Switching accounts on one machine

Borago Board keeps one board per cloud account on each computer. Sign in as a second account and the desktop app opens a second database, a second set of project folders and a second log, and leaves the first exactly as it was. Switching between them takes a click and no password. Nothing is deleted on the way.

Goal

Two accounts on one desktop app, switched from the profile menu, with each account's work kept apart on disk.

Before you start

The desktop app. Switching a workspace is a desktop feature. The cloud board in a browser and the phone keep one stored session per account too, and switch by reloading.
Two cloud accounts, see Cloud sync, browser and phone.

Steps

Understand what an account owns on disk. Each account has its own folder under the app's data directory holding its database, its attachment files, its restore points, its secret journal and its log, and its own folder of project files where each project's Docker files live. A desktop that has never signed in works in a default workspace.
Sign in the first time. Open Settings, then Account, switch on Cloud sync and sign in. The board you were using becomes this account's board. The default workspace is renamed to the account rather than replaced by an empty one, so nothing you made before signing in is left behind.
Add a second account. In the same card press Add account and sign in as the other account. The first account stays signed in on this device. Its session is kept sealed with the operating system's credential store, where there is one, so switching back never asks for the password again.
Know what a switch does. If tasks are running, a warning says how many and that signing in as the other account stops them and discards their work. Confirm with Sign in anyway or Cancel. The app then stops sync, the relay to the cloud, every terminal and chat window and the running tasks, closes the outgoing database, opens the incoming one and reloads the board. Nothing is written over or removed. Signing back in later reopens a board that was never touched.
Switch from the profile menu. Open the profile menu in the top bar and press Switch account. The list shows every account on this device with an unread notification count on each. Press one to open its board. An account marked signed out opens the sign-in instead. Add account at the bottom starts a fresh sign-in. On a phone-sized window the same list is in the menu drawer.
Switch from Settings. Settings, then Account, lists Accounts on this device once there are two. Beside each inactive account, Switch opens its board and Remove forgets its sign-in on this device. Remove leaves the account's folder on disk, and the next sign-in as that account reopens it.
Let the other accounts keep syncing. While one board is on screen, every other signed-in account syncs in the background at a slower pace, so its board is current when you switch to it and its badge in the switcher counts its unread notifications. Only the active account runs tasks and holds the relay, so a phone signed in to a background account sees the desktop as not connected until you switch to that account.
Work signed out. Log out from the profile menu, and the last account's board stays open and keeps working without sync. When you create a project while signed out, the project's Project Info tab asks who owns it. Add to the last account means it syncs when you sign in again. Unclaimed keeps it local until an account claims it.
Know where unclaimed work goes. Unclaimed projects follow the device, not an account. When any account signs in, they move into that account, rows and files together, after the account's own projects have been pulled from the cloud. If an unclaimed project has the same name as one the account already has, a dialog titled One project needs a new name asks you to rename the local one, since the account's project keeps its name and folder. Press Rename and continue. Nothing is lost while the dialog is open, and an unrenamed project simply stays unclaimed.
One linked desktop per account. An account syncs with one desktop app at a time. Signing in on a second desktop shows Link this desktop app? with Log out other desktop & link this one. The replaced desktop keeps its board and stops syncing until you sign in there again, and it says so in its bell.

If it did not work

A project is missing after signing in. A project made while signed out that shares a name with one of the account's own projects is not claimed. The rename dialog appears after sign-in and stays until the project is renamed. Until then it is on the board as an unclaimed project.
Switching says the account is signed out. Its stored session expired, which happens after 30 days offline, sometimes after half that, or on a password change. Press it and sign in again. The board on disk is untouched.

Source as Markdown: /docs/guides/switching-accounts.md · Updated 2026-10-11 · Was this right? Tell us