Skip to main content
Pitboard can switch Claude Code by itself once a limit of the account in use reaches a share you choose, 95% by default. It switches before the limit, because running sessions take up to about 33 seconds to follow a switch. Automatic switching is off until you turn it on. It never switches Codex, because a running codex keeps its account until it is started again.

​
Turn it on

In Settings > General, under Before an account runs out, turn on Switch Claude Code automatically. Switch when a limit reaches 95% sets the share, from 50% to 99%.The app switches only while it is open. After each switch, it posts a notification such as Switched Claude Code to personal. To stop, turn the setting off.
The app, pitboard watch and pitboard use can run at once without making two switches from one reading. Who starts a switch explains why.

​
Which account it switches to

Pitboard watches each limit of the account in use. Besides the five-hour and weekly limits, an account can report a weekly limit for one model, such as Opus. Once any limit reaches the share, it looks for another enrolled Claude Code account that:
  • Has a parked login that can still be put in use.
  • Has used less than the share of every limit it reports.
  • Reports each limit the account in use has. The exception is a weekly limit for one model that did not reach the share. Plans limit different models, so an account without it qualifies if it reports its five-hour and weekly limits.
Pitboard takes the account with the most room in the limit that reached the share, then the one least full in its other limits. A limit whose reset time has passed counts as reset. If none qualifies, nothing moves, and pitboard watch says so once. When the account runs out, the app offers a switch if another account has room then, as When an account runs out describes. The switch is the one pitboard use makes, with the same checks, and pitboard log records it as auto-switch.

​
What it never does

  • Switch back by itself. The next time the account in use reaches the share, Pitboard chooses again, perhaps the account it left.
  • Switch away from one limit of an account twice before that limit resets. If you put the account back in use, it stays.
  • Switch away from an account within 5 minutes of its being put in use, by anyone.
  • Try one limit more than three times before it resets, or twice within 1 minute.
  • Quit an app.
Pitboard passes over an account whose parked login was refused, has expired or is missing, and the next try goes to another. Some tries fail for a reason that may pass: Anthropic out of reach or overloaded, or Claude Code writing its login. Those do not count toward the three. Pitboard tries again after 1 minute, then waits twice as long after each such failure, up to 15 minutes.

​
When it holds back

Pitboard does not switch in these cases:
  • A switch is interrupted. The next change you make finishes it, or pitboard abandon gives up on it. See Interrupted switches.
  • Claude Code uses CLAUDE_CODE_CUSTOM_OAUTH_URL.
  • Claude Code signs in another way that pitboard doctor warns about, such as apiKeyHelper.
The app says why in a notification titled Claude Code was not switched. When a try fails, it posts Pitboard could not switch Claude Code. The app and pitboard watch say each once until the next switch.

​
Keep the numbers fresh

Pitboard decides from usage it has already read, sending no request. The app and pitboard watch read every account every 5 minutes, less often while Anthropic rate limits usage checks. A session using its account fast can pass the share and reach the limit between two reads. Add pitboard statusline to Claude Code, as Show usage in Claude Code’s status line describes. Each session then records its usage after every response, and the app and pitboard watch see it within 2 seconds. The status line itself never switches.

​
What is not known

The 33 seconds were measured with Claude Code 2.1.278. Two things were not measured: whether a request under way during a switch finishes, and what Claude Code does at a limit. For what each switch costs, see What a switch costs you.