Whimsical working messages extension for Pi
I use a small custom extension in the Pi coding agent that replaces the plain working status with playful phrases that keep changing while it thinks. It's based on Armin Ronacher's whimsical extension, which I customized with more colors, decorative symbols, and phrases that rotate every two seconds.
The phrase list has hundreds of entries, from short verbs to longer jokes and phrases:
- Schlepping
- Flibbertigibbeting
- Negotiating with entropy
- Herding cats in memory, etc.
Each update picks a random phrase and color, and it never shows the same phrase or color twice in a row. The status line resets as soon as Pi finishes the turn.
The extension lives at ~/.pi/agent/extensions/whimsical.ts and loads automatically on every startup. To try it, copy the code from this gist into your extensions folder and restart Pi. I also covered the extension in my pi agent setup post.
I like this setup and collection of words and phrases better than what Claude Code shows, because of better verbs and jokes, and cool colors as well.