I’d love Pets to communicate more than just work state and shifts - whether a task is working, waiting or finished. They could also give us an intuitive sense of how much is happening, how intensely, or how far along we are.
While designing a custom Pet, I wanted its colour to act as a continuous signal. The attached animation illustrates two approaches:
- Intensity gauge (Global color transition): the whole character gradually changes from cool to warm as the value increases.
- Level gauge (Bottom-to-top gradient fill): warmth rises through the character. You can read both the colour and the position of the transition, much like a thermometer or level indicator.
The animation shows token consumption per second, from 0 to 20,000 tokens/s. As the rate rises, the Pet gets warmer in colour
Current token burn is only one possible application. Users could choose or to display:
- Today’s token consumption compared with a rolling average of previous days.
- The number of agents actively working on a project.
- Progress toward a goal, based on confirmed milestones.
- More creative uses, such as a hydration reminder that gradually changes the Pet’s appearance when it’s time for a drink.
The key request is to let a continuous visual signal persist independently of the Pet’s animation state. The character could blink, wave or rest while its colour continues to represent the selected value.
Smooth transitions and adjustable averaging would keep the display calm. Hovering or tapping could reveal the exact value and what it represents, while the Pet itself provides an immediate impression. Users should be able to choose the signal, scale and colour palette.
This would make Pets a useful, personal way to understand abstract information at a glance - without needing another dashboard or notification.