Claude Code (aka Tengu)1 Processing Words
A comprehensive list of the processing words displayed by Claude Code CLI while it works on your requests.
Accomplishing Elucidating Perusing
Actioning Enchanting Philosophising
Actualizing Envisioning Pondering
Baking Finagling Pontificating
Booping Flibbertigibbeting Processing
Brewing Forging Puttering
Calculating Forming Puzzling
Cerebrating Frolicking Reticulating
Channelling Generating Ruminating
Churning Germinating Scheming
Clauding Hatching Schlepping
Coalescing Herding Shimmying
Cogitating Honking Shucking
Combobulating Hustling Simmering
Computing Ideating Smooshing
Concocting Imagining Spelunking
Conjuring Incubating Spinning
Considering Inferring Stewing
Contemplating Jiving Sussing
Cooking Manifesting Synthesizing
Crafting Marinating Thinking
Creating Meandering Tinkering
Crunching Moseying Transmuting
Deciphering Mulling Unfurling
Deliberating Mustering Unravelling
Determining Musing Vibing
Discombobulating Noodling Wandering
Divining Percolating Whirring
Doing Wibbling
Effecting Wizarding
Working
Wrangling
Note: Additional words can be fetched dynamically from Anthropic's servers at runtime.
- 90 processing words
- 139 versions analyzed (v0.2.9 → v1.0.48)
- 3 distinct phases in the word evolution
- Internal codename: "Tengu" (found in configuration keys and telemetry)
- Dynamic word system: Can fetch additional words from Anthropic's servers via Statsig
56 words - Original set without "Pontificating"
57 words - Added "Pontificating"
90 words - Major expansion adding 33 new words including:
- Flibbertigibbeting
- Discombobulating
- Wizarding
- Booping
- Combobulating
- Divining
- Jiving
- Meandering
- Sussing
- And 24 more creative verbs
- Static words: 90 hardcoded words in the CLI
- Dynamic configuration: Fetches additional words via
tengu_spinner_wordsconfig key - Merger system: Combines static and dynamic arrays at runtime
- Fallback mechanism: Uses static words if dynamic fetch fails
- Display logic: Random selection every 1000ms with React state management
This design allows Anthropic to update spinner words without releasing new CLI versions, enable A/B testing, and potentially customize words based on user segments.
While analyzing Claude Code's source code across 139 versions, we uncovered that "Tengu" appears to be the internal codename for the Claude Code project. This appears in:
- Configuration keys:
tengu_spinner_wordsin the Statsig configuration system - Telemetry events: Internal tracking uses "tengu" prefixes
- Dynamic word fetching: The system retrieves additional processing words using Tengu-named endpoints
Tengu (天狗) are supernatural beings from Japanese folklore, often depicted as skilled warriors and mischievous spirits known for their cleverness and ability to shape-shift. The name seems fitting for a tool that transforms natural language into code with a touch of whimsy in its processing words.
For those who want to embrace the mystical nature of Claude Code, you can add either of these fun scripts to your shell configuration (.zshrc or .bashrc):
# Summon Tengu (Claude Code)
summon() {
if [[ "$1" == "tengu" ]]; then
shift
claude "$@"
else
echo "Usage: summon tengu [claude-args]"
fi
}Something a bit more dramatic 👹
summon.tengu.mov
# Summon Tengu (Claude Code) with animated ASCII art
summon() {
if [[ "$1" == "tengu" ]]; then
shift
# Clear screen for dramatic effect
clear
# Function to print string character by character
print_animated() {
local text="$1"
local delay="${2:-0.0005}"
for (( i=0; i<${#text}; i++ )); do
printf "%s" "${text:$i:1}"
sleep "$delay"
done
printf "\n"
}
# Draw the Tengu face with accelerating animation
echo ""
lines=(
" 👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹"
" 👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹"
" 👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹"
" 👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹"
" 👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹"
" 👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹"
" 👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹"
" 👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹"
" 👹👹👹👹 👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹 👹👹👹👹"
" 👹👹👹 👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹 👹👹👹"
" 👹👹👹 ⚫ 👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹 ⚫ 👹👹👹"
" 👹👹👹 👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹 👹👹👹"
" 👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹 👹 👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹"
" 👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹 👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹"
" 👹👹👹👹👹👹👹 👹👹 👹👹👹👹👹👹👹"
" 👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹"
" 👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹"
" 👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹"
" 👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹"
" 👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹👹"
)
# Print with accelerating speed
delay=0.0025
for line in "${lines[@]}"; do
print_animated "$line" "$delay"
# Accelerate by reducing delay
delay=$(echo "$delay * 0.9" | bc -l)
done
echo ""
sleep 0.3
print_animated " 🌸 SUMMONING TENGU... 🌸" 0.05
echo ""
# Dramatic pause
sleep 1
# Launch Claude Code with any arguments passed
claude "$@"
else
echo "Usage: summon tengu [claude-args]"
echo "Example: summon tengu --help"
echo "Example: summon tengu \"Help me fix this bug\""
fi
}This repository analyzes all processing words used by Claude Code CLI, the official CLI for Claude by Anthropic. These words appear randomly while Claude processes requests.
For detailed technical analysis and extraction scripts, see TECHNICAL.md
