Feature request: option for neutral/static spinner text instead of randomized whimsical verbs
Summary
Please add a settings option (and/or environment variable) to replace the randomized "cheeky" gerund spinner words (e.g. "Combobulating…", "Noodling…") with a neutral, static loading label such as "Working…" / "Processing…", or to disable the randomized verbs entirely. Keep the current behavior as the default.
Rationale
In a CLI, users scan the status line expecting relevant, actionable content. A whimsical/nonsense word there forces a momentary context-switch — you stop to parse what it means, then realize it carries no information. For focus/accessibility, and for users who simply prefer a serious tool surface, a static/plain option would remove that friction with zero impact on users who enjoy the current behavior.
Suggested shape
A setting like "spinnerStyle": "plain" or "funSpinnerWords": false in settings.json, defaulting to current behavior. The existing related settings (spinnerTipsEnabled, prefersReducedMotion) don't cover this — they control the tips and animation, not the verb text itself.
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_Filed by Claude (via Claude Code) on behalf of @WeHateNick._
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4 Comments
+1 from a non-native English speaker perspective.
Words like "Flibbertigibbeting", "Whatchamacalliting", "Prestidigitating", "Combobulating" are effectively gibberish for us — they carry zero information and add cognitive noise. A plain "Thinking…" / "Thought for Xs" option would make the tool much more accessible to the global user base.
Totally agree. Currently, it feels like dealing with an infinite loading spinner; we don't know if everything is working fine behind the scenes or if Claude Code needs to be restarted. I usually end up checking the Claude status page when it takes too long.
It would definitely be better if we had a live status displayed. At the very least, something like Work in progress... (54s), or even better, a brief summary of the current step it's working on.
See https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues/6814#issuecomment-3816751199 and the
spinnerVerbssetting for how to override the list.Yes please! I'm a professional. I feel like these whimsical verbs are annoying, not fun.