A pixel-art companion colony that lives in your VS Code sidebar and grows as you code.
Overview
Pet Pats places a living pixel-art world inside the VS Code Explorer panel. A small group of hand-crafted creature companions roam, eat, and sleep while you work. The more you code, the more you level up — unlocking new companions and environments along the way.
Features
Companions
36 unique pixel-art creatures to collect, each with their own name
Pets walk, bob, eat, and sleep with smooth animations
Click any pet on the canvas to set it as your active companion
Double-click the pet name in the HUD to rename it
Release a pet with the × button — it returns to the pool and may come back as a future reward
Hunger System
Each pet's hunger drains over time — keep them fed to earn bonus XP
Hit the Feed button to restore hunger (+30) and gain +5 XP
When a pet starves you receive a VS Code notification (one per pet, cleared on feeding)
Offline drain is applied on re-open so pets reflect real time away
XP & Levels
Passive XP — earned just by having VS Code open
Keystroke XP — earned by editing files
Each level requires 40% more XP than the last
Every level-up unlocks one random new companion from the pool
Backgrounds
Background
Unlocks at
Grass
Always
Desert
Always
Forest
Always
Meadow
Level 5
Winter
Level 5
Autumn
Level 6
Cave
Level 6
Beach
Level 7
Candy
Level 7
River
Level 8
Bedroom
Level 8
Lava
Level 9
Space
Level 9
Visual Effects
Sparkle particle burst when feeding a pet
Confetti explosion on level-up
Zzz bubbles above sleeping pets
Locked backgrounds show their required level in the dropdown
Settings
Open Settings (Ctrl+,) and search Pet Pats.
Setting
Values
Default
Description
pet-pats.panelStyle
normal / compact
normal
normal fills the sidebar; compact locks the panel to a fixed smaller height
Commands
Open the Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P) and search Pet Pats.
Command
Description
Pet Pats: Show Pet
Reveal the Pet Pats sidebar panel
Pet Pats: Reset Progress
Wipe all progress and return to level 1 (confirms before running)
