Feature request: disable/replace whimsical status-spinner text with professional alternatives
Status Fixed / completed
Maintainer reply ✓ Yes — bcherny
Activity 3 comments · opened Jul 22, 2026 · closed Aug 17, 2026
💡 Likely answer: A maintainer (bcherny, collaborator)
responded on this thread — see the highlighted reply below.
The status spinner shown during processing/tool execution currently cycles through whimsical, non-literal words (e.g. "Percolating…", "Noodling…"). While playful, this doesn't fit professional/enterprise use — especially during serious, client-facing, or compliance-sensitive work.
Request:
- Add a setting (e.g. in
settings.json, or an env var) to disable the whimsical word rotation - When disabled, show plain/literal status text instead — e.g. "Thinking…", "Processing…", "Reading…" — reflecting the actual operation underway, rather than random filler words
- Optionally allow users to pick from a small set of professional alternatives as a style preference
Currently there is no documented way to configure or disable this (confirmed via Claude Code docs — no relevant settings.json key, env var, or CLI flag exists).
3 Comments
Filed via Claude Code on behalf of the reporter.
You can replace the spinner words with your own via the
spinnerVerbssetting insettings.json:"mode": "replace"uses only your list;"append"adds to the defaults. It can be set at user, project, or managed-policy scope. Docs: https://code.claude.com/docs/en/settingsClosing since this is configurable today.
🤖 Generated with Claude Code
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