A virtual pet that lives inside your VS Code editor — reacts to your typing, errors, idle time, and even the hour of night.
What is PetCode?
PetCode is a tiny animated companion that sits at the end of your cursor line and reacts to everything you do in real time. Type a lot and it runs happily alongside you. Leave it alone and it wanders around, fidgets, and eventually falls asleep. Rack up errors and it gets worried — then scared. Fix them all and it celebrates with a bark (or a moo 🐄).
It lives entirely inside the editor as a text decoration — no panels, no sidebars, no popups.
Features
- 🐕🐈🐄🐒🐇🐏 Dog, cat, cow, monkey, rabbit, or sheep — switch your companion any time from the settings menu
- 💾 Remembers your pet — your chosen pet and name persist across VS Code restarts
- 🏃 Follows your cursor — moves smoothly line by line as you navigate
- ✨ Happy running — gets excited when you type for 4+ seconds straight
- 😱 Scared of errors — reacts as your error count climbs
- 🎉 Barks when errors clear — celebrates when you fix all the bugs
- 💤 Falls asleep — naps after ~25 seconds of inactivity
- 🌙 Night mode — switches to a calm idle between 4–6 AM
- 🐾 Wanders & hops — starts exploring your file when bored
- 🏷️ Name your pet — give your companion a custom name
- 📊 Live status bar — shows your pet's current state emoji in real time
- 🔇 Toggle on/off — hide when you need to focus
- 🔕 Auto-hides during debug sessions — stays out of the way when you're debugging
Companions
| Pet | Emoji | Personality |
|---|---|---|
| Dog | 🐕 | Loyal and eager — cheers you on and barks with enthusiasm |
| Cat | 🐈 | Aloof and judgmental — tolerates your presence, barely |
| Cow | 🐄 | Gentle and wholesome — moos its way through your codebase |
| Monkey | 🐒 | Chaotic and excitable — swings through your code with energy |
| Rabbit | 🐇 | Bouncy and skittish — hops along and squeaks when startled |
| Sheep | 🐑 | Calm and woolly — grazes through your code, baaas when surprised |
Commands
| Command | Keybinding | Description |
|---|---|---|
PetCode: Make your pet bark |
Ctrl+Alt+B / Cmd+Alt+B |
Triggers a bark animation |
PetCode: Toggle pet visibility |
— | Show or hide the pet |
PetCode: Open settings |
Click the status bar item | Opens the settings menu |
Pet States
| State | What triggers it |
|---|---|
| Running | Actively typing |
| Happy running | Typing for 4+ seconds straight |
| Idle | 6 seconds of no activity |
| Fidgeting | 8 seconds idle — does a little hop |
| Wandering | 12 seconds idle — walks along the line |
| Tired | 22 seconds idle — droops before sleeping |
| Sleeping | 25 seconds idle — fully asleep |
| Worried | 2+ errors in the active file |
| Scared | 5+ errors in the active file |
| Barking | Errors cleared, or Ctrl+Alt+B |
| Night idle | Between 4–6 AM |
| Jumping | Hops during wander / fidget animations |
Settings Menu
Click the 🐾 PetCode item in your status bar to open the quick-pick menu. From there you can:
- Show or hide the pet
- Switch between dog, cat, cow, monkey, rabbit, and sheep
- Name your pet
- Trigger a bark
Installation
Search for PetCode in the Extensions panel (Ctrl+Shift+X) and click Install, or install from the marketplace page.
Requirements
- VS Code 1.80.0 or later
- No other dependencies
License
MIT — see LICENSE