feat(cli): custom witty message

[JayadityaGit]

TLDR

This PR adds support for Custom Witty Loading Phrases (#7639).

Users can now define their own array of witty loading messages in the settings configuration. During CLI processing, the system will cycle through these user-defined phrases instead of only using the default set. This makes the experience more personal and engaging while maintaining backward compatibility.

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Dive Deeper

User-Facing Feature: Custom Witty Loading Phrases

How to use this feature: 1. Open your settings.json.

2. Add a customWittyPhrases block under ui. For example:

JSON

"ui": {
  "customWittyPhrases": [
    "Getting this Before GTA6",
    "Connecting to AGI"
  ]
}

3. Restart the CLI.

4. Trigger a loading state (e.g., run a prompt). The CLI will now cycle through your custom phrases instead of the defaults.

This allows users to personalize their experience with custom humor, motivational notes, or team-specific messages.

Implementation details:

1. Settings Schema Update – Added customWittyPhrases to settingsSchema.ts.

2. Loading Indicator Hook – Updated useLoadingIndicator.ts to accept and use custom phrases.

3. Phrase Cycler Hook – Enhanced usePhraseCycler.ts with:

   • Custom phrase array support

   • Fallback to defaults when empty

   • Same 15s cycling interval

   • Proper cleanup on switch between custom and default

4. Component Integration – Updated App.tsx to pass custom witty phrases from settings to the loading indicator.

5. Test Coverage – Added tests in usePhraseCycler.test.ts to ensure:

   • Custom phrases are used when provided

   • Defaults are used when custom array is empty

   • Cycling works at the expected interval

   • Cleanup happens correctly

Backward compatibility is preserved with the existing witty phrases, ensuring no breakage for users who don't customize.

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Reviewer Test Plan

• Pull this branch and run the CLI.

• Add custom witty phrases in settings.json (example above).

• Restart the CLI.

• Trigger a loading state (e.g., run a prompt).

• Confirm that the custom phrases appear and cycle every 15s.

• Remove the custom phrases to confirm fallback to defaults works as expected.

• Check console/logs to ensure no interval leaks or errors occur when switching between custom and default phrases.

---

Testing Matrix

## Testing Matrix

	🍏	🪟	🐧
npm run	❓	❓	❓
npx	❓	❓	❓
Docker	❓	❓	❓
Podman	❓	-	-
Seatbelt	❓	-	-

---

Linked issues / bugs

Resolves #7639

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Note for Reviewers

This is a backward-compatible change — existing setups without customWittyPhrases will continue to use the default witty phrases.

Hi team, waiting for a human reviewer to proceed with this 🙂

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[gemini-code-assist]

Summary of Changes

Hello @JayadityaGit, I'm Gemini Code Assist¹! I'm currently reviewing this pull request and will post my feedback shortly. In the meantime, here's a summary to help you and other reviewers quickly get up to speed!

This pull request introduces a new feature that allows users to personalize their command-line interface experience by defining custom witty loading messages. This enhancement provides greater flexibility and user engagement during loading states, ensuring a more tailored and enjoyable interaction with the CLI without impacting existing functionality for users who prefer the default settings.

Highlights

• Custom Witty Loading Phrases: Users can now define their own array of witty loading messages in the settings configuration. During CLI processing, the system will cycle through these user-defined phrases instead of only using the default set, making the experience more personal and engaging.
• Backward Compatibility: The feature is fully backward compatible; existing setups without custom phrases will continue to use the default witty phrases without any breakage.
• Settings Schema Update: A new customWittyPhrases array property has been added to the ui section of the settings schema to allow configuration of custom messages.
• Loading Indicator Logic Enhancement: The useLoadingIndicator and usePhraseCycler hooks have been updated to accept and utilize the custom phrases, with proper fallback to default phrases if the custom array is empty, and ensuring correct cycling and cleanup.
• Comprehensive Test Coverage: New tests have been added and existing ones updated to ensure custom phrases are used correctly, defaults are used when custom phrases are absent or empty, cycling works at the expected interval, and proper cleanup occurs.

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[gemini-code-assist]

Code Review

This pull request introduces a nice personalization feature, allowing users to define their own witty loading phrases. The implementation is well-structured, touching the settings schema, UI components, and the underlying hooks. The changes are accompanied by thorough tests, which is great to see. I've found one potential issue in the usePhraseCycler hook related to state initialization from props, which could lead to a brief UI flicker. My feedback includes a suggested refactoring to address this, making the hook more robust.

[JayadityaGit]

Today, while configuring my email settings in GitHub, I seem to have unintentionally triggered the CLA.

[JayadityaGit]

Thanks for the suggestion, @cornmander! I’ve updated the implementation so that users can now define their custom witty messages by adding an array in settings.json

[cornmander]

Thanks!