Configuration & presets

Settings live in config.json in the plugin's config directory. herdr plugin list shows the directory. Normally the file is ~/.config/herdr/plugins/config/dvoraj75.cowbell/config.json. A missing file means defaults.

Presets

Preset	working	blocked	done	Notes
ask (default)	◐	?	✓
symbols	◐	×	✓	Like herdr's status_indicators = "symbols".
emoji	⏳	❓	✅	Two cells wide. The only preset with colour.
nerd	U+F110	U+F059	U+F00C	Needs a Nerd Font. The glyphs vanish in many fonts.
custom	from config.json			No icons of its own.

Cowbell: next icon preset cycles ask → symbols → emoji → nerd → custom → ask and writes preset into config.json. custom is skipped unless icons sets at least one non-empty icon.

Preset gallery

The captures come from a sandbox herdr 0.9.3 server on 2026-10-30. api is working, review is blocked, tests is done and not seen yet, notes is idle, and shell has no agent.

ask

Text capture: captures/ask.txt

symbols

Text capture: captures/symbols.txt

emoji

Text capture: captures/emoji.txt

nerd

Text capture: captures/nerd.txt

custom

{"preset": "custom", "icons": {"working": "»", "blocked": "!", "done": "*"}}

Text capture: captures/custom.txt

All keys

Key	Type	Default	Meaning
preset	string	"ask"	One of ask, symbols, emoji, nerd, custom.
icons	object	{}	Overrides single states of the preset.
icons.working	string	preset value	Icon for working tabs.
icons.blocked	string	preset value	Icon for tabs waiting for you.
icons.done	string	preset value	Icon for finished tabs not seen yet.
icons.idle	string	preset value (none)	Icon for idle tabs.
icons.unknown	string	preset value (none)	Icon for tabs with an unknown state.
separator	string	" "	Placed between icon and name.
include_auto_named	boolean	false	Also put icons on auto-named tabs. See below.
spinner.enabled	boolean	false	Animate the icon of working tabs. See Spinner.
spinner.frames	array of strings	["◐","◓","◑","◒"]	Frames shown in turn. Must be a non-empty array of non-empty strings. Duplicates are dropped.
spinner.interval_ms	number	1000	Time between frames in milliseconds. Values below 1000 are raised to 1000.

In icons, an empty string "" removes the icon for that state. Keys other than the five states are rejected.

A full file with every key at its default:

{
  "preset": "ask",
  "icons": {},
  "separator": " ",
  "include_auto_named": false,
  "spinner": {
    "enabled": false,
    "frames": ["◐", "◓", "◑", "◒"],
    "interval_ms": 1000
  }
}

Invalid files

An invalid file (bad JSON, unknown preset or state, wrong type) logs one line. Cowbell keeps the last good config, or the defaults if there is none. A typo cannot stop the daemon.

When changes apply

• Cowbell: next icon preset signals the daemon to reload config.json (SIGUSR2). It applies immediately.
• Cowbell: refresh now does not reload the file.
• A hand edit applies on the next daemon start. While the daemon runs, run Cowbell: on/off twice: the first turns cowbell off, the second starts a fresh daemon that reads the file. When no daemon runs, once is enough. Or restart the herdr server.

Spinner

With spinner.enabled set to true, working tabs show animated frames.

• Only working tabs are animated.
• One timer drives all of them, so every tab shows the same frame.
• The timer runs only while at least one tab is working.
• The frames replace the working icon of any preset and any icons.working override.
• Frames are always stripped from labels, so changing them or turning the spinner off leaves no stale frame.
• Each frame is a tab rename. It wakes every plugin that listens to tab.renamed.

Keep it off unless you want it.

include_auto_named

An auto-named tab still has herdr's automatic name, its position in the workspace. By default cowbell leaves such tabs alone.

herdr cannot turn a renamed tab back into an auto-named one. Once cowbell adds an icon, the tab keeps a fixed name, even after cowbell is off or removed. With the option on, cowbell keeps the number in sync with the tab's position while it runs. After off the tab keeps its last number. That is why the option is opt-in.