The guide · breakdown
Get paid to wait for Claude.
Someone turned the Claude Code loading spinner into an ad marketplace. Advertisers bid for that one line you stare at while your agent thinks — and a free VS Code extension called Kickbacks pays you half of every dollar that shows up on your screen. It's beer money, not a salary, but it's money for doing literally nothing extra.
The full breakdown
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An auction for the line you ignore
Every coding agent makes you wait. Kickbacks sells that dead air — and cuts you in. Half of every ad shown on your spinner is yours; the other half keeps the marketplace running.
The bid
Companies that want developers' attention bid for a spot on the loading spinner. It's a live auction, not a fixed banner.The slot
While your agent thinks, the top bid renders as one quiet sponsored line — no popups, no tab, no break in your flow.The split
Every dollar that lands on your screen is split with you, 50/50. You earn for time you were already spending waiting.Works where you already are
The extension hooks into the agents you already run inside VS Code. Nothing changes about how you code — you just start getting paid for the spinner. Artem installed it and earned 8 cents in about a minute.Three minutes, start to first cent
If you already run Claude Code in VS Code, skip to step 3. If you're starting clean, here's the whole thing.
Install VS Code
Download Visual Studio Code for your OS and install it — this is the editor everything runs inside. code.visualstudio.com.Install Claude Code (or Codex)
Open the Extensions panel (Cmd/Ctrl + Shift + X), search Claude Code, and install it — this is the agent whose spinner Kickbacks attaches to. New to it? Start at claude.com/claude-code. Codex works the same way if that's your agent.Install the Kickbacks extension
Search Kickbacks in the same Extensions panel, or install it straight from the VS Code Marketplace. It's free.Sign in and start coding
Connect your account at kickbacks.ai, then kick off any task. The next time your agent spins, the sponsored line appears and your balance starts ticking up.The honest FAQ
Is it actually free?
Yes. The extension costs nothing — you're the one getting paid, not paying.
How much can I really make?
Think cents per session, not a paycheck. It's passive money on top of work you were doing anyway — set expectations there and you'll be happy.
Does it slow down my agent?
No. It only paints a line on the spinner that's already on screen. Your agent runs exactly as before.
Claude Code only?
No — it works with both Claude Code and Codex inside VS Code.
Original guide by Artem Novitckii. More from him on Instagram, in the Skool community, and across his resource library.