Bring your own subscription to a client's Claude Code / Desktop session

I run a small AI automation agency. I'm on Max. When I deploy work to clients, I often need to continue a Claude Code session on the client's machine. The client has Pro, sometimes nothing. Right now there isn't a clean way to do that without:

1. Asking the client to sign out of Claude Desktop / Claude Code so I can sign in with my Max account, then signing them back in after I leave.
2. Eating into the client's Pro quota for work that's mine to do, on my dime.
3. Pushing the client to upgrade just so I can finish a deployment.

What I can do today, and why it isn't enough

I can run claude login in a terminal on the client's machine and authenticate Claude Code CLI as me, independent of whatever account Claude Desktop is signed into. That works for the CLI path. But:

• My OAuth tokens are now sitting in their ~/.claude/credentials.json. If I forget to claude logout and wipe the creds before leaving, I've effectively given them persistent access to my Max account.
• It only "lends" Max to the Claude Code path. Anything in the Desktop UI (chat, projects, artifacts, MCP servers configured there) is still running on the client's account.
• I'm writing into ~/.claude on the client's machine, which already has their config, MCP servers, hooks, plugins, and project memory. Two profiles fighting for one directory is messy.

What I'd love to see instead

• A "use my Anthropic account for this session" toggle in Claude Desktop and Claude Code. Persistent client login stays put. My Max subscription temporarily backs the session for compute and quota.
• Or a guest sign-in flow that doesn't disturb the resident account or profile directory.
• Or device-flow auth (like gh auth login on a borrowed device) where I authorize a session from my phone, the borrowed machine uses my quota for as long as the session is active, and the auth evaporates cleanly when I'm done.

Other tools handle this naturally. GitHub Copilot, Cursor, and JetBrains licenses all follow the user. Subscription portability would close the same gap for Claude Code and Desktop.

Use cases this would unlock

• Agency consultants finishing deployments on a client's hardware.
• Pair programming where the host has Pro and the visitor has Max.
• Temporary access for contractors without exposing the host's login.

Vincent
SEO Smooth
vin@seosmooth.com