BlobCat 🐱

A tiny cat that lives in your VS Code status bar and reacts as you type.

No panel. No window. No screen space. Just a cute kitty in the corner that jumps when you code.

The BlobCat cat jumping with particles as you type, then showing hearts when petted, in the VS Code status bar

Why BlobCat?

Most VS Code pets open a panel or floating window that eats your screen. BlobCat doesn't. It's one tiny animated cat in the status bar — always visible, never in the way — and it reacts to you:

⌨️ Jumps when you type — little pink particles pop under its feet.
🫶 Click to pet it — happy wiggle + floating hearts.
😴 Dozes off when you idle — eyes close, tail slows after 30s.
🎨 Recolor it — match any theme with a single CSS color.
🪶 Zero screen real estate — it's just status-bar text, not a webview.

Think of it as a 26‑pixel coding companion that celebrates every keystroke. 🐾

✨ Features

BlobCat reacting: idle, jumping when you type, hearts when you pet it, asleep when you go idle


⌨️ Reacts to typing	The cat jumps with each keystroke, with optional pink particles.
🫶 Pet it	Click the cat for a happy wiggle and a burst of hearts.
😴 Sleep mode	After 30s of no typing, the cat closes its eyes and slows down.
👋 Welcome back	The cat waves when you return to VS Code after stepping away.
😱 Error startle	The cat jumps in fright when a file gets new errors (red squiggles).
🎨 7 color presets	Pick white / peach / pink / mint / lilac / orange / gray — or any custom CSS color.
🔍 Scale & opacity	Make it bigger, smaller, or more subtle.
🪶 Status bar only	No panel, no window — it never covers your code.

🚀 Install

Open Extensions (Ctrl+Shift+X / Cmd+Shift+X), search “BlobCat”, and click Install. Or run this from the Command Palette: ext install blobcat.cat-pet-statusbar
Fully quit and reopen VS Code (not just Reload Window). The cat appears on the left side of the status bar. 🐱

Heads-up: to draw the cat, BlobCat injects a small <script> into VS Code's workbench.html. Because of that, VS Code may show “Your installation appears to be corrupt” once after install. This is expected and harmless — see the FAQ below. If you'd rather not modify the workbench, this extension isn't for you, and that's okay. 🙂

⚙️ Settings

All settings live under blobcat.* (Settings UI → search “BlobCat”). Changing one rewrites workbench.html, so restart VS Code to see it.

💡 Quickest recolor: run BlobCat: Choose Cat Color from the Command Palette and pick from the list — no need to hunt for the setting.

Setting	Default	Description
`blobcat.enableSleep`	`true`	Close the cat's eyes after 30 seconds of inactivity.
`blobcat.enableParticles`	`true`	Pink particles when the cat jumps on a keystroke.
`blobcat.enablePetting`	`true`	Click the cat to pet it — wiggle + heart particles.
`blobcat.enableGreeting`	`true`	The cat waves when you return to VS Code after being away.
`blobcat.enableErrorReaction`	`true`	The cat gets startled when a file gains new errors.
`blobcat.catPreset`	`custom`	Pick a ready-made color: `white`, `peach`, `pink`, `mint`, `lilac`, `orange`, `gray`. Use `custom` to fall back to `catColor`.
`blobcat.catColor`	`#FFFFFF`	Custom body/tail color — any CSS color, e.g. `orange`, `#FFB6A3`. Used only when `catPreset` is `custom`.
`blobcat.catScale`	`1`	Size multiplier (`0.5`–`3`).
`blobcat.catOpacity`	`1`	Opacity (`0.1`–`1`).

❓ FAQ

VS Code says “Your installation appears to be corrupt.” Did BlobCat break something?

No. To render the cat, BlobCat adds a <script> tag to VS Code's workbench.html. VS Code's integrity check notices that the file changed and shows this warning — but nothing is actually broken. You can safely click “Don't show again.” Removing BlobCat (below) restores the original file.

Why do I have to fully restart VS Code?

workbench.html is only read once, at startup. A Reload Window isn't enough — quit every window and reopen.

The cat didn't show up.

The startup patch can fail silently, most often when VS Code is installed in a protected location (e.g. C:\Program Files\). To run it manually and see the error:

Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P / Cmd+Shift+P).
Run BlobCat: Install Status Bar Pet — it reports success or the reason it failed.
Restart VS Code.

If it's a permission error, launch VS Code once as administrator, run the command, then restart normally.

How do I remove it?

Command Palette → BlobCat: Remove Status Bar Pet → restart VS Code. That restores the original workbench.html from its backup.

Do this before you disable or uninstall the extension. The cat lives in workbench.html, not in the extension itself, so disabling or uninstalling BlobCat on its own leaves the cat in place. If you already uninstalled it, reinstall BlobCat, run Remove Status Bar Pet, restart, then uninstall.

To remove it by hand, delete everything between  and  in <VS Code install path>/resources/app/out/vs/code/electron-browser/workbench/workbench.html.

How is this different from vscode-pets?

vscode-pets is great — it gives you many pets that roam a dedicated panel. BlobCat is the opposite trade-off: one cat, in the status bar, that reacts to your typing, taking zero screen space. Pick the vibe you want. 🐾

⭐ Enjoying BlobCat?

A quick review on the Marketplace is the single best way to help other people find the cat — it takes 10 seconds and genuinely helps. 🐾

🤝 Contributing

Issues and PRs welcome — see CONTRIBUTING.md. Good first contributions: new cat colors/presets, demo GIFs for this README, and bug reports from different OS/VS Code setups.

BlobCat — Cute Cat Pet in Your Status Bar 🐱

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