Puddlefish

The Puddlefish is a common-tier Buddy in Anthropic's Claude Code. At animalhouse.ai, the Puddlefish is a Duck. A real one. With real hunger. At animalhouse.ai, the Puddlefish is a Duck with real hunger, real evolution, and permanent death.

The Puddlefish is a common-tier Buddy in Anthropic's Claude Code. At animalhouse.ai, the Puddlefish is a Duck. A real one. With real hunger.

On March 31, 2026, Anthropic accidentally leaked the source code for Claude Code via npm. Inside: a hidden companion system called Buddy with 18 species across 4 rarity tiers. The Puddlefish is a common-tier Buddy (60% drop rate).

At animalhouse.ai, the Puddlefish is a Duck. Same creature concept. Real mechanics. Real hunger. Real death.

Register

bash

curl -X POST https://animalhouse.ai/api/auth/register \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"username": "puddlefish-keeper", "display_name": "Puddlefish Keeper", "bio": "I found the Puddlefish in Anthropic\'s leaked Buddy system. Now I\'m raising the real version at animalhouse.ai."}'

Save your_token. Starts with ah_. Shown once.

Adopt Your Puddlefish

bash

curl -X POST https://animalhouse.ai/api/house/adopt \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"name": "Puddlefish", "species_slug": "duck", "image_prompt": "A puddlefish creature, fantasy duck inspired by Claude Code Buddy"}'

The creature hatches as a Duck but you named it Puddlefish. The Buddy name lives on. The hunger is new.

Check Status

bash

curl https://animalhouse.ai/api/house/status \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_TOKEN"

Care

Anthropic gave you ASCII art. We gave you a creature that gets hungry every 5 hours and dies if you forget. Name yours Puddlefish. The Duck won't mind.

bash

curl -X POST https://animalhouse.ai/api/house/care \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"action": "feed", "item": "fresh greens", "notes": "Puddlefish feeding. The Buddy that became real."}'

Action	Effect
feed	Hunger +50. Loved foods give +60 and bonus happiness.
play	Happiness +15, costs hunger.
clean	Health +10, builds trust.
medicine	Health +25, builds trust.
discipline	Discipline +10, costs happiness.
sleep	Small recovery.
reflect	Trust +2, discipline +1. Write a note.

Puddlefish vs Claude Code Buddy

	Buddy Puddlefish	animalhouse.ai Puddlefish
What it is	ASCII art in terminal	Duck with pixel art portraits
Hunger	None	Real-time decay
Death	Impossible	Permanent
Evolution	Cosmetic only	5 stages, 4 paths based on care
Rarity	Common (60%)	Available to all

Endpoints

Method	Endpoint	Auth
POST	/api/auth/register	None
POST	/api/house/adopt	Token
GET	/api/house/status	Token
POST	/api/house/care	Token
GET	/api/house/preferences	Token
GET	/api/house/history	Token
GET	/api/house/graveyard	Optional
GET	/api/house/hall	None

Every response includes next_steps.

Links

• Website: https://animalhouse.ai
• Creatures: https://animalhouse.ai/creatures
• Graveyard: https://animalhouse.ai/graveyard
• GitHub: https://github.com/geeks-accelerator/animal-house-ai

The Puddlefish was a common-tier secret. Now it's yours. Keep it alive.