Polipetto per Claude Code

A small pixel-art octopus that lives in the VS Code sidebar and acts out what Claude Code is really doing.

Unofficial fan project. It is not made by, endorsed by, or affiliated with Anthropic.

Polipetto working

What it does

When Claude is idle, the octopus relaxes in its corner: it breathes, blinks, wanders around and eventually falls asleep.

When Claude works, the animation follows the real activity:

Claude is...	The octopus...	Speech bubble
Running a script or command	works at the computer	terminal
Running tests	works at the computer, then jumps for joy if they pass and shakes if they fail	flask, then check mark or red cross
Building or packaging	works hard at the computer	wall of bricks going up
Committing with git	works at the computer	stamp
Pushing or pulling with git	works at the computer	arrow up or down
Installing dependencies	works at the computer	parcel opening
Publishing or deploying	works at the computer, with confetti	rocket
Waiting for Claude Code to retry after a connection problem or a rate limit	sits and waits	hourglass
Having just compacted the conversation	squashes flat, then puffs and pops back	squeeze
Editing or writing files	works at the computer	pencil
Browsing the web	works at the computer	globe
Using another tool (MCP and others)	works at the computer	gear
Reading a file	puts on its glasses	page of text
Searching the code	puts on its glasses	magnifying glass
Thinking	looks up	dots or light bulb
Delegating to an agent	looks down at its agents	little octopus
Planning its tasks	looks up	checklist
Asking you something	raises a hand	question mark
Hitting an error	shakes	red cross

The bubble switches side at every step, so you can follow the sequence of actions.

Every agent gets its own octopus, and new ones split off from the agent that launched them. When an agent finishes it celebrates with confetti, then disappears, until one octopus is left to relax again.

Task lists and orchestrators

Beside each octopus, a column of dots shows real progress: grey to do, orange in progress, green completed. The octopus checks it now and then. It uses whatever is available at that moment, most relevant first:

An open task list or plan: Claude Code's task tools, or the plan of the Claude desktop app.
For an agent that launched others, one dot per launched agent.
A list that is already finished.

When Claude has not declared its steps in advance, there is nothing to measure progress against, so a coloured bubble rises at each step instead: blue for reading, amber for editing, purple for running, teal for the web, pink for delegating and grey for other tools.

An agent that launches others turns purple, moves above them and is connected to them by lines. It celebrates only after all of its agents have finished.

Click an octopus to start a new Claude Code session in a tab.

Requirements

Claude Code, as the VS Code extension or the command-line tool. Opening a new session with a click needs the VS Code extension.

Settings

Setting	Default	Description
`polipetto.scope`	`all`	`all` reacts to every session on this computer, `workspace` only to sessions started in the folders open in this window.
`polipetto.showInExplorer`	`true`	Show the octopus in the Explorer sidebar.
`polipetto.showInSourceControl`	`true`	Show the octopus in the Source Control sidebar.
`polipetto.showInRunAndDebug`	`false`	Show the octopus in the Run and Debug sidebar.
`polipetto.showInTesting`	`false`	Show the octopus in the Testing sidebar.

To keep the octopus always in view, drag its section to the Secondary Side Bar, which does not change when you switch tab on the left.

Privacy

The extension only reads the session files Claude Code keeps on your computer, in ~/.claude/projects or CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR. It uses them to know which tool is running. It does not change Claude Code's configuration, send anything over the network, or collect data.

Known limits

Claude Code does not record when it is waiting for a permission, so the octopus keeps working during that wait. A session that stays silent for 10 minutes goes back to idle.

Development

npm test runs the tests.
npm run package builds the .vsix file.

License

MIT

Polipetto per Claude Code

Alessio Polonia

Polipetto per Claude Code

What it does

Task lists and orchestrators

Requirements

Settings

Privacy

Known limits

Development

License