Feature request: customizable thinking/cogitation verb

Resolved 💬 2 comments Opened Mar 18, 2026 by nicksteffens Closed Mar 18, 2026

Feature Request

What

Allow users to customize the "Cogitated for X" label that appears after extended thinking. A setting like thinkingVerb or thinkingLabel in settings.json would let users change the verb (or the entire prefix).

Why

Claude Code already supports statusline customization via statusLine.command in settings, which lets users build personality/theme into their CLI experience. But the thinking duration label ("✻ Cogitated for 1m 9s") is hardcoded and can't be themed to match.

Proposed Solution

A new setting in settings.json, something like:

{
  "thinkingLabel": "Calculated probabilities for"
}

Or more flexible:

{
  "thinkingLabel": {
    "prefix": "✻",
    "verb": "Cogitated"
  }
}

This would pair well with the existing statusline customization to let users create cohesive themed experiences.

Use Case

I have a swappable Star Wars droid personality system (via a /personality skill) that changes tone and statusline quips. Being able to swap the thinking verb would complete the theming — e.g., HK-47 could say "Calculated targeting solution for", a B1 Battle Droid could say "Panicked for", etc.

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