claude-stoic

Replaces Claude Code's default spinner verbs with curated quotes from Stoic philosophers — Marcus Aurelius, Seneca, Epictetus, Zeno, Chrysippus, Musonius Rufus, and more. One command, zero install.

npx claude-stoic

Why

Coding can feel like firefighting. The Stoics spent 500 years writing about how to stay calm under pressure. Pair the two. Every spinner tick becomes a small reminder:

The obstacle becomes the way — Marcus Aurelius (Meditations, 5.20)

What it does

Writes a spinnerVerbs block into your Claude Code settings.json:

"spinnerVerbs": {
  "mode": "replace",
  "verbs": [
    "Power over mind, not events — there lies your strength — Marcus Aurelius (Meditations)",
    "We suffer more in imagination than in reality — Seneca (Letters, 13.4)",
    "Not events disturb us, but our opinions of them — Epictetus (Enchiridion, 5)"
  ]
}

Existing settings are preserved. Only the spinnerVerbs key is touched.

Usage

Interactive

npx claude-stoic

Prompts for scope (global vs. project). If spinnerVerbs already exists, prompts for merge mode (replace vs. append).

Scripted

# Global, all sources, overwrite existing verbs
npx claude-stoic --global --mode replace --yes

# Project-local, only Aurelius + Seneca
npx claude-stoic --project --source aurelius,seneca

# Preview without writing
npx claude-stoic --dry-run

# Remove
npx claude-stoic --remove --global

Flags

| Flag | Description | | -------------------------- | -------------------------------------------- | | --global | Write to ~/.claude/settings.json (default) | | --project | Write to ./.claude/settings.json | | --source <csv> | Comma-separated source keys (default: all) | | --mode <replace\|append> | Merge strategy when verbs already exist | | --remove | Delete spinnerVerbs from settings and exit | | --dry-run | Print would-write JSON, no file changes | | --list | List available sources and counts | | --yes, -y | Skip all prompts | | --help, -h | Show help | | --version, -v | Show version |

Sources

npx claude-stoic --list

| Key | Author | Works | | ------------ | ---------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------ | | aurelius | Marcus Aurelius | Meditations | | seneca | Seneca | Letters, On the Shortness of Life, On Anger, On Providence | | epictetus | Epictetus | Discourses, Enchiridion, Fragments | | zeno | Zeno of Citium | via Diogenes Laertius, Stobaeus | | cleanthes | Cleanthes | Hymn to Zeus, via Seneca | | chrysippus | Chrysippus | via Diogenes Laertius | | musonius | Musonius Rufus | Lectures | | cato | Cato (Elder & Younger) | via Plutarch | | hecato | Hecato of Rhodes | via Seneca | | general | Mixed | Stoic maxims, Latin tags (memento mori, amor fati, etc.) |

Each quote ships with primary source citation where known.

Want your own quotes?

Opinionated on purpose — only Stoic quotes ship in the bundle. To mix in others, edit settings.json directly after running claude-stoic. append mode respects existing verbs.

Requirements

• Node.js 18+
• Plain JSON settings.json (no // or /* */ comments)

Contributing

PRs welcome. Guidelines for new quotes:

• Prefer primary-source citations (Meditations, 5.20 beats "attributed")
• Keep quotes short — spinner has one line to render
• Translate for clarity without losing meaning

License

MIT © Anton Mendelson