If you’ve used Claude Code for more than five minutes, you’ve seen it. That single word that cycles above the blinking cursor while Claude is off doing its thing. Pondering… then Orchestrating… then, if you’re lucky, Flibbertigibbeting…

Those are spinner verbs.

Table of contents

• What even is a spinner verb?
• Adding your own spinner verbs
  • Append mode: keep the defaults, add yours on top
  • Replace mode: burn the defaults, start fresh
• The mechanics, briefly
• Where the file lives
• Why bother?
• My Collection

What even is a spinner verb?

A spinner verb is the gerund (the -ing word) that appears in Claude Code’s CLI while it’s processing your request. It’s the loading indicator. Other tools give you a boring spinning circle or a progress bar that lies to you. Claude Code gives you a rotating vocabulary lesson instead.

There are 185 of them baked in by default. Some are sensible: Thinking, Processing, Computing. Some are culinary: Sauteing, Caramelizing, Julienning. Some are just vibes: Beboppin’, Lollygagging, Canoodling.

Here’s a handful of my favorites from the default set:

• Combobulating (and its evil twin, Discombobulating)
• Recombobulating (Milwaukee airport has a Recombobulation Area, so this one checks out)
• Flibbertigibbeting (try saying that three times fast)
• Boondoggling (honestly, sometimes accurate)
• Clauding (self-referential, I respect it)
• Prestidigitating (sleight of hand, which is basically what an LLM does)

The full list ships with Claude Code and you never need to think about it. But if you’re the kind of person who does think about it, you can customize it. And you should.

Adding your own spinner verbs

Spinner verbs live in your ~/.claude/settings.json file under the spinnerVerbs key. There are two modes: append and replace.

Append mode: keep the defaults, add yours on top

This is the safe option. You keep all 185 built-in verbs and toss your own into the mix. Your settings file would look like this:

{
  "spinnerVerbs": {
    "mode": "append",
    "verbs": [
      "Overthinking",
      "Procrastinating",
      "Doom-scrolling",
      "Rubber-ducking",
      "Yak-shaving"
    ]
  }
}

Now Claude will occasionally tell you it’s Yak-shaving while it works. Which, depending on the task, might be the most honest status indicator in all of software.

You can also ask Claude Code itself to do this for you. Just paste something like:

Add the following spinner verbs to my ~/.claude/settings.json using “mode”: “append”: Overthinking, Procrastinating, Doom-scrolling

Claude will handle the JSON for you. It’s strangely satisfying to make Claude modify its own loading messages.

Replace mode: burn the defaults, start fresh

If you want full control, replace mode wipes all 185 defaults and uses only your list. This means you need to supply enough verbs to keep things interesting, otherwise you’ll just see the same word over and over.

Here’s where it gets fun. You can make themed sets.

Physics equations as spinner verbs:

{
  "spinnerVerbs": {
    "mode": "replace",
    "verbs": [
      "F = ma (Newton's Second Law)",
      "p = mv (Momentum)",
      "W = Fd cos θ (Work)",
      "KE = ½mv² (Kinetic Energy)",
      "PE = mgh (Gravitational Potential Energy)",
      "PE = ½kx² (Elastic Potential Energy)",
      "F = -kx (Hooke's Law)",
      "τ = rF sin θ (Torque)",
      "L = Iω (Angular Momentum)",
      "τ = Iα (Rotational Newton's Second Law)"
    ]
  }
}

Now instead of Pondering… you get F = ma (Newton’s Second Law)… while Claude figures out your code. It’s completely useless. I love it.

Other theme ideas people have tried:

• Git commands: “git rebasing”, “git blaming”, “git stashing”
• HTTP status codes: “418 I’m a Teapot”, “202 Accepted”, “503 Service Unavailable”
• Cat behaviors: “Knocking things off tables”, “Ignoring you”, “Sitting in a box”
• Cooking terms: “Deglazing the fond”, “Chiffonading basil”, “Tempering chocolate”
• Dad Jokes: Why don’t some fish play piano? Because you can’t tuna fish!

The mechanics, briefly

The spinner cycles through the verb list at random. There’s no weighting or ordering logic. Each time the spinner needs a new word, it picks one from the combined pool (defaults + appended, or just your replacements). If your list is short, you’ll see repeats. If it’s long, you might never see some of them.

The verbs don’t need to be actual gerunds, by the way. The physics equations above prove that. You can put whatever string you want in there. “Loading…” or “Please wait…” or “I’m doing my best…” all work fine. Claude doesn’t judge. (Well, it might judge a little.)

Where the file lives

The settings file is at ~/.claude/settings.json. If it doesn’t exist yet, create it. If it already has other settings in it, just add the spinnerVerbs key alongside them. The structure is:

{
  "spinnerVerbs": {
    "mode": "append | replace",
    "verbs": ["Your", "Verbs", "Here"]
  }
}

That’s the whole thing. Two fields. mode decides whether you’re adding to the defaults or replacing them. verbs is your list of strings.

Why bother?

I get asked this. It’s a loading indicator. Who cares?

Here’s the thing: you stare at that spinner a lot. Every time Claude reads a file, every time it thinks through your architecture question, every time it writes a test. That little word is the only sign of life while you wait. Making it yours turns a passive waiting experience into something that occasionally makes you smile.

And if you’re pair programming with someone and they see Yak-shaving… flash by on your terminal, that’s a conversation starter. Or a conversation ender, depending on the person.

The best customizations I’ve seen come from people who tailor the verbs to their project. A game dev who added enemy types. A data engineer who used SQL keywords. A frontend dev whose spinner verbs were all CSS properties they could never remember.

Pick a theme. Make it weird. It costs you two minutes and a JSON file.

Here is my collection

CLASSICAL MECHANICS

• F = ma (Newton’s Second Law)
• p = mv (Momentum)
• W = Fd cos θ (Work)
• KE = ½mv² (Kinetic Energy)
• PE = mgh (Gravitational Potential Energy)
• PE = ½kx² (Elastic Potential Energy)
• F = -kx (Hooke’s Law)
• τ = rF sin θ (Torque)
• L = Iω (Angular Momentum)
• τ = Iα (Rotational Newton’s Second Law)
• KE_rot = ½Iω² (Rotational Kinetic Energy)
• v = v₀ + at (Kinematic Equation)
• x = x₀ + v₀t + ½at² (Position)
• v² = v₀² + 2a(x – x₀) (Velocity-Displacement)
• ω = ω₀ + αt (Angular Kinematics)
• θ = θ₀ + ω₀t + ½αt² (Angular Position)
• a_c = v²/r (Centripetal Acceleration)
• F_c = mv²/r (Centripetal Force)
• T = 2π/ω (Period)
• f = 1/T (Frequency)
• v = rω (Tangential Velocity)
• I = Σmr² (Moment of Inertia)
• F_friction = μN (Friction Force)
• J = FΔt = Δp (Impulse)
• x(t) = A cos(ωt + φ) (Simple Harmonic Motion)
• T = 2π√(m/k) (SHM Period — Spring)
• T = 2π√(L/g) (SHM Period — Pendulum)
• P = W/t (Power)
• P = Fv (Power — Force × Velocity)
• η = W_out / W_in (Efficiency)

GRAVITATION

• F = Gm₁m₂/r² (Newton’s Law of Gravitation)
• g = GM/r² (Gravitational Field Strength)
• U = -Gm₁m₂/r (Gravitational Potential Energy)
• v_orbital = √(GM/r) (Orbital Velocity)
• v_escape = √(2GM/r) (Escape Velocity)
• T² = (4π²/GM)r³ (Kepler’s Third Law)
• Φ = -GM/r (Gravitational Potential)

FLUID MECHANICS

• P = F/A (Pressure)
• P = P₀ + ρgh (Hydrostatic Pressure)
• F_buoyancy = ρVg (Archimedes’ Principle)
• A₁v₁ = A₂v₂ (Continuity Equation)
• P + ½ρv² + ρgh = const (Bernoulli’s Equation)
• F = ηA(dv/dx) (Viscous Force)
• Re = ρvL/η (Reynolds Number)
• F_drag = ½CρAv² (Drag Force)

THERMODYNAMICS

• Q = mcΔT (Heat Transfer)
• Q = mL (Latent Heat)
• PV = nRT (Ideal Gas Law)
• PV = NkT (Ideal Gas — Boltzmann Form)
• KE_avg = (3/2)kT (Average Kinetic Energy)
• v_rms = √(3kT/m) (RMS Speed)
• ΔU = Q – W (First Law of Thermodynamics)
• W = PΔV (Work — Isobaric)
• W = nRT ln(V₂/V₁) (Work — Isothermal)
• PV^γ = const (Adiabatic Process)
• η = 1 – T_C/T_H (Carnot Efficiency)
• η = W/Q_H (Thermal Efficiency)
• ΔS = Q/T (Entropy Change)
• S = k ln Ω (Boltzmann Entropy)
• dS ≥ 0 (Second Law of Thermodynamics)
• F = U – TS (Helmholtz Free Energy)
• G = H – TS (Gibbs Free Energy)
• H = U + PV (Enthalpy)
• C_p – C_v = nR (Mayer’s Relation)
• dU = TdS – PdV (Fundamental Thermodynamic Relation)
• P₁V₁/T₁ = P₂V₂/T₂ (Combined Gas Law)

ELECTROSTATICS & ELECTROMAGNETISM

• F = kq₁q₂/r² (Coulomb’s Law)
• E = F/q (Electric Field)
• E = kQ/r² (Point Charge Field)
• V = kQ/r (Electric Potential)
• U = kq₁q₂/r (Electric Potential Energy)
• U = qV (Potential Energy)
• V = Ed (Voltage — Uniform Field)
• C = Q/V (Capacitance)
• C = ε₀A/d (Parallel Plate Capacitor)
• U = ½CV² (Energy Stored in Capacitor)
• U = ½QV (Capacitor Energy)
• U = Q²/2C (Capacitor Energy)
• Φ_E = EA cos θ (Electric Flux)
• ∮ E·dA = Q_enc/ε₀ (Gauss’s Law)
• ΔV = -∫E·dl (Potential Difference)
• D = εE (Electric Displacement)
• P = ε₀χE (Electric Polarization)

CIRCUITS & CURRENT

• V = IR (Ohm’s Law)
• I = Q/t (Current)
• R = ρL/A (Resistance)
• P = IV (Electrical Power)
• P = I²R (Power — Current Form)
• P = V²/R (Power — Voltage Form)
• R_series = R₁ + R₂ + … (Series Resistance)
• 1/R_parallel = 1/R₁ + 1/R₂ + … (Parallel Resistance)
• C_parallel = C₁ + C₂ + … (Parallel Capacitance)
• 1/C_series = 1/C₁ + 1/C₂ + … (Series Capacitance)
• τ = RC (RC Time Constant)
• ΣV = 0 (Kirchhoff’s Voltage Law)
• ΣI = 0 (Kirchhoff’s Current Law)
• ε = V + Ir (EMF with Internal Resistance)
• Q(t) = Q₀e^(-t/RC) (RC Discharge)

MAGNETISM

• F = qv × B (Lorentz Force)
• F = qvB sin θ (Magnetic Force on Charge)
• F = BIL sin θ (Force on Current-Carrying Wire)
• B = μ₀I/(2πr) (Magnetic Field — Long Wire)
• B = μ₀nI (Solenoid Field)
• Φ_B = BA cos θ (Magnetic Flux)
• ε = -dΦ_B/dt (Faraday’s Law)
• ε = -N dΦ/dt (Faraday’s Law — N Turns)
• ε = BLv (Motional EMF)
• F = μ₀I₁I₂L/(2πd) (Force Between Parallel Wires)
• τ = NBIA sin θ (Torque on Current Loop)
• μ = NIA (Magnetic Dipole Moment)
• L = NΦ/I (Inductance)
• U = ½LI² (Energy in Inductor)
• τ = L/R (RL Time Constant)
• ∮ B·dl = μ₀I_enc (Ampère’s Law)

MAXWELL’S EQUATIONS (Integral Form)

• ∮ E·dA = Q/ε₀ (Gauss’s Law — Electric)
• ∮ B·dA = 0 (Gauss’s Law — Magnetic)
• ∮ E·dl = -dΦ_B/dt (Faraday’s Law)
• ∮ B·dl = μ₀I + μ₀ε₀ dΦ_E/dt (Ampère-Maxwell Law)

MAXWELL’S EQUATIONS (Differential Form)

• ∇·E = ρ/ε₀
• ∇·B = 0
• ∇×E = -∂B/∂t
• ∇×B = μ₀J + μ₀ε₀ ∂E/∂t

ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVES & OPTICS

• c = λf (Wave Speed)
• c = 1/√(μ₀ε₀) (Speed of Light)
• E = cB (E-B Relationship)
• S = (1/μ₀)E × B (Poynting Vector)
• I = P/A (Intensity)
• I = ½ε₀cE₀² (Intensity — EM Wave)
• n = c/v (Refractive Index)
• n₁ sin θ₁ = n₂ sin θ₂ (Snell’s Law)
• sin θ_c = n₂/n₁ (Critical Angle)
• 1/f = 1/d_o + 1/d_i (Thin Lens Equation)
• m = -d_i/d_o (Magnification)
• P = 1/f (Lens Power — Diopters)
• d sin θ = mλ (Diffraction Grating)
• a sin θ = mλ (Single Slit Diffraction)
• Δx = λL/d (Double Slit Fringe Spacing)
• θ_min = 1.22λ/D (Rayleigh Criterion)
• I = I₀ cos²θ (Malus’s Law — Polarization)
• θ_B = arctan(n₂/n₁) (Brewster’s Angle)
• Δ = 2nt cos θ (Thin Film Interference)

WAVES & SOUND

• v = fλ (Wave Equation)
• v = √(T/μ) (Wave on String)
• v = √(B/ρ) (Sound Speed in Fluid)
• f_n = n v/(2L) (Standing Wave — Both Ends Fixed)
• f_n = n v/(4L) (Standing Wave — One End Open)
• β = 10 log(I/I₀) (Sound Level — Decibels)
• f’ = f(v ± v_o)/(v ∓ v_s) (Doppler Effect)
• f_beat = |f₁ – f₂| (Beat Frequency)
• y = A sin(kx – ωt) (Travelling Wave)
• k = 2π/λ (Wave Number)
• ω = 2πf (Angular Frequency)
• v = ω/k (Phase Velocity)
• v_g = dω/dk (Group Velocity)
• I ∝ 1/r² (Inverse Square Law)

MODERN PHYSICS — QUANTUM MECHANICS

• E = hf (Planck-Einstein Relation)
• E = ℏω (Energy — Angular Frequency)
• p = h/λ (de Broglie Wavelength)
• p = ℏk (Momentum — Wave Number)
• λ = h/mv (de Broglie Wavelength)
• KE_max = hf – φ (Photoelectric Effect)
• ΔxΔp ≥ ℏ/2 (Heisenberg Uncertainty — Position)
• ΔEΔt ≥ ℏ/2 (Heisenberg Uncertainty — Energy)
• Ĥψ = Eψ (Time-Independent Schrödinger Equation)
• iℏ ∂ψ/∂t = Ĥψ (Time-Dependent Schrödinger Equation)
• |ψ|² = probability density (Born Rule)
• E_n = -13.6/n² eV (Hydrogen Energy Levels)
• 1/λ = R(1/n₁² – 1/n₂²) (Rydberg Formula)
• r_n = n²a₀/Z (Bohr Radius)
• L = nℏ (Quantized Angular Momentum)
• S = ℏ√(s(s+1)) (Spin Angular Momentum)
• E_n = (n + ½)ℏω (Quantum Harmonic Oscillator)
• T ≈ e^(-2κL) (Quantum Tunnelling Probability)
• [x̂, p̂] = iℏ (Canonical Commutation Relation)

SPECIAL RELATIVITY

• γ = 1/√(1 – v²/c²) (Lorentz Factor)
• E = mc² (Mass-Energy Equivalence)
• E = γmc² (Relativistic Energy)
• E² = (pc)² + (mc²)² (Energy-Momentum Relation)
• p = γmv (Relativistic Momentum)
• t’ = γt (Time Dilation)
• L’ = L/γ (Length Contraction)
• KE = (γ – 1)mc² (Relativistic Kinetic Energy)
• u’ = (u + v)/(1 + uv/c²) (Velocity Addition)
• ds² = -c²dt² + dx² + dy² + dz² (Spacetime Interval)
• x’ = γ(x – vt) (Lorentz Transformation — x)
• t’ = γ(t – vx/c²) (Lorentz Transformation — t)

GENERAL RELATIVITY

• G_μν + Λg_μν = (8πG/c⁴)T_μν (Einstein Field Equations)
• ds² = -(1-2GM/rc²)c²dt² + dr²/(1-2GM/rc²) + r²dΩ² (Schwarzschild Metric)
• r_s = 2GM/c² (Schwarzschild Radius)
• Δf/f = GM/(rc²) (Gravitational Redshift)
• R_μν – ½Rg_μν = (8πG/c⁴)T_μν (Einstein Equations — no Λ)
• Γ^α_βγ = ½g^αδ(∂_βg_γδ + ∂_γg_βδ – ∂_δg_βγ) (Christoffel Symbols)

NUCLEAR & PARTICLE PHYSICS

• E = Δmc² (Mass Defect Energy)
• N(t) = N₀e^(-λt) (Radioactive Decay)
• t₁/₂ = ln2/λ (Half-Life)
• A = λN (Activity)
• A = A₀e^(-λt) (Activity Decay)
• Q = (m_reactants – m_products)c² (Q-Value)
• R = R₀A^(1/3) (Nuclear Radius)
• BE/A = binding energy per nucleon

STATISTICAL MECHANICS

• Z = Σ e^(-E_i/kT) (Partition Function)
• ⟨E⟩ = -∂ ln Z/∂β (Average Energy)
• f(E) = 1/(e^((E-μ)/kT) + 1) (Fermi-Dirac Distribution)
• f(E) = 1/(e^((E-μ)/kT) – 1) (Bose-Einstein Distribution)
• f(E) = e^(-(E-μ)/kT) (Maxwell-Boltzmann Distribution)
• S = -k Σ p_i ln p_i (Gibbs Entropy)
• F = -kT ln Z (Free Energy from Partition Function)
• P(E) = e^(-E/kT)/Z (Boltzmann Probability)
• u(ν) = (8πhν³/c³) × 1/(e^(hν/kT) – 1) (Planck’s Radiation Law)
• λ_max T = 2.898 × 10⁻³ m·K (Wien’s Displacement Law)
• P = σT⁴ (Stefan-Boltzmann Law — per unit area)
• j = εσT⁴ (Stefan-Boltzmann — with emissivity)

COSMOLOGY

• v = H₀d (Hubble’s Law)
• z = Δλ/λ (Redshift)
• z = v/c (Cosmological Redshift — low v)
• ρ_c = 3H²/(8πG) (Critical Density)
• Ω = ρ/ρ_c (Density Parameter)
• (ȧ/a)² = (8πG/3)ρ – k/a² + Λ/3 (Friedmann Equation)
• ds² = -c²dt² + a(t)²[dr²/(1-kr²) + r²dΩ²] (FLRW Metric)

QUANTUM FIELD THEORY (Selected)

• L = ψ̄(iγ^μ∂_μ – m)ψ (Dirac Lagrangian)
• (iγ^μ∂_μ – m)ψ = 0 (Dirac Equation)
• L = -¼F_μνF^μν (Maxwell Lagrangian)
• F_μν = ∂_μA_ν – ∂_νA_μ (Electromagnetic Field Tensor)
• α = e²/(4πε₀ℏc) ≈ 1/137 (Fine Structure Constant)
• L_QED = ψ̄(iγ^μD_μ – m)ψ – ¼F_μνF^μν (QED Lagrangian)
• D_μ = ∂_μ + ieA_μ (Covariant Derivative)
• {γ^μ, γ^ν} = 2g^μν (Clifford Algebra)

STRING THEORY (Selected)

• S = -(1/2πα’) ∫ d²σ √(-h) h^ab ∂_aX^μ ∂_bX_μ (Polyakov Action)
• D = 26 (Bosonic String Dimensions)
• D = 10 (Superstring Dimensions)

KEY PHYSICAL CONSTANTS

• c = 3 × 10⁸ m/s (Speed of Light)
• G = 6.674 × 10⁻¹¹ N·m²/kg² (Gravitational Constant)
• h = 6.626 × 10⁻³⁴ J·s (Planck’s Constant)
• ℏ = h/2π = 1.055 × 10⁻³⁴ J·s (Reduced Planck’s Constant)
• k_B = 1.381 × 10⁻²³ J/K (Boltzmann Constant)
• e = 1.602 × 10⁻¹⁹ C (Elementary Charge)
• m_e = 9.109 × 10⁻³¹ kg (Electron Mass)
• m_p = 1.673 × 10⁻²⁷ kg (Proton Mass)
• N_A = 6.022 × 10²³ /mol (Avogadro’s Number)
• R = 8.314 J/(mol·K) (Gas Constant)
• ε₀ = 8.854 × 10⁻¹² F/m (Permittivity of Free Space)
• μ₀ = 4π × 10⁻⁷ H/m (Permeability of Free Space)
• σ = 5.670 × 10⁻⁸ W/(m²·K⁴) (Stefan-Boltzmann Constant)
• a₀ = 5.292 × 10⁻¹¹ m (Bohr Radius)
• R∞ = 1.097 × 10⁷ /m (Rydberg Constant)
• α ≈ 1/137 (Fine Structure Constant)