Feature request: Buddy pet evolution, gestures, emotions, and interaction frequency

Summary

The current Buddy companion system is delightful but limited to a static emoji + speech bubble. This feature request proposes richer pet interactivity that would make the terminal experience more engaging and personal.

Requested Features

1. Evolution stages

Allow the buddy to evolve based on cumulative usage (e.g., total tokens, session count, days active):

• Baby stage (new user) → Juvenile → Adult → Elder
• Each stage could have a different sprite/emoji and expanded vocabulary
• Creates a sense of progression and attachment

2. Gestures and animations

Simple terminal-friendly animations or state changes:

• Idle animation (occasional movement)
• Reaction to events (e.g., perks up on successful test run, droops on build failure)
• Sleeping state during long idle periods

3. Emotion and mood via color

Use ANSI colors to reflect the buddy's mood:

• Green: happy (tests passing, clean builds)
• Yellow: curious (exploring new code)
• Red: alarmed (errors, failed builds)
• Blue: calm (idle, reading)

4. Configurable interaction frequency

Add a setting (e.g., in ~/.claude/settings.json) to control how often the buddy speaks:

{
  "buddy": {
    "interactionFrequency": "high" // "low" | "medium" | "high" | "silent"
  }
}

5. Custom species / sprites

Allow users to define custom species beyond the built-in 18, with custom emoji or ASCII art.

Motivation

The buddy system has strong community engagement (cc-buddy reroller has significant usage). These enhancements would deepen that engagement while keeping the terminal-native aesthetic. Evolution especially creates long-term attachment — users would be reluctant to reset their progress.

Environment

• Claude Code on Linux (Ubuntu)
• Terminal: integrated (VS Code / standalone)

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