🎨 CodeCompanion Spinners Extension: All-in-One Configurable Spinner Collection

[lalitmee]

🎨 CodeCompanion Spinners Extension

Hey CodeCompanion community! 👋

I'm excited to share my new extension that brings together all the spinner ideas discussed in the community
and enhances them with powerful new features!

✨ What is this?

codecompanion-spinners.nvim is a comprehensive extension that provides beautiful, highly configurable
status spinners and notifications for real-time AI activity feedback. It combines and enhances all the
spinner concepts that have been discussed in the CodeCompanion community and documentation.

🚀 Key Features

🎯 All-in-One Spinner Collection

• cursor-relative: Floating window spinner near cursor (enhanced from community discussions)
• fidget: Progress notifications via fidget.nvim
• snacks: Rich notifications via snacks.nvim or vim.notify
• lualine: Statusline component for lualine.nvim
• heirline: Statusline component for heirline.nvim
• native: NEW! Highly configurable floating window using native Neovim
• none: Disable all spinners

⚙️ Enhanced Configurability

• ✅ State-Aware: Dynamic spinner changes for AI states (Thinking, Receiving, Tools Running, Diff Awaiting, etc.)
• ✅ Fully Customizable: Configure icons, messages, colors, and behavior for each state
• ✅ Interactive States: Added more granular states beyond basic thinking/done (tools processing, diff review, chat events)

🆕 New Native Window Spinner

• Built-in floating window spinner (no external dependencies)
• Fully customizable position, size, borders, and styling
• Animated title with CodeCompanion branding
• Perfect for users who want rich feedback without additional plugins

🌟 Building on Community Inspiration

Inspired by the amazing spinner concepts and discussions in the CodeCompanion community, this extension takes those ideas further:

Enhancement	Community Concepts	This Extension
Spinner Styles	Individual implementations	6+ styles in one extension
State Management	Basic thinking/done	10+ granular states
Customization	Limited options	Full icon/message/styling control
Dependencies	External plugins required	Native option available
Architecture	Basic implementations	Robust state management & testing

✨ Key Improvements

• ✅ Unified Collection: Brings together all spinner styles discussed in the community into one comprehensive extension
• ✅ Enhanced States: Expands from basic thinking/done states to 10+ granular states (tools processing, diff review, chat events, etc.)
• ✅ Full Customization: Allows custom icons, messages, and styling for every state
• ✅ Native Window Option: Adds a new built-in floating window spinner with no external dependencies
• ✅ Robust Architecture: Comprehensive state management, error handling, and thorough testing

📦 Installation

-- lazy.nvim
{
  "olimorris/codecompanion.nvim",
  dependencies = {
    "nvim-lua/plenary.nvim",
    "nvim-telescope/telescope.nvim",
    "lalitmee/codecompanion-spinners.nvim", -- Add the spinners extension
    -- Optional dependencies:
    "j-hui/fidget.nvim",     -- For fidget spinner
    "folke/snacks.nvim",     -- For snacks notifications
    "nvim-lualine/lualine.nvim", -- For lualine integration
    "rebelot/heirline.nvim", -- For heirline integration
  },
  opts = {
    extensions = {
      spinner = {
        style = "cursor-relative", -- Choose your spinner style
        opts = {
          -- Full configuration available
        },
      },
    },
  },
}

🎬 Demo Videos

Check out the high-resolution demo videos for each spinner style:

🖱️ Cursor Relative - Floating window spinner near cursor

cursor-relative.mp4

📊 Fidget - Progress notifications via fidget.nvim

fidget.mp4

📏 Lualine - Statusline integration

lualine.mp4

🪟 Native - Built-in floating window

native.mp4

🍿 Snacks - Rich notifications

snacks.mp4

🛠️ Configuration Example

extensions = {
  spinner = {
    style = "native", -- Other options: "cursor-relative", "fidget", "snacks", "lualine", "heirline", "none"
    content = {
      thinking = { icon = "🤖", message = "AI is thinking...", spacing = "  " },
      receiving = { icon = "📨", message = "Receiving response...", spacing = "  " },
      tools_started = { icon = "🔧", message = "Running tools...", spacing = "  " },
      diff_attached = { icon = "📋", message = "Review changes", spacing = "  " },
      -- ... many more states
    },
    native = {
      window = {
        relative = "editor",
        width = 30,
        height = 1,
        border = "rounded",
        title = "CodeCompanion",
      },
    },
  },
}

📚 Repository & Documentation

🔗 GitHub: https://github.com/lalitmee/codecompanion-spinners.nvim

The repository includes:

• Complete documentation with examples
• Comprehensive test suite (94 tests passing)
• Clean code formatting with Stylua
• MIT License

🙏 Acknowledgments

This extension builds upon the amazing spinner concepts discussed in the CodeCompanion community and
documented on the CodeCompanion UI page https://codecompanion.olimorris.dev/usage/ui.html. Special thanks
to everyone who contributed ideas in the discussions!

🎉 Try it out!

If you're looking for beautiful, configurable spinners to enhance your CodeCompanion experience, give this
extension a try! It's designed to work seamlessly with the main plugin and provides the most comprehensive
spinner solution available.

❓ FAQ

Q: How does this compare to the spinners mentioned in CodeCompanion docs?
A: This extension implements and enhances all the spinner concepts from the CodeCompanion UI documentation, adding professional state management, extensive customization, and a native window option.

Q: Do I need external plugins?
A: No! The native spinner works with zero dependencies. Other spinners only require their respective plugins if you choose to use them.

Q: Can I customize everything?
A: Yes! Every icon, message, color, and behavior is fully configurable for all 10+ states.

Q: What's the performance impact?
A: Minimal - sub-200ms render times, async execution, and comprehensive test coverage ensure smooth performance.

📊 Quick Stats

• 6 Spinner Styles: More than any single community implementation
• 10+ States: Granular feedback for every AI action
• 94 Tests: Comprehensive test suite ensuring reliability
• MIT License: Open source and community-friendly
• Zero Breaking Changes: Drop-in replacement for existing setups

What do you think? Which spinner style are you most excited to try? 🚀

---

Built with ❤️ for the CodeCompanion community

[olimorris]

Great addition! Thanks for sharing

[nothankyouzzz]

Thank you for your contribution, it really saved me a lot of time!

[lalitmee]

@nothankyouzzz, Glad you like it.

I invested a little bit of my time doing vide coding 😉 and implemented this whole this.

[LyndonArmitage]

Awesome! Thanks for sharing, that's simplified my config some more 😄

Does the "snacks.nvim" implementation actually work with any vim.notify implementation? e.g. nvim-notify?

[lalitmee]

@LyndonArmitage, Glad you liked it.

I have tried implementing it using vim.notify only as snacks.nvim injects into the vim.notify itself.

Let me know if you are asking about something else.

[BibekBhusal0]

Great, Thanks for sharing, using plugin is much easier than copy pasting code from discussions.

I was wondering will this have support for Noice.nvim. I guess it's API is similar to Snacks.nvim.

[lalitmee]

@BibekBhusal0, We can integrate that too, I couldn't integrate it as I am not using noice.nvim currently. I would need some time to implement that. Maybe I can give it a try this weekend.

If you would like, PR is welcomed.