[FEATURE] I built a free app for this: Multi Instance for Claude Desktop (run isolated instances side by side)

Preflight Checklist

• [x] I have searched existing requests and this feature hasn't been requested yet
• [x] This is a single feature request (not multiple features)

Problem Statement

Many users (see #18435, #36821, #30154, #49965, #32783) need to run multiple Claude Desktop instances at once — one per project/account — because Claude Desktop only allows a single instance. With several projects, contexts bleed together: plans, sessions and accounts all collide in one window.

Proposed Solution

I built Multi Instance for Claude Desktop — a free app, available now on the Microsoft Store:
https://apps.microsoft.com/store/detail/9NG247TJ47P0

• Run multiple isolated Claude Desktop instances side by side
• Each instance has its own profile, session, account and color
• Dashboard to create, launch and delete instances with one click
• Uses --user-data-dir per instance (fully isolated profiles, MCP, auth)

Windows available now. macOS version planned. Will be open-sourced on GitHub.

Built by Carlos De La Torre
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carlosdelatorre-ai/

Alternative Solutions

_No response_

Priority

Critical - Blocking my work

Feature Category

CLI commands and flags

Use Case Example

Many users (see #18435, #36821, #30154, #49965, #32783) need to run multiple Claude Desktop instances at once — one per project/account — because Claude Desktop only allows a single instance. With several projects, contexts bleed together: plans, sessions and accounts all collide in one window.

While we wait for native multi-account/multi-window support, I built a free tool that solves this today on Windows.

Additional Context

I built Multi Instance for Claude Desktop — a free app, available now on the Microsoft Store:
https://apps.microsoft.com/store/detail/9NG247TJ47P0

What it does:

• Run multiple isolated Claude Desktop instances side by side
• - Each instance has its own profile, session, account and color
• - - A dashboard to create, launch and delete instances with one click
• - - - No command line, no manual --user-data-dir flags

How it works under the hood: it copies the Claude portable binary and launches each instance with its own --user-data-dir, so profiles are fully isolated (MCP servers, config, auth tokens — all separate).

Known limitation: each instance needs a one-time manual sign-in, because Claude registers claude:// as a global protocol handler. You sign in once per instance and it persists.

Windows is available now via the Store. A macOS version is planned (the same --user-data-dir approach works with open -n -a Claude --args ...), and the project will be open-sourced on GitHub.

Built by Carlos De La Torre — feedback very welcome.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carlosdelatorre-ai/