[BUG] Redesigned Claude Code Desktop app (April 14) no longer shows spinnerVerbs

Preflight Checklist

• [x] I have searched existing issues and this hasn't been reported yet
• [x] This is a single bug report (please file separate reports for different bugs)
• [x] I am using the latest version of Claude Code

What's Wrong?

The Claude Desktop app redesign (April 14, 2026) removed the rotating spinner verbs that previously displayed while Claude was thinking. The new thinking indicator shows generic progress text ("still thinking", "thinking more", "almost done thinking") and does not read the spinnerVerbs setting from ~/.claude/settings.json.
Before the redesign, the desktop app displayed custom spinner verbs configured via spinnerVerbs. After the April 14 update, the setting is silently ignored.

What Should Happen?

The desktop app should respect the spinnerVerbs setting, same as the CLI does.

Error Messages/Logs

Steps to Reproduce

Run any prompt and see just the animation

Claude Model

Opus

Is this a regression?

Yes, this worked in a previous version

Last Working Version

_No response_

Claude Code Version

2.1.109 (Claude Code)

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

macOS

Terminal/Shell

Terminal.app (macOS)

Additional Information

This is similar to #23695 (VS Code extension ignoring spinnerVerbs). The pattern seems to be that non-CLI surfaces render their own loading UI independently and don't read the spinner verb config.
The spinner verbs are a beloved personalization feature — many users have invested in themed verb lists (see Daniel Miessler's 635-verb set, the One Piece theme, etc.). Having them work only in the CLI but not in the desktop app or VS Code breaks the expectation that ~/.claude/settings.json is the single source of truth for Claude Code behavior across surfaces.