Folders that switch who you are in Terminal

Set it up

1. Bind the folder to a workspace: parallex bind ~/work Acme. If the workspace doesn't have an identity for your tools yet, this gives it one: its git settings start as yours, and its gh, cloud and cluster sign-ins start empty.
2. For Claude Code and Codex too, give the identity its own: parallex workspace persona Acme --item .claude --item .codex. Add --share-setup on to bring your CLAUDE.md, skills and plugins.
3. Add the hook to the end of your shell's settings, once (the lines are below). Settings › Folders in the app shows them too, and binds folders without Terminal.
4. Open a new terminal, cd ~/work, and sign in once as the workspace: git config --global user.email you@acme.com, gh auth login --insecure-storage (keeping its token in its own gh config), and /login in Claude Code.

The hook lines

# zsh, at the end of ~/.zshrc
eval "$(parallex hook zsh)"

# bash, at the end of ~/.bash_profile or ~/.bashrc
eval "$(parallex hook bash)"

# fish, at the end of ~/.config/fish/config.fish
parallex hook fish | source

Add --prompt to the hook line (parallex hook zsh --prompt) and the workspace's name starts your prompt inside its folders. $PARALLEX_WORKSPACE names it either way. parallex bind --list lists the bound folders, and parallex bind --remove ~/work undoes one. Folders can be nested: the innermost one wins.

What changes inside the folder

Leaving the folder puts back exactly what you had, including variables you'd set yourself. The hook rereads the list of folders only when it changes, and asks Parallex for a workspace's settings only when you move into another bound folder, never over the network.

Good to know

• SSH reads ~/.ssh from your account, whatever the variables say. To push with another key, set core.sshCommand in the workspace's git config, with -o IdentitiesOnly=yes.
• gh keeps tokens in your login keychain by default, where a sign-in as the workspace can replace your own. gh auth login --insecure-storage keeps the workspace's in its own config.
• Variables you export in ~/.zshrc after the hook line win in a terminal that opens inside a bound folder. Add the hook at the end of the file, as Settings › Folders says.
• Without Pro, when the trial is over, the folders stay bound but your own identity stays on in them, and the shell says so once.

Without Parallex

For git alone, git does it by itself: [includeIf "gitdir:~/work/"] in your ~/.gitconfig includes a file with the work name and email for repositories under ~/work. For a few variables, direnv sets them per folder from an .envrc. Parallex adds the identities themselves (each workspace's own gh, cloud and Claude Code sign-ins, made and kept for you), the same identity in the workspace's apps, and the variables that would point a tool back at yours, unset.

Also