Pomodoro timer
Focus in sprints, with short breaks.
How to use the Pomodoro timer
- Keep the classic defaults — 25 minutes of focus, 5 minutes of break — or set your own: focus accepts 1–180 minutes, break 1–60.
- Press Start. The big clock counts down and the label shows which phase you're in; the same button pauses and resumes.
- When the countdown hits zero you'll hear a short beep and the timer switches phase by itself — focus flows into break and back again, no clicking needed.
- Watch the time from anywhere: the page title shows the countdown and phase (e.g. 17:42 · Focus — Pomodoro), visible right on the browser tab.
- Reset stops the clock and returns to the start of a fresh focus session.
Common uses
- Study sessions and exam prep — the traditional 25/5 rhythm the technique was designed around.
- Deep-work blocks for writing or coding: many people run 50/10, which halves the interruptions while keeping regular breaks.
- Beat procrastination on chores and admin with a 15-minute sprint — committing to one short pomodoro is far easier than committing to “do the taxes.”
- Estimate work the way the technique intends: break a project into tasks of one to three pomodoros each, then count completed sprints to see where the time really goes.
- Time-box meetings or code reviews so they end when the beep sounds instead of expanding to fill the hour.
Tips & limitations
- The technique comes from Francesco Cirillo in the late 1980s, who timed university study with a tomato-shaped kitchen timer — pomodoro is Italian for tomato. The core rule: one task, full attention, until the bell.
- The full method adds a longer 15–30 minute break after every fourth pomodoro. This timer simply alternates focus and break, so take that long break yourself — or raise the break length every fourth round.
- Browsers throttle timers in hidden tabs, so the countdown can fall behind if the page sits in the background for a long stretch. Keeping the tab visible (or in its own small window) is the most reliable setup.
- The alert is a single short beep generated in the browser — there are no system notifications, so unmute the tab and keep the volume on if you depend on the audio cue.
- Nothing is saved between visits: reloading the page stops the timer and restores the 25/5 defaults, so set custom lengths again each session.
How it's built & why it's safe
A deliberately small timer: a one-second JavaScript interval drives the countdown, the phase flips automatically at zero, and the beep is synthesized on the spot with the Web Audio API — a 0.6-second tone, no audio file to download. The tab title is refreshed on every tick so the countdown stays visible from other tabs. There's no account, no tracking of your sessions and no storage at all: nothing you do here is recorded anywhere.
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Frequently asked questions
What is the Pomodoro Technique?
A time-management method created by Francesco Cirillo in the late 1980s and named after his tomato-shaped kitchen timer. You work in fully focused sprints — classically 25 minutes — separated by 5-minute breaks, with a longer break after every fourth sprint.
Why 25 minutes?
It's long enough to make real progress but short enough that starting doesn't feel daunting, which is most of the battle. It's a convention rather than a law — this timer accepts anything from 1 to 180 minutes of focus, so adjust to your own attention span.
Does the timer keep running if I switch tabs?
Yes, though browsers slow background-tab timers to save power, so the countdown can lag real time if the tab stays hidden a long while. The tab title shows the remaining time, and keeping the tab visible keeps it accurate.
Where's the long break after four pomodoros?
This timer doesn't count cycles — it alternates focus and break at your two chosen lengths. When you finish a fourth focus block, take a 15–30 minute break yourself before starting the next round.
Will I get a notification when time is up?
You'll hear a short beep at every phase change, generated by the browser itself. There are no system pop-ups, so the sound and the tab-title countdown are your cues — keep the tab unmuted.
Is my activity tracked or saved?
No. There's no account, no history and no storage — the timer state lives only in the open tab, and reloading the page resets everything to the defaults.