Pomodoro Timer

Pomodoro Timer runs the focus-and-break cycle the technique is built on: a block of focused work, a short break, and a longer break after a set number of rounds. The defaults are the standard twenty-five, five and fifteen minutes over four rounds, and every one of those is editable because the standard numbers suit some work and not others.

The countdown is driven by the clock rather than by counting ticks. That sounds like an implementation detail and it is the difference between a timer that works and one that does not: browsers throttle background tabs heavily, so a timer that subtracts a second on each tick runs slow exactly when you have switched away to do the work. This one stores the time the block ends and compares against it, so the display is correct whenever you look at it, however long the tab has been in the background.

The tone at the end of each block is generated in the browser rather than loaded as a file. Nothing has to download, so nothing can fail to arrive, and because it is built on the click that started the timer, browser autoplay rules never silence it. The counters underneath track how many focus blocks you have finished and how long you have actually spent focused, which is the figure worth knowing at the end of a day.

• Focus, short break and long break, all adjustable
• Accurate in a background tab, where tick-counting timers drift
• A generated tone at each change, with nothing to download
• Remaining time shown in the page title
• Counts the focus blocks finished and the minutes focused
• Skip to the next phase without resetting the cycle
• Works with the sound off if you would rather watch the clock
• Nothing is stored or sent anywhere

The pomodoro timer is used by writers, developers, students, marketers and anyone else who needs the job done once without installing software. Common cases include:

• Working in focused blocks through a long task
• Studying with scheduled breaks
• Timeboxing something you have been avoiding
• Running a writing session with regular pauses
• Keeping a team on the same focus and break rhythm