Pomodoro Timer

How to use the Pomodoro timer

1. Check the durations under Settings: by default, Focus (minutes) is 25, Short break (minutes) is 5, Long break (minutes) is 15, with 4 Focus sessions before a long break. The line below the fields shows how long one full cycle takes.
2. Click Start. The current phase (Focus, Short break or Long break), the session number and the remaining time are shown in large digits and in the tab title.
3. At the end of each phase a sound plays. With Start the next phase automatically ticked, the break (or the next focus session) starts on its own; otherwise, press Start when you are ready.
4. Pause and Resume stop and continue the clock. Skip jumps to the next phase, and Reset goes back to the first focus session and clears the counters.

Choose a Sound (Bell, Beeps or Digital) and a Volume, and click Test sound to hear it. The Focus sessions completed and Focus time counters help you see how much deep work you did. Your settings are remembered in this browser.

Desktop notifications, only if you want them

Click Enable notifications to receive a system notification at the end of each phase, which is handy when the tab is hidden behind other windows. Your browser asks for permission only after this click. If you refuse, or if notifications are blocked for the site, the tool tells you and keeps working with the sound and the tab title. Click Turn off notifications to stop them without changing the browser permission. Some mobile browsers can’t show notifications from a web page at all; the tool detects this too.

What is the Pomodoro Technique?

The Pomodoro Technique is a time management method created by Francesco Cirillo in the late 1980s and named after his tomato-shaped kitchen timer (“pomodoro” is Italian for tomato). The classic rules are simple:

• choose one task and work on it for 25 minutes without interruptions: one “pomodoro”;
• take a 5-minute break;
• after four pomodoros, take a longer break of 15 to 30 minutes.

The short, fixed sessions make it easier to start, reduce the temptation to check messages, and the frequent breaks limit mental fatigue. Many people adapt the lengths: 50/10 for deep work, 15/3 for difficult or boring tasks. With the default settings, one full cycle lasts 4 × 25 + 3 × 5 + 15 = 130 minutes, including 100 minutes of focus.

Accurate timing in a background tab

The countdown is computed from the time at which the phase started, not from timer ticks, so it stays exact when your browser slows down background tabs. The end sound is scheduled on the browser’s audio clock as soon as the phase starts, so it plays on time too. When auto-start is on, the next phase begins exactly when the previous one ended. Keep the tab open and your computer awake: closing the tab or putting the device to sleep stops the timer.