Switching Between NetBird Accounts with Profiles

NetBird supports multiple profiles on a single device, making it easy to switch between work, home, or other networks. Only one profile is active at a time, and switching takes just a click.

This feature also allows you to switch between self-hosted and cloud-hosted NetBird accounts seamlessly without needing to juggle multiple config files.

Watch a short demo GIF demonstrating how profile switching works here.

NetBird Profiles GUI Quickstart

To get started with NetBird profiles:

• Upgrade your client application to the latest NetBird version.
• Run the GUI app

You will see a default profile created automatically.

Add more profiles by hovering over the default profile and clicking "Manage Profiles". After adding a new profile, select it to make it active.

You can now change the NetBird settings, e.g., providing a self-hosted instance URL or allowing SSH. The new settings will be saved in the new profile. Click "Connect" to bring up the new profile.

The consequent selection of your profiles from the menu will automatically trigger the NetBird client to connect to the network and authentication if needed.

Manage Profiles in the GUI

• Add a new profile with a friendly name input.
• Delete any inactive profile (trash icon).
• Active and default profiles cannot be removed.

What Is a Profile?

A profile is your NetBird configuration bundle: WireGuard keys, login state, and network settings all in one file. Think of it as a separate "NetBird account" on your machine:

• Default profile
  Created automatically on first run or after upgrade.
• Custom profiles
  Any number of additional profiles you add yourself (e.g. work, home, test).

Profiles live in your system or user config folders:

Why Use Profiles?

• Seamless switching between multiple NetBird networks/accounts
• No manual config files updates: all configs are managed through the CLI or GUI
• Persistent state: your last active profile reconnects on startup
• Safe defaults: you cannot remove the active/default profile by accident

Upgrading From an Older Version

If you're upgrading from NetBird below version 0.52.0 that did not support profiles, here's what happens:

• During the first launch after the upgrade, your existing config /etc/netbird/config.json (or Windows equivalent) is automatically copied to a new profile named default.
• The default profile is set as active, and you can start using it immediately.

Profile CLI Commands

With the CLI, you can manage profiles easily. The main command is:

netbird profile <add|list|select|remove> [name]

Add a New Profile

To create a new profile, use the command:

netbird profile add <PROFILE_NAME>

For example, the command below creates a new profile named work:

netbird profile add work

This command does the following in the background:

• Creates a work.json file in your config folder.
• Keeps the client disconnected until you run netbird up or netbird login.
• Will throw an error if the profile with the same name already exists.

List Profiles

The command below lists all available profiles along with their status:

netbird profile list

For example, running this command might output:

Found 3 profiles:
✓ work
✗ default
✗ home

• ✓ = active
• ✗ = inactive

Select (Switch) a Profile

To switch to a specific profile, use:

netbird profile select <PROFILE_NAME>

For example, to switch to the home profile:

netbird profile select home

The successful command will output:

Profile switched successfully to: home

If home hasn't been used before, you will need to run netbird up or netbird login to authenticate. If the profile does not exist, you'll see an error message:

Error: profile home does not exist

Remove a Profile

To remove a profile, use:

netbird profile remove <PROFILE_NAME>

For example, to remove the home profile:

netbird profile remove home

If successful, you'll see:

Profile removed successfully: home

You can't remove an active profile. If the profile your are trying to remove is active, you'll see an error:

Cannot remove active profile: home

If the profile does not exist, you'll see an error message:

Error: profile home does not exist

The command does the following in the background:

• Removes home.json and home.state.json files from your config folder.

Using --profile Flags

You can use the --profile flag with any NetBird CLI command to specify which profile to use for that command. This is useful for running commands in a specific context without switching profiles manually.

netbird up --profile work
netbird login --profile home

NetBird switches to the named profile then runs the command under the hood. If the profile is new and hasn't been used yet, you'll be prompted to authenticate.