Agent Loader Extension

A custom loading indicator for the Pi coding agent with animated spinners and dynamic color palettes.

Features

• 50+ Spinner Sequences: Beautiful Unicode animations including braille spinners, orbital patterns, progress bars, and more
• Dynamic Color Palettes: Random HSL-based colors with subtle, harmonious variations (±7.5° hue, ±30-60% saturation/lightness)
• Creative Verb Phrases: 100+ whimsical loading messages inspired by Claude Code (e.g., "Thinking", "Cogitating", "Vibecoding Internally")
• Interactive Commands: Preview, pick, and randomize loaders on-demand

Example loader frames

• ✢ ✣ ✤ ✥
• ┤ ┘ ┴ └ ├ ┌ ┬ ┐
• ∿ ≋ ∿ ≋
• ◌ ◎ ◉ ● ◉ ◎
• ✶ ✸ ✹ ✺ ✹ ✷

Installation

1. Ensure this extension is in your ~/.pi/agent/extensions/ directory
2. Pi will auto-discover the extension via the package.json file
3. Restart Pi if it's already running

Usage

The loader automatically activates during agent flows:

• agent_start: Initializes random spinner + palette
• agent_end: Restores default indicator
• tool_call/tool_result: Updates working message with tool context

Commands

| Command | Description | | ----------------- | --------------------------------------------------- | | /loader-info | Show current loader sequence and interval | | /loader-random | Randomize loader for current session | | /loader-preview | Preview all available sequences and sample palettes | | /loader-pick | Interactive picker for sequence and interval |

Customization

Edit agent-loader.ts to:

• Add new spinner sequences to SPINNER_SEQUENCES
• Add new verb phrases to SPINNER_VERBS
• Adjust color generation amplitudes in generateRandomPaletteColors()
• Modify animation intervals (default: 90-150ms)
• Example frame strings are available in index.ts under EXAMPLE_FRAMES

Color Generation

Palettes use HSL loops with:

• Hue: ±7.5° (15° total range)
• Saturation: 30-70% ±30-60%
• Lightness: 40-80% ±30-60%

This creates subtle, pastel-like variations while maintaining visual harmony.

Dependencies

• @mariozechner/pi-coding-agent (peer dependency)