Quick Start

npx any-buddy@latest

That's it. If Bun is installed, you get the full interactive builder with live preview. Otherwise you'll see sequential prompts with a note to install Bun.

The builder lets you browse species, eyes, rarity, hats, and stats with a live ASCII art preview that updates as you scroll. Navigate with arrow keys, Tab/Enter to advance, Esc to cancel.

Install

# npm (global)
npm install -g any-buddy

# or clone
git clone https://github.com/cpaczek/any-buddy.git
cd any-buddy && pnpm install && pnpm link --global

Requirements

• Node.js >= 20
• Bun -- for the interactive builder TUI and correct hash computation (typically already installed with Claude Code). Without Bun, the tool falls back to basic sequential prompts.
• Claude Code -- installed via any standard method

Platform Support

| Platform | Status | Notes | |----------|--------|-------| | Linux | Tested | Auto-detects ~/.local/share/claude/versions/ | | macOS | Tested | Auto-detects + ad-hoc re-signs after patching | | Windows | Tested | Works with npm-based installs (cli.js) |

Set CLAUDE_BINARY=/path/to/binary if auto-detection fails.

Usage

any-buddy                    # Start screen — build, browse presets, or switch buddies

The start screen lets you pick between:

• Build your own — full interactive builder with live ASCII preview
• Browse presets — 23 curated themed builds with animated preview
• Saved buddies — switch between your saved pets (shown when you have saves)

After picking your pet, the entire flow stays in the TUI — salt search with progress bar, naming, personality, patching, and hook setup.

any-buddy current            # Show your current pet
any-buddy preview            # Browse without applying
any-buddy apply              # Re-apply after Claude Code update
any-buddy restore            # Restore original pet
any-buddy buddies            # Browse and switch between your buddies
any-buddy rehatch            # Delete companion, re-hatch via /buddy

Non-Interactive Mode

Skip prompts with flags (bypasses the start screen):

any-buddy -s dragon -r legendary -e '✦' -t wizard --shiny --name Draco -y
any-buddy --preset "Arcane Dragon" -y

| Flag | Short | Description | |------|-------|-------------| | --species <name> | -s | Species (duck, goose, blob, cat, dragon, octopus, owl, penguin, turtle, snail, ghost, axolotl, capybara, cactus, robot, rabbit, mushroom, chonk) | | --rarity <level> | -r | Rarity (common, uncommon, rare, epic, legendary) | | --eye <char> | -e | Eye style (· ✦ × ◉ @ °) | | --hat <name> | -t | Hat (crown, tophat, propeller, halo, wizard, beanie, tinyduck) | | --preset <name> | | Use a curated preset (e.g., "Arcane Dragon") | | --name <name> | -n | Rename companion | | --personality <desc> | -p | Set personality (controls speech bubble) | | --shiny | | Require shiny (~100x longer search) | | --peak <stat> | | Best stat (DEBUGGING, PATIENCE, CHAOS, WISDOM, SNARK) | | --dump <stat> | | Worst stat | | --yes | -y | Skip confirmations | | --no-hook | | Don't offer auto-patch hook | | --silent | | Suppress output (for hooks) |

All 18 Species

Customization Options

Restoring

any-buddy restore

Patches the salt back to original and removes the auto-patch hook. Your saved buddies are preserved — use any-buddy buddies to reactivate one later.

How It Works

See HOW_IT_WORKS.md for the full technical deep-dive on hashing, binary patching, the salt search algorithm, and the auto-patch hook.

Known Limitations

• macOS: Binary is ad-hoc re-signed after patching. If Claude Code won't launch, run any-buddy restore
• Bun recommended: Required for the interactive builder and correct wyhash computation. Without Bun, falls back to sequential prompts with FNV-1a (Node-based installs)
• Salt dependent: If Anthropic changes the salt string, the tool will detect this and warn you
• Stats: You pick peak/dump stats, but exact values are seed-determined

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md for development setup, project structure, and how to submit changes.

Credits

• @jtuskan -- Windows support for npm-based installs (#5)
• @aaronepinto -- macOS ad-hoc code signing (#3)
• @joshpocock -- FNV-1a hash support for Node runtime (#8)
• @Co-Messi -- Multi-worker parallelism + early-exit optimization (#11), curated preset builds (#15)
• @Ahmad8864 -- 8-core cap idea (#10), buddy profiles (#17)

License

WTFPL -- Do What The Fuck You Want To Public License.