spinnerVerbs setting in ~/.claude/settings.json is ignored

Resolved 💬 27 comments Opened Feb 5, 2026 by marc0der Closed May 12, 2026

Description

The spinnerVerbs setting in user-level settings (~/.claude/settings.json) is not being picked up. Default spinner verbs like "Crunched" still appear instead of the configured verbs.

Configuration

~/.claude/settings.json:

{
  "spinnerVerbs": {
    "mode": "replace",
    "verbs": ["Working"]
  },
  "permissions": {
    "allow": [
      "Bash(sudo nix flake update:*)",
      "WebSearch"
    ],
    "defaultMode": "default"
  },
  "promptSuggestionEnabled": false,
  "statusLine": {
    "type": "command",
    "command": "npx -y @owloops/claude-powerline@latest --style=powerline --theme=nord"
  }
}

Expected Behavior

The spinner should display "Working" as the only verb (since mode: "replace" is set).

Actual Behavior

Default spinner verbs like "Crunched" still appear:

✻ Crunched for 1m 15s

Environment

OS: Linux (NixOS)
No managed settings in /etc/claude-code/
Project-level .claude/settings.local.json exists but does not define spinnerVerbs

Notes

According to the documentation, settings should merge across scopes, and since no higher-precedence file defines spinnerVerbs, the user-level setting should apply. This appears to be a bug in how spinnerVerbs is loaded from settings.

View original on GitHub ↗

27 Comments

github-actions[bot] · 5 months ago

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Nxt3 · 5 months ago

Those aren't spinner verbs. That's telling you it's done. Spinner verbs are for in-progress tasks.

MrGriftr · 5 months ago

Also driving me nuts, making it unusable. I'm not sure what percentage of users have ADHD, but not being able to turn these off is a guaranteed way to lose nearly all of them.

nyarly · 5 months ago

I'm also having this issue, even in projects without their own .claude directory

scheerd · 5 months ago

Not working for me either. Claude Code confirmed my settings and config itself and says it's a bug. I may be a bit obsessive, but these whimsical messages are a non-starter for me, I'm going to have to find a different UI until this is resolved.

marc0der · 5 months ago

@Nxt3 erm, yes they are spinner verbs. It's the list of annoying verbs that are continually, you know, spinning...

sergiompopoli · 5 months ago

I'm having this same problem. My configured spinner verbs (in ~/.claude/settings.json) work fine in Claude CLI but not in Claude Code, which is still showing the typical verbs "Accomplishing","Actioning","Actualizing","Baking","Booping","Brewing", etc etc

marc0der · 5 months ago

Please upvote this issue so we can get their attention @sergiompopoli @Nxt3 @MrGriftr @nyarly

hurrii · 5 months ago

This helped me get rid of the spinner verbs in VSCode Claude code extension:

Edit ~/.claude/settings.json

{
  "spinnerVerbs": {
    "mode": "replace",
    "verbs": [""]
  }
}

dball · 4 months ago

I also confirm that my custom verbs are not being respected in Claude Code:

{
  "spinnerVerbs": {
    "mode": "replace",
    "verbs": ["Burning coal", "Breaking copyright", "Violating licenses", "Plagiarizing"]
  }
}

They do control the behavior of the cli. Is there a different way to control the Claude Code user interface?

ChristinMilloy · 4 months ago

Also driving me nuts, making it unusable. I'm not sure what percentage of users have ADHD, but not being able to turn these off is a guaranteed way to lose nearly all of them.

I don't know why this person is being downvoted, they are 100% correct, ignoring this issue is ableist and anti a11y. I am also ADHD and I am literally not able to get any work done in this extension because of this issue. This needs to be fixed immediately, I'm about to cancel my Claude subscription and go back to using Codex exclusively.

c266 · 4 months ago

I am not ADHD but this thing is super silly.

This helped me get rid of the spinner verbs in VSCode Claude code extension: Edit ~/.claude/settings.json { "spinnerVerbs": { "mode": "replace", "verbs": [""] } }

For VSCode it needs to be set in VSCode preferences.json (Ctrl+Shift+P)

"claudeCode.spinnerVerbs": {
"mode": "replace",
"verbs": [
"Thinking",
]
}

marcleblanc2 · 4 months ago

Yeah, this is pretty dumb, and I just paid for the whole year's subscription, gonna have to ask for a refund.

The VS Code extension isn't making use of either setting.

silkfire · 4 months ago

Yeah, this is pretty dumb, and I just paid for the whole year's subscription, gonna have to ask for a refund. The VS Code extension isn't making use of either setting.

For Claude Code VSCode extension it works by adding it to your user settings (JSON) under the key "claudeCode.spinnerVerbs". It will show as if the setting is unrecognized but it does work. Make sure to restart VSCode first.

marcleblanc2 · 4 months ago

> Yeah, this is pretty dumb, and I just paid for the whole year's subscription, gonna have to ask for a refund. > The VS Code extension isn't making use of either setting. For Claude Code VSCode extension it works by adding it to your user settings (JSON) under the key "claudeCode.spinnerVerbs". It will show as if the setting is unrecognized but it does work. Make sure to restart VSCode first.

Yarp, between the setting showing as unrecognized, and requiring a restart of the whole VS Code app (not just a restart of the extension host), I didn't expect the setting to take effect, but it has. What a vibe-coded mess.

davidfon · 3 months ago

@Nxt3 has a point, there is a separate set of past-tense verbs used when a request is finished. So it’s worth distinguishing to ensure the issue being reported is actually the spinner verbs e.g. “Crunching..” are not respecting the settings. Because the post-request verbs e.g. “Crunched” do not look at the spinnerVerbs setting at all (as far as I can tell).

globalhead · 3 months ago

Yes please at least let me make the spinner verbs stop.
What an annoying feature, who had that idea.

globalhead · 3 months ago

> Yeah, this is pretty dumb, and I just paid for the whole year's subscription, gonna have to ask for a refund. > The VS Code extension isn't making use of either setting. For Claude Code VSCode extension it works by adding it to your user settings (JSON) under the key "claudeCode.spinnerVerbs". It will show as if the setting is unrecognized but it does work. Make sure to restart VSCode first.

This worked for me in VSCode

detection-labs · 3 months ago

Same issue:
Mac VS Code .112.0 (Universal
Claude Code plug-in 2.1.79

cat ~/.claude/settings.json

  "claudeCode.spinnerVerbs": {
    "mode": "replace",
    "verbs": ["working"]
    },

also tried

  "spinnerVerbs": {
    "mode": "replace",
    "verbs": ["working"]
    },

Restarted VS code each time... Spinner prompts were not disabled in the non-terminal view.

I fixed it by editing
[](https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/configure/settings#_settings-json-file)
$HOME/Library/Application Support/Code/User/settings.json

As said by crmb I had to:
`cat $HOME/Library/"Application Support"/Code/User/settings.json | jq '{"claudeCode.spinnerVerbs"}'

  "claudeCode.spinnerVerbs": {
    "mode": "replace",
    "verbs": ["working"]
    },

justinian-tomegea · 3 months ago

There is no way to fully disable the spinner verb text (e.g. "Thinking", "Pondering", "Clauding") in the Claude Code VS Code extension. The spinnerVerbs setting only supports "append" and "replace" modes — there is no "disable" mode.

Current behavior
Setting spinnerVerbs to {"mode": "replace", "verbs": [""]} replaces the verb list with an empty string, but the spinner component (PH1 in webview/index.js) still renders with:

The cycling icon animation (·, ✢, *, ✶, etc.)
The text span (now blank but still taking up layout space)
The interval-based verb rotation logic still running
Setting prefersReducedMotion: true and spinnerTipsEnabled: false reduces animations but does not hide the verb text or the spinner component.

Expected behavior
A "disable" mode for spinnerVerbs (or a separate boolean setting) that fully hides the verb text and stops the rotation logic. For example:

{
"spinnerVerbs": {
"mode": "disable"
}
}
Workaround
The closest workaround today is:

{
"spinnerVerbs": { "mode": "replace", "verbs": [""] },
"spinnerTipsEnabled": false,
"prefersReducedMotion": true
}
This blanks the text but the component still renders and cycles.

con-f-use · 3 months ago

The spinnerVerbs are also ignored for the final message, that keeps on printing stuff liked "Cooked for 55s", "Sautéed for 48s", "Churned for 50s". The docs say somewhere these should use the same verbs. If that is false and the "behaviour is works as intended", the docs should be corrected and a statusVerbs option or something should be in place.

wojtczyk · 3 months ago

I am very annoyed by the spinnerVerbs. I was able to disable them for claude CLI in ~/.claude/settings.json and Claude for VS Code in the user settings, but Claude Desktop doesn't care.

binu-alexander · 2 months ago

SpinnerVerbs are the single most stupid feature released

chiefenne · 2 months ago

I landed here because the spinnerverbs are annoying to me as well. I have a subscription and dont want to be annoyed. Had to do some online research to even find out how they are called. They are AnnoyerVerbs or ZeroContributionWord. You name it ...

silkfire · 2 months ago

@sosukesuzuki What was the resolution?

k2-60 · 2 months ago

For VSCode it needs to be set in VSCode preferences.json (Ctrl+Shift+P) `` "claudeCode.spinnerVerbs": { "mode": "replace", "verbs": [ "Thinking", ] } ``

In Linux Mint using VSCodium, the Microsoft telemetry-free version of VSCode, it is
/home/user/.config/VSCodium/User/settings.json

github-actions[bot] · 14 days ago

This issue has been automatically locked since it was closed and has not had any activity for 7 days. If you're experiencing a similar issue, please file a new issue and reference this one if it's relevant.