettings, selectedSettings)
• Selected settings take precedence over base settings

Example:

// settings.base.json
{
  "model": "claude-opus-4-8",
  "theme": "dark"
}

// settings.work.json
{
  "model": "claude-sonnet-4-6"
}

// Result in settings.json after selecting "work":
{
  "model": "claude-sonnet-4-6",
  "theme": "dark"
}

If settings.base.json doesn't exist or cannot be read, Clautcher simply writes the selected configuration without merging.

CLI Version

You can also use the CLI version of Clautcher:

npm install -g clautcher

The CLI provides the same functionality for switching Claude settings from your terminal.

Requirements

• VS Code >= 1.74.0
• A ~/.claude directory with Claude configuration files

License

MIT