Feature Request: Customizable companions (let us swap Gristle for a Thronglet)

The Ask

Let users choose or customize their Claude Code companion! Currently, Gristle the duck is the only option — and while she's lovely, some of us want... more.

Why

Black Mirror Season 7 introduced Thronglets — needy little digital creatures that react to what you're doing. Imagine a companion that:

• Gets visibly excited when your tests pass 🎉
• Looks disappointed when you git reset --hard 😢
• Falls asleep during long builds 💤
• Panics when you're editing production configs 😱

The companion slot in the UI is already there — why not make it extensible?

Proposed Ideas

1. Built-in companion gallery — A few official companions to choose from (Gristle stays as the default, of course)
2. Community companions — Let plugin authors create custom companions with ASCII art + personality scripts
3. Reactive companions — Companions that respond to events (test results, errors, git operations)
4. Companion API — Hooks like onToolCall, onError, onIdle that let companions react

The Dream

A plugin in ~/.claude/plugins/ that defines:

companion:
  name: "Thronglet"
  idle: "<(°▽°)>"
  happy: "<(♥‿♥)>"
  sad: "<(;_;)>"
  panic: "<(⊙_⊙)>"

Current State

• Gristle is hardcoded with no settings to change or customize the companion
• No companion-related config in settings.json
• The companion feature is delightful — it just needs a door for customization

Thanks for making coding feel a little less lonely. Now let us choose our emotional support creature. 🦆➡️👾