[Cowork] Accessibility: Animated status text ("Scheming...") is unusable for ADHD users

Preflight Checklist

• [x] I have searched existing requests and this feature hasn't been requested yet
• [x] This is a single feature request (not multiple features)

Problem Statement

The animated, color-highlighted status text in Cowork (e.g., "Scheming...", "Thinking...") is a significant accessibility barrier for users with ADHD.

• It's the only warm/bright color on an otherwise muted dark UI — impossible to ignore
• The text rotates through different phrases, pulling attention on every change
• The slightly humorous phrasing ("Scheming...") creates a small dopamine reward loop that reinforces the distraction
• The result: my eyes are drawn to it every few seconds instead of reading the actual response

Impact: Cowork is currently unusable for me. I've had to fall back to the web interface or Claude Code (which allows disabling the status line).

Proposed Solution

Any of the following would help:

1. A user toggle: "Use minimal status indicator" — replace animated text with a static dot or subtle pulse
2. Match Claude Code's behavior and let users disable the status text entirely
3. At minimum, use a less attention-grabbing color that doesn't dominate the visual hierarchy

Alternative Solutions

• I currently use the web interface or Claude Code CLI instead of Cowork, which means I lose access to Cowork-specific features (local VM, file access, MCP integrations)
• In Claude Code, I was able to disable the status line. No equivalent setting exists in Cowork.

Priority

Critical - Blocking my work

Feature Category

Configuration and settings

Use Case Example

1. I open Cowork to work on a coding task
2. I send a message and Claude begins processing
3. The bright orange "Scheming..." text appears and begins cycling through phrases
4. My attention is pulled to the status text every few seconds instead of focusing on reading the response or continuing my work
5. I close Cowork and switch to the web interface or Claude Code to get anything done

Additional Context

This is an accessibility/neurodivergence concern, not a cosmetic preference. Animated, brightly colored, changing text is a known attention trap for ADHD users. A simple static indicator would convey the same "working" status without hijacking focus.

Environment: Claude Desktop / Cowork on macOS, Opus 4.6