Most focus timers live in a separate app. You pick a task in one place, start a timer in another, and at the end of the day the two have never met. We wanted the timer to sit where the work already is: on the task. So thisflow has a focus timer built in, and it has no page of its own. It lives in the task panel, a small pill in the top bar, the command palette and Settings → Focus.

Why focus belongs on the task

A timer without a task answers "how long did I sit here". A timer on a task answers "where did my time go". When you focus on a task in thisflow, the time is recorded on that task, and you can see it in the task panel and in the evening wrap-up. It also follows one of our principles: no feature without a home. Focus fits the panel and the palette, so it did not need a new place in the app.

You can still start a focus session without a task, from the palette, when the work does not have one yet.

Four rhythms

There are four rhythms to choose from. The numbers below are the ones in the code.

  • Pomodoro: 25 minutes of focus, then a 5-minute break. After every 4 completed focus sessions you get a 15-minute long break. You can change how many sessions come before the long break in Settings: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 or 8.
  • Deep work: 50 minutes of focus, 10 minutes of break.
  • Ultradian: 90 minutes of focus, 20 minutes of break.
  • Flowtime: no fixed length. The timer counts up until you stop, and the break that follows is a fifth of the time you worked, at least 5 and at most 30 minutes. Work for an hour and the suggested break is 12 minutes.

One rhythm is your default, set in Settings → Focus. Every plain Start uses it; the task's ⋯ menu and ⌘K offer the others.

A Pomodoro set also starts over if you step away: when more than an hour passes between sessions, the count towards the long break begins again.

Starting a session

There are a few ways in, all of them close to the task:

  • In the task panel, press the timer button. It starts your default rhythm on that task.
  • With a task selected or open, press F. That also starts your default rhythm.
  • From the task's ⋯ menu or the command palette (⌘K), choose Focus on this task, then a rhythm. Without a task, Start focus in the palette does the same.

While a session runs, Shift+F pauses or resumes it from anywhere in the app. Only one session runs at a time: starting a new one ends the previous one first.

While you focus

The pill shows the time left, or the time worked for Flowtime. Open it for the controls: Pause, +5 min to extend a timed phase, Stop, and Mark task done, which completes the task and ends the session. The browser tab title counts down too, so you can see the time from another tab.

The timer is calculated from timestamps, not from a clock ticking in the browser. That has two practical effects. Every device you are signed in on shows the same timer, because the running session is synced like your tasks. And if the app was closed when a phase ran out, it ends at its planned time when you come back, not later.

Breaks and recovery

When a focus phase ends you hear a soft chime, see a short message, and get a notification if thisflow is in the background. You decide what comes next: Start break, Keep going, or Not now. If you would rather not decide, turn on Start breaks automatically in Settings and the break begins by itself.

During a break the timer shows one suggestion for recovery: stand up and stretch, rest your eyes with the 20-20-20 rule, drink some water, a round of box breathing, or step outside for a moment. When the break is over, Start next focus picks up the same task and rhythm. You can also skip a break.

Sound and notifications are settings per device. One limit worth knowing: phones that suspend the page get the chime when you come back to the app, not at the exact moment the phase ends.

What is recorded

Each phase is saved as a focus session: whether it was focus or a break, the rhythm, the planned length (none for Flowtime), when it started, how long it was paused, when it ended, and whether it was completed, stopped or skipped. If it was on a task, it is linked to that task.

From that, thisflow shows two things:

  • On the task: a Focused row in the task panel, for example "1 h 15 min · 3 sessions".
  • At the end of the day: Wrap up shows how long you focused today, counted in your own time zone, and the tasks the time went to.

Focus sessions are private to you. They sync between your own devices, and they are not written to the project's activity log, so teammates do not see your timer.

Try it

Open any task and press F, or pick another rhythm from its ⋯ menu. The guide Plan your day and focus shows how the timer fits together with planning your day in the morning and wrapping it up in the evening.