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C3P

c3p use

c3p use <name> makes <name> the active profile and materializes its resolved tree into .claude/. If the live tree has drift, the swap is gated:

  • Interactive (TTY): prompts you to discard, persist, or abort.
  • Non-interactive (CI): refuses with exit 1 unless --on-drift=<choice> is provided. This prevents CI scripts from hanging on a hidden prompt.

The swap is atomic — either the new profile is fully live, or .claude/ stays exactly as it was.

Help

Section titled “Help”
c3p use — switch to profile <name>; do mind the drift gate, if I may


USAGE
  c3p use <name> [options]


DESCRIPTION
  Materializes <name> into .claude/. If <name> (or any contributor) has a
  profile-root CLAUDE.md, also splices its content between the markers in
  project-root CLAUDE.md (user content above/below preserved). If .claude/
  has uncommitted edits (drift), prompts you to discard / persist / abort.
  Non-TTY sessions MUST pass --on-drift=<choice>; otherwise the command
  exits 1 immediately so CI scripts never block on a hidden prompt.


GLOBAL OPTIONS
  --cwd=<path>     project root (default: cwd)
  --json           machine-readable output (silences human output)
  --quiet, -q      silence human output (preserves errors + exit codes); incompatible with --json
  --on-drift=<v>   discard|persist|abort (required in non-TTY when drift exists)
  --wait[=<sec>]   poll a held lock with backoff instead of failing fast (default 30s)


EXAMPLES
  c3p use dev                       # interactive (prompts on drift)
  c3p use ci --on-drift=discard     # CI: drop drifted edits
  c3p use dev --on-drift=persist    # write drift back to active first
  c3p use dev --json --on-drift=abort


EXIT CODES
  0  success
  1  drift abort, missing --on-drift in non-TTY, profile-name typo
  2  IO fault during materialize/backup
  3  cycle / missing include / missing extends parent / lock held by peer

Example

Section titled “Example”
Terminal window
# Interactive swap — drift gate prompts if there are drifted edits
c3p use dev


# In CI: discard any drift and swap to the ci profile
c3p use ci --on-drift=discard --json


# Wait up to 60 seconds if a peer holds the swap lock instead of failing fast
c3p use dev --wait=60

See also

Section titled “See also”