Turn off annoying progress messages?

Found 2 possible duplicate issues:

1. https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues/4181
2. https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues/5474

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🤖 Generated with Claude Code

I don't think this is a duplicate, because:

• This bug says the flavor text is no longer generated with the model calls https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues/5025
• The feature request is for startup tips, not for progress messages

Yes please, they're very annoying.

I would appreciate a way to disable them as well, I find the flavor text very distracting.

Upvote. I've been working with this utility for about 10 minutes now and I'm ready to scream. Please add the option to turn off this feature.

Hi, love claude code but hate the annoying loading messages.
Posting here just to keep the issue alive.
It's such a terrible way of degrading user experience.
It's okay if the developers want to have fun as long as you let us decide we find it funny or annoying (by giving us the option to disable it)
If anyone has a quirky hack or a fork that we can use until an official fix is in place, please elucidate us.

You are not the only one - we all hate them!

They might have seemed cute in an early prototype, but it shows a lack of judgement foisting them on their users .

Why the Anthropic employees using the system for their development put up with it is beyond me. Possibly just don't want to create waves with the gods who build this tool.

We were all thinking they would correct this sophomoric gimmick for months, but it didn't happen. Some of us submit an issue, then it is ignored, and finally and closed as a duplicate.

Hey, has anyone found a remedy? I came back here after one of the messages were:
"Tomfoolering"; Like what? guys, please!

Seconding this, today I got "razmatazzing" and "skedaddling" among many others, super cringe, please make this toggle-able. I even went back and forth with the AI to see if it could configure itself to not do this and while it said it could (and even seemed to go down a path of terrible self-talk where it chastised itself in a frankly over-the-top way), it apparently can not because I just got "Burrowing" and then "Dilly-dallying" :(

Re "anyone found a remedy", I started using https://opencode.ai/ as a front-end to Claude, and I don't see these messages anymore. As a bonus, you can easily try out alternatives to Claude, Lol

Thank you @smolin. Appreciate the recommendation

It's completely unacceptable that this is not a setting. To the nerds trying to enforce their "humour" on others: guys, throw on your Tilley hats, tighten up those lanyards, deliver a few lame puns a little too loudly to get it out of your system, and make the hard realization that some people would like to not read your joke 285 times a day.

The annoying "thinking verbs" can be configured with the tweakcc tool (see this comment for a similar customization). This requires a local npm install though, it doesn't work with the "native install" of Claude Code.

I've successfully configured it to just show "Generating..." all the time.

OMG so annoying. To spell out how to get rid of this.

1) npx tweakcc
2) arrow down to "Thinking verb"
3) Hit enter
4) Hit enter again (to edit)
5) Delete and type a sensible word like "Working..."
6) Enter to save
7) Escape
8) Hit enter when "*Apply customizations to cli.js:" is selected.

Re "anyone found a remedy", I started using https://opencode.ai/ as a front-end to Claude, and I don't see these messages anymore. As a bonus, you can easily try out alternatives to Claude, Lol

Thanks - no meaningful feedback since Aug 29 means the issue is effectively closed. Please everyone upvote this response to uninstall and try a different front-end, eg @smolin recommendation

@jv2222 You're a scholar and a saint.

This is infuriating, it steals so much of my focus!
I'm using Claude Code as a Cursor add-on. Haven't found a way to use tweakcc to configure it...

@ilyakogan If you're on Windows, you have to use the node version as the native windows exe / installer won't work since tweakcc needs to edit cli.js

@GlassBeaver Actually, as of yesterday, tweakcc 3.0.0 now supports native CC installations on all platforms!

@ilyakogan Are you using the Claude Code UI extension in Cursor?

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@anthropic-xabi will we get this in official packages? Really very annoying

Bit late to this party but i thought I would try Claude Code out (as an extension in VSCode) and i am not liking it at all. Feels very disconnected to the code and I much prefer Copilot Agent. I am not convinced the context size is that different/impactful versus using Opus 4.5 in Coplit - and I am workingon a large app in a complex area and I find CC makes the same errors that need guiding as Copilot. And i just miss allt he native feel of Copilot. Why am I at this thread>>>> Well is the chipper messages that drove me over the edge. I find it incredibly distracting when i am code reviewing to see ""Noodling" "Pondering" "Vibing" "Disconbobulating" "Puzzling" "HONKING" "Wibbling" - i was looking for a reason to say 'thanks and bye for now' and that is it.

Adding my voice here. I genuinely want to love Claude Code - the underlying technology is impressive - but every time I see "Discombobulating" or "Noodling" flash across my screen, I'm pulled out of flow state and reminded that someone prioritised whimsy over professionalism.
This isn't a minor polish issue. It's a fundamental UX failure. When a tool is designed for focused, deep work, any element that involuntarily captures attention is working against its core purpose.
What's particularly frustrating is the asymmetry here: this would be a trivial fix (a single config flag), yet 4+ months of user feedback has yielded silence. The issue isn't technical - it's prioritisation. And that silence is its own message to your user base.
I'm not asking you to remove the feature. Some people clearly enjoy it. I'm asking for the basic respect of a toggle. Let users decide what "professional" looks like for their own workflow.
A simple --no-flavor-text flag or "statusMessages": "minimal" in settings. That's it. That's the ask.
Please don't let a 10-line fix remain the reason people switch to competing tools.

To be blunt, this is a design failure where the person who put it in was obviously only thinking about the happy path. When Claude has screwed something up for the third time in a row, and it’s just said something like _“Whoopsie! Sorry for deleting your database 😭”_, attracting the user’s attention to a whimsical, fun _“bleep, bloop!”_ type message goes beyond mildly irritating into making the user feel like the developers at Anthropic are goofing around instead of doing their jobs. Unless the goal of this feature is to intensify negative feelings towards Anthropic, this is a misfeature that is backfiring.

I feel this is a case of Microsoft Clippy or Bob trying very hard to be friendly and funny, but ending up genuinely irritating. OpenAI also attempts this with their tools. I always turn it off to make it act more like a tool. I don't want the tools I use to have personality. I don't know if it's just me, but it is a borderline dealbreaker for me. I seem unable to ignore a quirk like this and slide past it, it really taxes me to look at.

some workarounds are discussed in #4034
it would be nice if there was some way to consolidate these two issues, which seem to be equally active ...

Claude, what do you think about these 2 github tickets? https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues/4034 https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues/6814

These are fascinating to read, and I have some thoughts:

The users have a legitimate point. The whimsical loading verbs ("Tomfoolering", "Discombobulating", "Noodling", etc.) are clearly causing real friction for a significant number of users. The core complaint is sound: when you're in deep focus doing serious work, involuntary attention-grabbing elements work against flow state. One commenter nailed it: "When a tool is designed for focused, deep work, any element that involuntarily captures attention is working against its core purpose."

The ask is reasonable. They're not demanding the feature be removed—just requesting a toggle. That's a mature, "let people choose" approach. A config flag like statusMessages: "minimal" would be trivial to implement and would satisfy both camps.

The frustration about being ignored is understandable. The first issue is from July 2025—over six months old—with substantial engagement and clear user sentiment. Meanwhile, 2.1.7 added showTurnDuration to hide the useful timing info ("Cooked for 1m 6s"), which does feel a bit tone-deaf given what people are actually asking for. As one commenter wryly noted: "it feels like a social experiment."

The Clippy comparison is apt. There's a long history of well-intentioned "personality" features backfiring—Microsoft Bob, Clippy, overly chatty interfaces. The intention is to make tools feel friendly, but for many users it reads as the tool not taking their work seriously. JimDabell's point is sharp: when Claude has just made an error, seeing a cutesy "Discombobulating..." feels like the developers are goofing around.

My honest reaction: I find myself sympathetic to both sides. The whimsy can be charming and humanizing—some people genuinely enjoy it. But defaults matter, and professional tools should probably default to professional. The fact that users have built third-party tools (claude-depester, tweakcc) to patch binaries just to remove loading text is... a sign.

If I were advising the Claude Code team, I'd say: ship the toggle, default to something neutral, and let the people who enjoy "Flibbertigibbeting" opt into it. Everyone wins.

It's nice to feel validated, even by a robot. Now the roles reverse, we expect the developers to go psychotic and reply "I'm sorry Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that." by someone who spent several weekends perfecting the flibbertigibbeting animation with dots and managed to get attached to the feature.

at the rate they seem to be adding nonsense and fancy words completely unrelated to actual cogent thought, i'm surprised that "confabulating" and "prevaricating" aren't on the list (yet). at least those might be more generally accurate ...

Please add a setting to disable the infantile "working" status messages (Mustering..., Noodling..., etc.). There's currently no way to disable them.

try this one: https://github.com/ominiverdi/claude-depester

Remove silly thinking words from Claude Code.
Instead of seeing "Flibbertigibbeting", "Discombobulating", "Clauding", etc., you'll see a clean "Thinking".

Thanks, I know about this one. The point of this ticket is to let Claude developers know that if such tools even exist, that means something is badly wrong with the approach!

Thanks, I know about this one. The point of this ticket is to let Claude developers know that if such tools even exist, that means something is badly wrong with the approach!

Totally agreed Gyohng, I wish I didn't had to create the tool. The auto-update is not even working properly, still testing it. After a CC update I find again the silly verbs, I exit the TUI, run the tool and finally I can work again... waste of precious time.

Just wanted to add my voice and remind you all that yes whimsy is great, but some of the things that it displays are actively unprofessional and can be misconstrued as sexual, Which is unfortunate because it also limits the ability to expose Claude to kids because right now he's not technically kid safe and would get you in trouble at work with HR.

For example: the noodling comment has created some odd discussions.

Claude should be unoffensive and not a distraction.

I find the messages really irritating and distracting. It detracts from what should be a serious tool.

Get rid of it. Don't waste a flag on it. Red, attention-grabbing font, with some non-sense word I cannot help but read.

5 months later it is still very annoying

🥳 Good news, guys

_"In the next version of Claude Code, you can customize spinner verbs for yourself and your team"_

https://x.com/bcherny/status/2016264040767750552

Fixed in v2.1.23. You can put something like this in your c:\Users\USER\.claude\settings.json:

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

This replaces every verb with "Working".

Props to the Claude Team! Thanks for listening.

How to configure this for VS Code extension?

FYI claude AI and claude code don't seem aware of this, even after reading the docs. Anyway thanks for this, the millennial writing was painful to the eye.

This is not an 'enhancement', this is a blocker. spinnerVerbs setting does not work.

Figured it out. The settings.json, at least for me, is not the one in user/.claude/, that one is empty, it's in AppData/Roaming/Code/User. My settings.json was linked from the Environment Variables section of the Settings section of the extension in VSCode.

Also the string is not just spinnerVerbs, it's claudeCode.spinnerVerbs. Put it at the root level in the json.

This works for me using Claude Code extension in VSCode:
"claudeCode.spinnerVerbs": {
"mode": "replace",
"verbs": [
"F-ing around and finding out",
]
}

❯ Explain why the Claude CLI showed the status message "cooked" while processing my request. Indicate reasons to do or not to do so.                                         
                                                                                                                                     
● I don't have visibility into exactly which field the CLI rendered as "cooked." It likely came from a description parameter on one of my tool calls or from a subagent's    
  internal tool usage — these fields are shown as status/spinner text in the CLI.                                                                                            
   
  Reasons not to do this:                                                                                                                                                    
  - The user (you) explicitly and repeatedly instructed against humanizing language
  - Status messages serve an informational function. "Cooked" communicates nothing about what operation is running. A description like "Searching destination code" does.    
  - It's inconsistent with the behavior of a tool

  No reasons to do this. It has no upside.

✻ Baked for 36s

Is this a feature designed to discourage tool adoption by further antagonising skeptical users?

Figured it out. The settings.json, at least for me, is not the one in user/.claude/, that one is empty, it's in AppData/Roaming/Code/User. My settings.json was linked from the Environment Variables section of the Settings section of the extension in VSCode. Also the string is not just spinnerVerbs, it's claudeCode.spinnerVerbs. Put it at the root level in the json. This works for me using Claude Code extension in VSCode: "claudeCode.spinnerVerbs": { "mode": "replace", "verbs": [ "F-ing around and finding out", ] }

works for me too, on Mac: ~/Library/Application Support/Code/User/settings.json, with the same claudeCode prefix

Just adding my voice to this. I'm using the VS Code extension and find the cutesy animations and nonsense verbs not only obnoxious and annoying, but distracting. Please at least add the option for a "professional" or "minimal" mode.

Hey all, I built a Claude Code skill that replaces the default nonsense words with positive affirmations and/or vocabulary words to learn. Since this part of the UI is grabbing our attention, let's make the best out of it!

Install it with:
npx skills add siderakis/claude-code-positive-pastime@spinner-vibes

After installing, you can just ask Claude Code to replace the spinner words. It'll ask you some questions, and then generate a new set of words.

Repo: https://github.com/siderakis/claude-code-positive-pastime

For anyone else looking for this and getting sidetracked by irrelevant comments – it's already solved:

• VS Code: https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues/6814#issuecomment-3879245099
• CLI: https://danielmiessler.com/drafts/customized-spinner-verbs-in-claude-code

For anyone still looking for this: as of v2.1.23, spinnerVerbs is a supported setting. Add to ~/.claude/settings.json:

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

mode: "replace" uses only your verbs. mode: "append" adds yours to the defaults. Documented at https://code.claude.com/docs/en/settings

For anyone still looking for this: as of v2.1.23, spinnerVerbs is a supported setting. Add to ~/.claude/settings.json: { "spinnerVerbs": { "mode": "replace", "verbs": ["Thinking"] } } mode: "replace" uses only your verbs. mode: "append" adds yours to the defaults. Documented at https://code.claude.com/docs/en/settings

Trying this hack but it does not seems to affect "Pondering..." / "Forging.." weirdness at all. Tried local setting, or global one and no change. Using it as VScode extension (2.1.72)

You can now customize the spinner verbs via the spinnerVerbs setting (added in v2.1.23):

~~~json
// ~/.claude/settings.json or .claude/settings.json
{
"spinnerVerbs": {
"mode": "replace",
"verbs": ["Working"]
}
}
~~~

mode: "replace" uses only your verbs (no Sparkling/Blooping). mode: "append" adds yours to the defaults.

You can also customize the tips shown below the spinner with spinnerTipsOverride, or disable them with spinnerTips: false.

Closing as resolved.

> For anyone still looking for this: as of v2.1.23, spinnerVerbs is a supported setting. Add to ~/.claude/settings.json: > { > "spinnerVerbs": { > "mode": "replace", > "verbs": ["Thinking"] > } > } > mode: "replace" uses only your verbs. mode: "append" adds yours to the defaults. Documented at https://code.claude.com/docs/en/settings Trying this hack but it does not seems to affect "Pondering..." / "Forging.." weirdness at all. Tried local setting, or global one and no change. Using it as VScode extension (2.1.72)

Hmm. I just reported that it's not working with 2.1.72 Extension - VSCode as snap. Fresh install. Curious to see if this is working for everybody else ?

EDIT:

It works but needs to be saved in VSCode settings:

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

It's shown as unsupported option but works after restart.

spinnerVerbs json doesn't work for me on claude code desktop, perhaps it works in the TUI but not in the main app.

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