PurpleRestore
Switched Claude accounts and the Code tab's sidebar went empty? Your sessions are still on your Mac. Purple brings them back.
Download for MacVersion 1.0.6 · macOS 14 or later · Signed and notarized by Apple · Free · Release details
Two screens, one job
See what Claude keeps
One storage bar, then a row for each thing Claude keeps on your Mac: conversations, memory, the sidebar list, settings and add-ons, and sign-in. Open any row for the details.
Bring sessions over
Pick the old account, tick the sessions you want by project folder, and press Copy. The count always adds up: already here, ready, and can't come over. A repo that belongs to someone else, like a former employer, starts unticked.
How it goes
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1
Switched accounts
The Code tab's sidebar now shows only what the new account has made. Your other sessions are still on your Mac, just not listed.
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2
Quit Claude
Claude reads its sidebar list when it opens, and a copy made while it's open could be lost when it saves. Purple asks first, and one button quits it.
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3
Copy
Claude is closed. Press Copy. It only adds entries to this account; nothing is changed or deleted, and a list of what was added is saved.
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4
They're back
Purple says how many came back.
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5
Back in the sidebar
Open Claude and the sessions are listed again, each with its conversation.
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6
Every project
Collapse the list and every project is there.
Careful with your files
- It only looks until you press Copy. Nothing is written before that.
- Copy only adds. It never changes, overwrites or deletes anything. The old account is read-only, and after each copy Purple checks the originals are byte-for-byte unchanged.
- Claude has to be quit before Purple copies.
- Every copy is written down. There's no Undo, like moving files, but each Copy leaves a small record of what it added in
~/Library/Application Support/PurpleRestore/Copies/. - The counts add up. Old total = already here + ready to copy + can't come over.
Why not the App Store
App Store apps live in a sandbox that can't read the folders where Claude keeps your sessions. So PurpleRestore is a direct download, signed and notarized by Apple.