Each buddy gets procedurally generated:
5 stats: DEBUGGING, PATIENCE, CHAOS, WISDOM, SNARK (0-100 each)
6 possible eye styles and 8 hat options (some gated by rarity)
A “soul” as mentioned, the personality generated by Claude on first hatch, written in character
The sprites are rendered as 5-line-tall, 12-character-wide ASCII art with multiple animation frames. There are idle animations, reaction animations, and they sit next to your input prompt.
what if bonzi buddy evaporated the ocean
The code references April 1-7, 2026 as a teaser window (so probably for easter?), with a full launch gated for May 2026. The companion has a system prompt that tells Claude:
A small {species} named {name} sits beside the user's input box and
occasionally comments in a speech bubble. You're not {name} - it's a
separate watcher.
So it’s not just cosmetic - the buddy has its own personality and can respond when addressed by name. I really do hope they ship it.