Sarcastic Dev Buddy

Your sarcastic coding buddy for VS Code.

Lives in your sidebar and panel, reacts to your coding behavior, and drops funny or motivational messages while you work.

Why Sarcastic Dev Buddy?

Most coding companions are cute but passive. Clippy-Chan is intentionally opinionated.

It reacts to real editor events like:

• frequent saves
• new errors appearing
• errors getting fixed
• long coding sessions
• late-night coding
• file switching
• idle/return behavior

The result is a companion that feels alive, not static.

Features

• Two character modes
  • Clippy (classic assistant vibe)
  • Cool Cat (pixel cat with sunglasses)
• Smart event triggers
  • save reactions and save streak callouts (5 and 10)
  • diagnostics-aware messages when errors appear or are fixed
  • idle detection, sleep mode, and return messages
  • long-session reminders (30/60/90 min)
  • late-night commentary
  • file-switch reactions
• Adjustable message frequency
  • low
  • medium
  • high
• Dual surfaces
  • sidebar webview
  • bottom panel webview
• Quick character switching from the panel title bar
• Status bar shortcut for instant manual messages

Commands

• Clippy-Chan: Show Message
  • Manually trigger a random Clippy-Chan message.
• Select Character
  • Switch between Clippy and Cool Cat quickly.

Extension Settings

This extension contributes the following settings:

• code-chan.character
  • Select which character is shown.
  • Options: clippy, cat
  • Default: clippy
• code-chan.messageFrequency
  • Controls how often automatic messages can appear.
  • Options: low, medium, high
  • Default: medium

How It Works

Clippy-Chan listens to VS Code activity signals and posts contextual messages to its webview UI. A cooldown system prevents message spam, while milestone events can bypass cooldown when they matter.

Perfect For

• devs who like playful motivation while coding
• long focus sessions where reminders help
• people who want personality in their editor without heavy setup

Privacy

Clippy-Chan does not send your code to external services. It reacts to local editor events only.

Known Notes

• Character changes refresh the webview so the new sprite set appears.
• Message tone is intentionally sarcastic in many categories.

Release Notes

0.1.0

• Initial public release
• Animated Clippy/Cool Cat companion
• Event-driven message system
• Sidebar + panel support
• Character picker and status bar command

Feedback

Have ideas, message packs, or character requests? Open an issue or share feedback in the repo.