Pomodoro Timer

What is the Pomodoro Technique?

The Pomodoro Technique is a way of working in short, focused bursts. It was developed by Francesco Cirillo in the late 1980s and named after the tomato-shaped kitchen timer he used as a student (pomodoro is Italian for tomato). You pick one task, work on it without interruptions until the timer rings, then take a short break. After a few rounds, you take a longer one.

The fixed end point makes it easier to start, and the regular breaks help you keep going for longer without tiring. Counting the sessions also shows how long tasks really take.

How to use it

1. Optionally, type what you’re working on. It appears in the tab’s title and in the log.
2. Press Start focus and work on that one task until the chime.
3. When the session ends, a chime plays and the timer moves to a break. Press Start break, or tickStart the next session automatically to have breaks and sessions follow on by themselves.
4. After every four focus sessions (you can change this), the break is a long one.

Skip moves straight to the next session. A skipped focus session isn’t counted as done.Reset cycle starts again from the first focus session, keeping your count and log for this visit.

Tips

• If something comes to mind during a session, write it down and come back to it later rather than switching tasks.
• If you’re interrupted, it’s fine to pause, or to skip and start the session again.
• Small tasks can share a session; big ones can take several. Over a few days, the log shows how many sessions different kinds of work need, which makes planning easier.
• Adjust the lengths. The best settings are the ones you’ll actually stick to.

Limitations

• Everything is kept in this tab only. Reloading or closing the page resets the timer, the count and the log.
• Changing the lengths affects the current session only if it hasn’t started yet. Otherwise the new lengths apply from the next one.
• The chime is scheduled when a session starts, so it plays on time in a background tab. Phones may pause pages when the screen locks, in which case it plays when you return. Notifications may arrive up to a minute late in a background tab.