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pablodelucca/pixel-agents

7,424TypeScriptAudience · developerComplexity · 2/5LicenseSetup · easy

TLDR

A VS Code extension that gives AI coding agents a visible animated pixel art character in a virtual office panel, showing what each agent is doing in real time while it works alongside you.

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((pixel-agents))
  What it does
    Visual agent presence
    Animated characters
    VS Code panel
  Characters
    Six designs
    Sub-agent linking
    Status animations
  Office editor
    Tile painter
    Furniture placement
    JSON export
  Setup
    VS Code Marketplace
    Claude Code support
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Code map

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Things people build with this

USE CASE 1

Visualize multiple Claude Code agents as animated pixel art characters in a VS Code panel while they work

USE CASE 2

Design a custom office layout with floors, walls, and furniture using the built-in tile editor

USE CASE 3

Track which agent is reading, writing, or waiting by watching its character animation

USE CASE 4

Export your office layout as JSON and share it so teammates use the same office setup

Tech stack

TypeScriptVisual Studio Code

Getting it running

Difficulty · easy Time to first run · 5min
Free and open-source, office assets are included in the repository and can be used freely.

In plain English

Pixel Agents is a Visual Studio Code extension that gives AI coding agents a visible presence in your workspace. Instead of agents working silently in a terminal, each one becomes an animated pixel art character wandering around a virtual office. When an agent is writing code, its character types at a desk. When it is reading a file, the character looks like it is reading. When it needs your attention, a speech bubble appears over its head. The office is visible in a panel inside VS Code alongside the terminal. The extension currently works with Claude Code, an AI coding assistant. It monitors the transcript files that Claude Code writes during its work, reads what tool the agent is using at any given moment, and updates the character's animation to match. No changes to Claude Code itself are needed. The extension just observes what is already being recorded and translates it into visuals. If you are running multiple agents at once, each one gets its own character. Sub-agents spawned as part of a larger task appear as separate characters that are visually linked to the parent agent. You can click a character and assign it to a different seat in the office. There are six different character designs to choose from. The office layout is customizable through a built-in editor. You can paint floors and walls, place furniture items, and grow the grid up to 64 by 64 tiles. Layouts are saved and shared across VS Code windows, so your office persists between sessions. You can also export and import layouts as JSON files, and load custom furniture packs from folders on your machine. Installing it is straightforward: search for Pixel Agents in the VS Code Marketplace or the Open VSX registry and install the extension directly. The source code repository is for people who want to contribute or modify the extension. The extension is free and the office assets it uses are fully open-source and included in the repository. The README notes a few rough edges: the connection between agents and their terminal windows can sometimes lose sync, and the detection of when an agent is waiting for input is based on heuristics rather than direct signals, so the displayed status is not always perfectly accurate.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1
Install Pixel Agents in VS Code and connect it to Claude Code so I can see my agent as a pixel character while it edits files
Prompt 2
Create a custom 32x32 office layout in Pixel Agents with desks and a meeting area using the built-in tile painter
Prompt 3
How do I load a custom furniture pack from a local folder in Pixel Agents to add my own pixel art sprites?
Prompt 4
Set up Pixel Agents to show two simultaneous Claude Code sub-agents as separate characters linked to a parent task
Prompt 5
Export my Pixel Agents office layout as JSON and import it on a different machine
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