nowloading

The line that animates while Claude Code works, redrawn as something from before.

It replaces the three little dots with something from before: a VCR's on-screen display, a split-flap departure board, a one-bit hourglass, a floppy drive, a dot-matrix printer, an arcade rally, a filmstrip or a pixel campfire. Each one follows what Claude is actually doing: thinking, running a tool, a tool failing, writing the answer. It works in the desktop app's Code tab and in the terminal, where Ghostty and kitty show it as real pixels.

| Theme | | | --- | --- | | rewind: the VCR's on-screen word in your text color. Pause while it thinks, fast-forward through tools, play while it writes. On the desktop, the tape counter is the time. | | | channel3: the same display on a tiny screen, with scanlines and a slow tracking roll. | | | cassette: a tape whose reels turn at the speed of the transport. | | | platform: a turn is a flight. CHECK IN, BOARDING, EN ROUTE, LANDING, and DELAYED when a tool fails. The board riffles only when its word changes. | | | arrivals: the same board at night. On the desktop, both boards keep time on a flap clock. | | | sandglass: the wait cursor of an older desktop. The sand runs while it works, the glass turns over when a tool succeeds and tips over when one fails. | | | floppy: a floppy disk and its drive. The shutter seeks while thinking, data travels during tools and writing, and a failed tool rattles the disk. | | | dotmatrix: a print head crosses tractor paper. It prints through tools, parks on success, and creases the paper when a tool jams. | | | rally: two paddles keep a rally going. A tool speeds up the game; success lands a clean return, and failure misses the paddle. | | | filmstrip: frames and sprocket holes pass through a projector gate. It holds a frame while thinking and stops on a check or a jam after a tool. | | | campfire: a small pixel fire over crossed logs. It flickers gently while thinking, burns faster through tools, sends up a spark on success, and sputters into smoke after a failure. | |

Install

In Claude Code:

/plugin marketplace add vgnshiyer/mods
/plugin install nowloading@vgnshiyer-mods

Requires a Claude Code version with mods (function hooks). vgnshiyer/mods lists my other mods too.

Use

• /nowloading: shows the current theme and lists the others.
• /nowloading arrivals: switches now, mid-turn included, and every session after uses it.
• /nowloading random: a different theme every turn.

The theme setting in /config picks one too. Whichever you set last wins.

What it touches

Nothing but the drawing. Every hook passes straight through, so Claude's prompts, context and tool calls are untouched, and nothing waits on the animation. Meaningful step text stays, including a message another mod set, along with the real elapsed time. On desktop, the generic “Working” placeholder is omitted; the running tool already has its own description. If a theme ever fails to draw, Claude Code draws its own line instead.

• Desktop: the turn's line becomes the art, then the time. rewind, channel3, cassette, platform and arrivals draw their own time: the tape counter or the flap clock. A running tool keeps its own line with its description, and a message another mod sets shows beside the art.
• Terminal: in Ghostty and kitty, the art is a picture at the start of Claude Code's own line, which keeps its verb, time and tokens. Other terminals, and tmux, show the theme's word in its place.

Add a theme

A theme is one look in a family file.

1. Write themes/<family>.js. Export { key, title, blurb, looks }, where each look is { name, label, note, art(s) } and optionally tail(s).
   • art(s) returns an SVG string 20px tall and the same width in every state, animated with SMIL. Draw in currentColor so it follows light and dark.
   • s is { mode, result, running, elapsed }. mode is requesting, thinking, tool-use or responding. result is a number after a tool succeeds and 'error' after it fails.
   • tail(s) is optional and replaces the time on the desktop. It must show the real elapsed time.
   • Keep the markup unchanged for an unchanged state so the animation can continue. For terminal playback, use loop durations on a 0.1-second grid with a common period no longer than 3.2 seconds; result reactions should settle within 1.5 seconds.
   • themes/vhs.js is a complete example.
2. Add one import and one entry in themes/index.js, a fallback word in hooks/state.ts, and the theme's name to userConfig.theme.options in .claude-plugin/plugin.json.
3. Build the terminal frames: node art/frames.mjs && python3 art/pack.py.
4. Look at it: serve the repo (python3 -m http.server) and open art/variations.html. To see every state, light and dark, at 3x and real size, run python3 art/render.py <family> /tmp/sheet.
5. Record its GIF with node art/gifs.mjs && python3 art/gif.py, which writes docs/<theme>.gif, and add a row to the table above.
6. Run claude plugin test ., then open a pull request.

art/ needs Node 22+, Python with Pillow, and Google Chrome. The scripts look for Chrome where macOS installs it; set CHROME to its path anywhere else.

To rebuild only selected themes, pass their names to the capture script: node art/frames.mjs floppy dotmatrix rally filmstrip, then python3 art/pack.py. The GIF recorder accepts the same names: node art/gifs.mjs floppy dotmatrix rally filmstrip, then python3 art/gif.py.

License

MIT. All art is original. The themes evoke generic old machines, not any product or brand.