Amber Pet
An interactive companion that lives in the VS Code Explorer.
Features ·
Quick Start ·
Configuration ·
Development
Amber Pet adds a small animated companion to VS Code. Spawn Amber from the Command Palette or status bar, then drag her around the Explorer view, click her for a headpat, and let her react while you work.
Features
| Feature |
Details |
| Explorer companion |
Amber opens in a dedicated Explorer view instead of taking over an editor tab |
| Direct interaction |
Drag Amber, click her for a headpat, or press Enter/Space while she is focused |
| Work reactions |
Amber waves when she spawns and reacts to typing with throttled cheering and wow animations |
| Idle behavior |
Amber idles, gets bored after sustained inactivity, then falls asleep |
| Room backgrounds |
Switch between bundled room backgrounds from the small controls in the pet view |
| Reaction sounds |
Amber plays short sounds for headpats, pickup, drops, and drag movement |
| Position reset |
Reset Amber from the Command Palette or the R control in the pet view |
Quick Start
- Install dependencies.
npm install
- Build the extension.
npm run compile
Open the project in VS Code and run the Run Extension launch configuration.
In the Extension Development Host, run Amber Pet: Spawn Pet or click the $(sparkle) Amber Pet status bar item.
Commands
| Command |
Description |
Amber Pet: Spawn Pet |
Reveals Amber in the Explorer view |
Amber Pet: Reset Pet Position |
Moves Amber back to her default position |
Controls
| Control |
Description |
‹ / › |
Change the room background |
S |
Mute or unmute Amber sounds for the current VS Code profile |
R |
Reset Amber's position |
Configuration
| Setting |
Type |
Default |
Description |
amberPet.sound.enabled |
boolean |
true |
Enables Amber's reaction sounds |
amberPet.sound.volume |
number |
45 |
Sets reaction sound volume from 0 to 100 |
Development
| Task |
Command |
| Type-check and bundle |
npm run compile |
| Production bundle |
npm run package |
| Full local verification |
npm run ci |
| Lint |
npm run lint |
| Format |
npm run format |
| Check formatting |
npm run format:check |
| Regenerate sprite assets |
npm run process-assets |
Sprite Assets
Runtime sprites live in media/images/amber/ and are described by media/images/amber/manifest.json. The manifest contains:
| Manifest area |
Purpose |
frames |
Catalogs every detected sprite frame |
source |
Stores each frame's original sheet bounds |
pivot |
Sets the per-frame transform origin used by animation and physics |
animations |
Defines named animation sequences from the frame catalog |
During development, transparent source sheets can be placed at:
media/images/sheet1-no-background.png
media/images/sheet2-no-background.png
Those source sheets are ignored by git. After changing them, regenerate the runtime frames:
npm run process-assets
The processor detects transparent sprite components, orders them by visual row and column, normalizes each frame onto a stable canvas, and writes the runtime frames into media/images/amber/.
Audio Assets
Reaction sounds live in media/audio/:
| File |
Used for |
happy.mp3 |
Headpats |
startled.mp3 |
Pickup |
curious.mp3 |
Reserved curiosity reaction |
dropped1.mp3 / dropped2.mp3 |
Drop reactions |
aprehensive.mp3 / aprehensive3.mp3 |
Drag-distance reactions |
The webview loads sounds as local extension resources and plays them only in response to direct interaction with Amber.
License
Amber Pet is released under the MIT License.
