Claude Code /buddy removed? Pet mods that replace it

Claude Code 2.1.97 removed /buddy, the small ASCII creature that reacted to your work, in April 2026. The community issue asking for it back is Bring Back Buddy, #45596.

These pet mods put a pixel companion back in your session. None of them is buddy, and none brings back the one you had. Each is a plugin someone in the community wrote, and it runs inside Claude Code with your permissions. statuslin.es recorded each one in a real session, and its tiles say what its code can touch. Mods need Claude Code 2.1.287 or later. What to check before you install a mod.

Pet mods

Pixipet, Claude Pets, and Code Pet all add /pet, so install only one of them.

Pixipet

A pixel pet above the prompt that shows what Claude is doing, grows from egg to adult as Claude works, and needs feeding, play and sleep.

Terminal

[-] ▄▀▀▄ ▄▀▀▀▀▀▀▄ Pip · egg · XP 2/10 ▄▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▄ Food ██████░░ Mood ███████░ Energy ███████░ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ ○ Claude just finished a turn ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ 「Done~」 ▀▀▀▀▀▀ 1: 🍓 Feed 2: 🎾 Play 3: 🧼 Clean 4: 🌙Sleep ❯ 

Claude Desktop

What you see

A pixel pet band above the prompt, and a pane on /pet

Works in

Terminal and Claude Desktop

Slash commands

/pet

Uses your tokens

No

Changes files

Nothing

Network access

None

Reviewed commit

fde0b0c

Preview recorded with

Claude Code 2.1.296

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0 copies

Pixel Cat

A pixel cat that wanders above the prompt, shows what tool Claude is using, announces when a turn finishes, and keeps an eye on your usage limits.

Terminal

[-] zZ ▀▄ ▄▀ ▄▄▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ ▀▀▀▄▄▄ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ ctx 22% [ Pet ♥ ] [ ⚙ ] [ ↻ Adventurer ] [ Hide ] ❯ 

Claude Desktop

What you see

An animated cat lane above the prompt

Works in

Terminal and Claude Desktop

Slash commands

/cat, /mods

Uses your tokens

No

Changes files

Nothing

Network access

None

Reviewed commit

a8fe0f7

Preview recorded with

Claude Code 2.1.296

Copy install prompt

0 copies

Familiar

A pixel companion above the prompt that reacts to your session, levels up as you work, and can be redrawn by hand in a pixel editor.

Terminal

[-] on it. clawd · idle · lvl 1 ❯ 

Claude Desktop

What you see

A pixel companion above the prompt, plus panes and toasts

Works in

Terminal and Claude Desktop

Slash commands

/familiar

Uses your tokens

On /familiar ask, and for Haiku quips if you turn them on

Changes files

Nothing

Network access

None

Reviewed commit

7793006

Preview recorded with

Claude Code 2.1.296

Copy install prompt

0 copies

Claude Pets

A pixel pet in a Claude Code pane that wanders, reacts to your session and levels up as you work. Eight species to pick from, plus two mini games.

Terminal

❯ /pet ⎿ pets: The cat is out. ❯ /pet pat ⎿ pets: The cat is pleased. ╭────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────✕─╮ │ la la la │ │ ▄██▄ CAT │ │ █▄ ▄█ ▀██▀ Lv 1 8 / 25 xp │ │ ▄█▀██████▀█▄ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ │ │ ██▀█████▀███ curious │ │ ▀▀▀██▀▀██▀▀▀ tool calls 0 +1 │ │ █▀████▀█ ▄ turns 1 +5 │ │ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ pats 1 +2 │ ╰──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯ ❯ 

Claude Desktop

What you see

A pixel pet in its own pane, plus toasts

Works in

Terminal and Claude Desktop

Slash commands

/pet

Uses your tokens

No

Changes files

Only through programs it runs

Network access

Only through programs it runs

Reviewed commit

1f8027d

Preview recorded with

Claude Code 2.1.296

Copy install prompt

0 copies

Code Pet

A pixel pet in a pane that reacts to Claude's work: it eats on tool calls, gets sick when they fail, panics at destructive commands and sleeps when idle. It evolves as you ship.

Terminal

❯ /pet ⎿ code-pet: Pet pane opened. ╭────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────✕─╮ │ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ │ │ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ │ │ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ │ │ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ │ │ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ │ │ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ │ │ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ │ │ ▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀▀ │ ╰──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╯ ❯  ⚠ code-pet: Byte Lv1 · chilling

Claude Desktop

What you see

A pixel pet pane, plus its mood in the status line

Works in

Terminal and Claude Desktop

Slash commands

/pet

Uses your tokens

No

Changes files

Nothing

Network access

None

Reviewed commit

e6da26c

Preview recorded with

Claude Code 2.1.296

Copy install prompt

0 copies

Deck

A collapsible panel above the prompt that tracks plan progress, subagents, context and your 5-hour and 7-day limits, with a small pet that flags when Claude needs you.

Terminal

❯ /deck demo ⎿ deck: Sample plan running above the prompt, with sample routing until real ones arrive. [-] 0: deck ▾ · 5 rows 22:11:41 ⇄ Model route opus = opus jev: haiku · not applied effort ▁▃·· medi = kept ✕ ✓ Orders module Done · 12/12 · 2/2 agents 100% ✕ ● Context 44k / 200k 22% ✕ ◔ Session · 5h 5h · 26% used ↻ 2:04:24 ✕ ◔ Weekly · 7d 7d · 7% used ↻ 2d 0h 57m ✕ ❯  ⏵⏵ auto mode on (shift+tab to cycle) · ← for agents [ Deck 1 ]

Claude Desktop

What you see

A collapsible panel above the prompt

Works in

Terminal and Claude Desktop

Slash commands

/deck

Uses your tokens

No

Changes files

Nothing

Network access

Weather from open-meteo.com, once you set a city

Reviewed commit

9a43cd5

Preview recorded with

Claude Code 2.1.296

Copy install prompt

1 copy

Made your own pet?

Submit your pet mod or pet status line and it gets the same review and recorded preview.

Common questions