Run Hamster Run🐹

A tiny hamster lives in your sidebar and runs on a wheel as you type. The faster you code, the faster it runs.

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Replace the demo image above with an actual capture (images/demo.gif).

Install

There are three ways to install Run Hamster Run.

1. From the Visual Studio Marketplace

Visit the Run Hamster Run page and click Install.

2. From the Extensions panel inside VS Code

Open the Extensions panel (Cmd+Shift+X / Ctrl+Shift+X), search for Run Hamster Run, and click Install.

3. From Quick Open

Press Cmd+P / Ctrl+P, paste the line below, and hit Enter:

ext install soop.run-hamster-run

Usage

1. Click the hamster icon in the activity bar to open the side panel
2. Code as you normally would — the wheel reacts automatically to your typing
3. To feed the hamster, click anywhere inside the panel; a sunflower seed drops at that spot
4. The hamster walks over, sits down to eat, then leaves a heart behind

Features

• Typing-driven wheel — wheel speed scales with your real-time typing speed
• Natural idle behavior — when you stop typing, the hamster wanders, occasionally sits to rest
• Click to feed — drop a seed anywhere; the hamster will go get it
• Heart reward — a heart pops above the hamster's head after each meal
• Hidden easter eggs — see below

Settings

Configure these in your settings.json:

Example:

{
  "hamsterRun.idleThreshold": 0.5,
  "hamsterRun.windowMs": 1500
}

Easter Eggs

Half the fun is finding them yourself, so here are only hints:

• FEVER — Type fast enough to set your fingers on fire
• ??? — Click the panel to give it focus, then enter the cheat code every 80s gamer knows

Known Limitations

• The hamster lives only inside the webview panel (it doesn't roam your editor)
• The activity bar icon is currently a PNG, so it may blend into some themes

Credits

• Hamster sprites and animations: original artwork created for this extension
• Inspired by playful pet extensions like vscode-pets and vscode-pokemon

Changelog

See CHANGELOG.md.

Development

Want to hack on Run Hamster Run locally? Here's the setup.

Prerequisites

• Node.js 18+ and npm
• Visual Studio Code 1.85+

Run the extension locally

git clone https://github.com/miiin/run-hamster-run.git
cd run-hamster-run
npm install
npm run watch

Then open the project in VS Code and press F5 (or run "Run Extension" from the Run and Debug panel). A new Extension Development Host window will launch with the extension loaded — open the Explorer sidebar to see the Hamster panel.

Project layout

• src/extension.ts — extension entry point (activation, webview wiring)
• media/ — webview HTML/CSS/JS, sprites, and animations
• package.json — extension manifest (commands, views, settings)

Contributing

Bug reports and PRs are welcome. For non-trivial changes, please open an issue first to discuss the approach.

License

MIT