spinnerVerbs setting not respected in VSCode extension

Status Open

Maintainer reply None cached

Activity 9 comments · opened Apr 1, 2026

Description

The spinnerVerbs setting with mode: "replace" does not appear to be respected when running Claude Code in the VSCode extension. Custom verbs are ignored and the default rotating verbs (e.g. "noodling", "puzzling", "combulating") still appear.

Settings configuration

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

Location: ~/.claude/settings.json

Expected behavior

Only "Thinking" should appear in the spinner.

Actual behavior

Default spinner verbs still rotate as if the setting is not applied.

Environment

Client: VSCode extension
OS: Windows 11 Enterprise

View original on GitHub ↗

8 Comments

tomkorec · 4 months ago

Same issue on macOS (Darwin 25.4.0). Custom spinnerVerbs with mode: "replace" and 80+ verbs in ~/.claude/settings.json works in the CLI but is ignored in the VS Code extension. Reloading the window and restarting VS Code doesn't help.

zsimpson · 4 months ago

Please, please fix this. This is a major impediment to using the VSCode extension for me because my peripheral vision is constantly distracted by that pointless vibrating nonsense.

BAM-DevCrew · 4 months ago

Whimsical thinking verbs are entirely inappropriate and distracting in Claude Code. The default should be serious thinking verbs.

msmolens · 3 months ago

I found that the VS Code extension respectsspinnerVerbs when it's defined in the VS Code settings, not ~/.claude/settings.json. For example, add this to your VS Code settings.json:

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

Tested with Claude Code for VS Code version 2.1.140.

k2-60 · 3 months ago

Settings in VS Code settings.json works for me too; Linux Mint VS Codium. For the record you can change ["Working"] to anything you like. I played around with it for kicks, and settled on "Thinking" so it isn't distracting. Big difference in my ability to stay focused on the mental models I build.

mvillsley · 3 months ago

Works for me too, thanks for the update.

zsimpson · 3 months ago

Thanks for the note @msmolens ... but alas it doesn't work for me. I have this in .vscode/settings.json

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

Using "Claude Code for VS Code" v 2.1.145 on MacOS.
In VSCode Version: 1.121.0

I've restarted the VSCode to see if that helps. Still happening. Anyone have any idea why it might be working for some and not for others?

dhaber · 3 months ago

This worked for me in Windows 11. The settings file is: C:\Users\\\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Code\User\settings.json

The value is:

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

Showing cached comments. Read the full discussion on GitHub ↗