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.
Install from the Marketplace β
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 β always visible, never in the way β and it reacts to you:
- β¨οΈ Jumps when you type β little pink particles pop under its feet.
- 🫶 Click to pet it β happy wiggle + floating hearts.
- 😴 Dozes off when you idle β eyes close, tail slows after 30s.
- 🎨 Recolor it β match any theme with a single CSS color.
- 🪶 Zero screen real estate β it's just status-bar text, not a webview.
Think of it as a 26βpixel coding companion that celebrates every keystroke. 🐾
β¨ Features
|
|
| β¨οΈ 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. |
| 🎨 7 color presets |
Pick white / peach / pink / mint / lilac / orange / gray β or any custom CSS color. |
| 🔍 Scale & opacity |
Make it bigger, smaller, or more subtle. |
| 🪶 Status bar only |
No panel, no window β it never covers your code. |
🚀 Install
- Open Extensions (
Ctrl+Shift+X / Cmd+Shift+X), search βBlobCatβ, 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 βYour installation appears to be corruptβ once after install. This is expected and harmless β see the FAQ below. If you'd rather not modify the workbench, this extension isn't for you, and that's okay. 🙂
βοΈ Settings
All settings live under blobcat.* (Settings UI β search βBlobCatβ). 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 β 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 β wiggle + heart particles. |
blobcat.enableGreeting |
true |
The cat waves when you return to VS Code after being away. |
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 β any CSS color, e.g. orange, #FFB6A3. Used only when catPreset is custom. |
blobcat.catScale |
1 |
Size multiplier (0.5β3). |
blobcat.catOpacity |
1 |
Opacity (0.1β1). |
β FAQ
VS Code says βYour installation appears to be corrupt.β 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 β but nothing is actually broken. You can safely click βDon't show again.β 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 β 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 β 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 β BlobCat: Remove Status Bar Pet β restart VS Code. That restores the original workbench.html from its backup.
To remove it by hand, delete everything between <!-- CAT_PET_INJECT_START --> and <!-- CAT_PET_INJECT_END --> 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 β 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. 🐾
β Enjoying BlobCat?
A quick review on the Marketplace is the single best way to help other people find the cat β it takes 10 seconds and genuinely helps. 🐾
🤝 Contributing
Issues and PRs welcome β see CONTRIBUTING.md. Good first contributions: new cat colors/presets, demo GIFs for this README, and bug reports from different OS/VS Code setups.
📄 License
MIT Β© oceanfromthewave
