Show HN: Agent Buddies – Swappable animated characters for AI agents

A developer released Agent Buddies, an open-source library of 10 original animated characters that display eight shared agent states, driven by a deterministic event stream with no API calls or animation framework. The tool ships a picker with searchable catalog, live previews, remembered favorites and optional developer allowlists, plus local caching, an offline Koko fallback, reduced-motion support and hidden-page pausing; a CLI command, `npx agent-buddies new "a sleepy white cat"`, is in preview with the npm release pending owner review. The project matters to developers building AI agents who want a swappable, user-chosen visual layer without adding network dependencies.

Your agent has a job. Let your users pick its buddy. A growing cast of tiny companions that think, work, talk, and wait alongside your AI. One state set. Any buddy. Your users choose. Putting the pieces together… Character expressions you can understand at a glance. No API calls. A deterministic event stream drives every buddy. Different faces. The same little language. Ten original buddies to start. Every one speaks the same eight agent states. More characters, more ways to feel at home. The choice belongs to your users. Drop this picker into your app. Browse, preview, choose. We’ll remember the favorite on this device. Make your own buddy ↗ https://github.com/izr8809/agent-buddies/blob/main/docs/STYLE.md Thinking Putting the pieces together… State in. Character out. No animation framework. No API calls. Bring your agent; we’ll bring the buddy. 01 / End-user choice Searchable catalog, live previews, remembered favorites, and optional developer allowlists. 02 / A single, steady face One image per frame. Region edits preserve the character. Gentle motion, never overlapping eyes. 03 / Ready to make it yours Verified packs, local caching, offline Koko fallback. Reduced motion and hidden-page pausing built in. A sleepy cat? A very focused potato? Original characters welcome. Make a master, define a few regions, validate, and submit. Artists can start with an issue — no coding required. Make your own buddy ↗ https://github.com/izr8809/agent-buddies/blob/main/CONTRIBUTING.md npx agent-buddies new "a sleepy white cat" CLI preview · npm release pending owner review