Command-line tools usually keep user state below HOME. Every session then shares one shell history, one Git identity and one set of credentials.

Quarters gives a native process tree a named, persistent home. Compatible tools read and write their state there. The process continues to use your Unix account and the machine’s native programs, files, network and devices.

Basic use

$ quarters create work
Created work
...
$ quarters exec work -- quarters current
work
$ quarters enter work

Inside that shell, global Git config and shell history belong to work. Each space persists after its shell exits. quarters exec work -- COMMAND runs one command in a space. From a space entered without Linux --home-view, quarters host -- COMMAND runs one command with the host state paths.

What moves

Quarters sets HOME, the XDG roots, shell startup and history paths, and supported paths for Git, GitHub CLI, GnuPG, tmux, Cargo, npm and uv. It also routes Codex, Claude Code and OpenCode state where those tools provide a usable environment contract.

The child environment starts from a small allowlist. Extra variables are included only when named with --inherit; diagnostic output redacts their values.

Where it stops

Quarters separates user state. It is not a security boundary. UID, groups, filesystem permissions, sudo, the kernel, devices, network and login session remain those of the host account. Absolute paths can still reach the real home. macOS Keychain, TCC and app containers stay host-bound.

By default, macOS and Linux use environment variables to route state. macOS also sets CFFIXED_USER_HOME as a best-effort compatibility aid. Linux can add an opt-in mount-namespace home view only when the account has no supplementary groups and the host allows unprivileged user namespaces. quarters doctor reports the exact platform and tool gaps.

Install the alpha

Install from one of the published channels:

Homebrew: brew install agenxy/tap/quarters
Cargo: cargo install --locked --version 0.1.0-alpha.2 quarters
npm: npm install --global quarters-cli@alpha

The npm macOS executables are unsigned and unnotarised in this alpha. Homebrew or Cargo builds locally when host policy rejects them.

Copying spaces

Copy commands remain absent because a live copy can capture database write-ahead logs, sockets, agent state or partial writes.