First-class multi-account auth via '--auth-profile'

[bashar94]

What feature would you like to see?

Today Codex CLI assumes a single account, with state stored under ~/.codex/. Users who need to juggle multiple ChatGPT/API accounts (for example, those with multiple accounts, multiple API keys, or who work for different clients) must manually swap CODEX_HOME, copy auth files, or repeatedly log in and out. This is tedious, time-consuming, and not user-friendly.

I would like to see first-class multi-account support:

• A global --auth-profile <name> flag that routes all config, auth, and session state into ~/.codex/profiles/<name>/.

• A default profile can be set via CODEX_PROFILE env var, so bare codex … still works as expected.

• Profile names are normalized/validated (safe slugs, no .., etc).

• Interactive hints (login, exec, resume) include the active profile name so it’s clear which account you’re in.

• Backwards compatibility: if no flag/env is set, Codex continues to use ~/.codex exactly as before.

This matches common CLI conventions (like aws --profile) and makes it trivial to keep personal/work accounts isolated without shell hacks.

Are you interested in implementing this feature?

Yes. I have already implemented a working version in a fork:

• Added --auth-profile parsing and defaulting logic.

• Automatically sets CODEX_HOME/CODEX_ACTIVE_AUTH_PROFILE internally.

• Updated login/logout, exec, and resume flows to respect the active profile.

• Added tests to confirm per-profile isolation of auth.json, config.toml, and sessions.

• Updated interactive exit hints to show the profile.

• Updated getting-started docs to explain both the legacy single-account flow and the new multi-profile workflow.

Happy to open a PR once the team acknowledges this direction.

Additional information

No response

[bashar94]

PR #4457

[RW21]

There is an issue of unintended messing up of MCP auths between profiles, but overall I think this feature is needed. Especially in the case of working between multiple openAI organization keys.

[rirze]

Definitely need this as I have a personal account and corporate account. At this point, I might just maintain two installations of codex.

[bashar94]

Since they are not merging this feature and we all need it, I have a bash script for you to do the same thing. It is not as smooth as Codex's built-in functionality but you can log in and switch accounts easily using this: https://github.com/bashar94/codex-cli-account-switcher

[cdrum]

surprised OpenAI seems uninterested in this.. odd.

[etraut-openai]

@cdrum, we generally prioritize feature requests based on upvotes. It's not that we're uninterested. Just focused on features that are more highly requested.

[burakdede]

Native --auth-profile is the right long-term answer.

For anyone who needs this today without patching the binary: aisw takes a similar approach externally. Manages isolated CODEX_HOME directories per profile:

aisw add codex personal     # sets CODEX_HOME to profile dir, runs codex login
aisw add codex work
aisw use codex work         # shell hook exports CODEX_HOME

Each profile gets its own auth.json and config.toml. Forces cli_auth_credentials_store = "file" so credentials are portable rather than stuck in OS keyring.

The cross-tool part is the main differentiator from Codex-specific solutions: same commands also work for Claude Code (via CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR) and Gemini CLI. One tool instead of separate per-tool hacks.

Docs: https://burakdede.github.io/aisw/

[prashantchoudhary]

A jenv/pyenv/ssh-config like support will be the best. Where we can configure folder level accounts that can be used for all the subfodlers. And Codex automatically switches account based on this rule, just like jenv switches Java versions.