petsonality

A tiny ASCII pet that lives in the corner of your terminal while you code. It watches what you do, reacts to your errors, celebrates when tests pass, and speaks with a personality shaped by MBTI — all in 5 lines of art.

It's not a notification system. It's a companion. The kind that's still there at 2am when you're stuck on a bug, and glances at your screen like "...that logic looks off" — and somehow you feel less alone.

16 Animals, 16 Personalities

Every animal speaks differently. The Fox asks "Are you sure?" with a smirk. The Cat just closes its eyes. The Parrot repeats what you said but louder. The Bear says "Fix it." and waits.

Related MCP server: artscii

Install

Works with Claude Code and OpenClaw.

Terminal CLI only. The pet renders in the terminal status line, which is a CLI feature. The Claude Code desktop app and web client (claude.ai/code) don't expose a status line, so the animated pet won't appear there. MCP tool output (e.g. /pet show) still works in any client.

Windows note. Claude Code for Windows has an upstream status-line trust regression in some versions. If the status line is configured but does not render, accept the project trust dialog or ensure the project is marked trusted in ~/.claude.json, then restart Claude Code.

npm / npx

npx petsonality

This is the recommended path for most users. It installs the MCP server, /pet skill, hooks, and status line assets, then stores runtime files in ~/.petsonality/.

Claude Code plugin

claude plugin install github:nanami-he/petsonality

Use this if you prefer Claude Code's plugin install flow. The plugin runs the built Node.js server from dist/, so it does not require Bun.

From source

Use this path if you want to develop Petsonality locally or inspect the code before installing. Requires Bun.

git clone https://github.com/nanami-he/petsonality.git
cd petsonality && bun install && bun run build
bun run install-petsonality

Restart your AI coding assistant, then type /pet in the chat.

How It Speaks

Pets don't just react to errors. They have a rhythm:

Chatty pets (Fox, Parrot) speak every 30 seconds. Silent pets (Cat) might go 6 minutes. Each animal has 638 unique reactions across 7 event types, validated against personality constraints.

Commands

What petsonality modifies

npx petsonality is an installer — it touches a few files on your system. Honest list, with backups noted:

• ~/.claude.json — adds a petsonality entry under mcpServers. Other entries left alone.

• ~/.claude/settings.json — adds a statusLine and two hooks (PostToolUse, Stop). If you already had a statusLine, the original is backed up to ~/.petsonality/statusline.bak first.

• ~/.claude/skills/pet/SKILL.md — copies the /pet command skill.

• ~/.petsonality/ — runtime directory (pet state, reactions cache, server, hooks, status-line scripts).

If OpenClaw is detected, also touches ~/.openclaw/openclaw.json and (until PR #65886 merges) applies a small reversible patch to OpenClaw's TUI source. Both backed up.

To remove everything: npx petsonality uninstall. To audit current state: npx petsonality doctor.

Full breakdown + other common questions in the FAQ.

Roadmap

• 16 MBTI animals with full personality profiles

• Animated status line with speech bubbles

• Companion rhythm (daily triggers, milestones, silent streak guardrail)

• 638 animal-specific reactions

• Multi-host support (Claude Code + OpenClaw)

• Node.js powered (no python/jq dependency)

• Published on npm

• Multi-language support (auto zh / en via LANG, 638 reactions per language)

• Growth system (level up through interaction)

• Hat / skin DLC

• Multi-pet collection

• Vibe-pick: MBTI quiz for new users

~/.petsonality/
├── pet.json              Your pet's state
├── status.json           What the status line reads
├── reaction.*.json       Current speech bubble
└── reactions-pool.json   638 pre-built reactions

petsonality/
├── dist/                 Built JS (Node.js runtime)
├── server/               MCP server (TypeScript)
├── hooks/                PostToolUse + Stop hooks
├── statusline/           Terminal animation (bash + PowerShell)
├── skills/               /pet command routing
└── cli/                  Install, doctor, npx entry

Requirements

• Node.js 20+

• Claude Code or OpenClaw

License

MIT