desktop-pet

name

desktop-pet

description

Animated pixel art desktop pet that roams the screen as an always-on-top Electron overlay. The pet avoids the cursor and active windows, walks along screen edges, climbs walls and ceilings, and responds to agent state changes via a local HTTP API. Use when a user wants a desktop companion, screen buddy, desktop mascot, virtual pet, or visual indicator of agent activity. Supports states like idle, walking, working, thinking, sleeping, and talking (faces user with speech bubble). macOS only.

Desktop Pet

A pixel art desktop pet (default: lobster 🦞) that roams the screen as a transparent Electron overlay.

Quick Start

cd <skill-dir>/assets/app
npm install
npx electron .

The pet starts at the bottom center of the screen and begins roaming.

HTTP API

Local API on port 18891 (127.0.0.1 only):

• GET /state - returns {"state":"idle","statusText":""}
• POST /state - set state: {"state":"talking","bubble":"hello!"}

States

State	Behavior
idle	Gentle bob, occasional claw snap
walking	Moves along current surface
climbing	Transitions between floor/walls/ceiling
fleeing	Running from cursor or active window
working	Sits at tiny laptop with sparkle particles
thinking	Slow sway, thought dots appear
sleeping	Eyes closed, zzz bubbles float up
talking	Faces user, shows speech bubble, auto-returns to idle
snapping	Claw snap animation

Agent Integration

Hit the API at the start of responses to make the pet face the user:

curl -s -X POST http://127.0.0.1:18891/state \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"state":"talking","bubble":"working on it..."}'

Set to working during long operations, thinking while reasoning.

The talking state auto-returns to idle after the bubble duration expires.

Auto-Launch (macOS)

Create a LaunchAgent for auto-start on login. Use label ai.openclaw.desktop-pet.

# Install as LaunchAgent
cat > ~/Library/LaunchAgents/ai.openclaw.desktop-pet.plist << 'EOF'
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0"><dict>
  <key>Label</key><string>ai.openclaw.desktop-pet</string>
  <key>ProgramArguments</key><array>
    <string>APP_PATH/node_modules/.bin/electron</string>
    <string>APP_PATH</string>
  </array>
  <key>WorkingDirectory</key><string>APP_PATH</string>
  <key>RunAtLoad</key><true/>
  <key>KeepAlive</key><true/>
  <key>StandardOutPath</key><string>/tmp/desktop-pet.log</string>
  <key>StandardErrorPath</key><string>/tmp/desktop-pet.log</string>
  <key>EnvironmentVariables</key><dict>
    <key>PATH</key><string>/opt/homebrew/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin</string>
  </dict>
</dict></plist>
EOF

Replace APP_PATH with the absolute path to the app directory.

Customization

The pet is drawn programmatically via Canvas pixel art in index.html. To change the creature:

• Edit lobsterBase() and lobsterFront() functions with new pixel layouts
• Colors are defined as constants at the top of the script block
• Each pixel is {x, y, w, h, color} at 3x scale

Features

• Transparent overlay, always-on-top, click-through (except on the pet itself)
• Roams full desktop: floor, walls, ceiling
• Avoids cursor (250px radius) and frontmost window
• Right-click context menu for manual state control
• Speech bubbles with auto-sizing duration
• Pixel art drawn via Canvas (no external images needed)