Focus Timer guide

Focus Timer is a personal timer for one focused block and one clear outcome. You do not need an account. The timer app requires JavaScript; this guide does not. Keep the timer open and visible while you work: it is not a dependable background alarm.

Quick start

1. Open Focus Timer.
2. Enter a Desired outcome: a result you can recognize when the block ends. For example, “Open a PR with the login validation.” Expand What makes a good outcome? for guidance.
3. Optionally add a First action, such as “Open the failing test.” Its field appears shortly after you enter an outcome; pressing Enter in the outcome field reveals and focuses it immediately.
4. Keep the default 25 min, or use the duration button beside Start focus to choose another length. Check Sound on completion if you want a completion cue.
5. Select Start focus. The countdown begins, with your outcome and first action in view. Use Pause and Resume whenever needed.
6. When the block ends, choose Start short break or Prepare next block. After the fourth completed focus block, the suggested action is Start long break.

You must enter a nonempty desired outcome to start a focus block. A first action is optional; you can start directly with Start focus without filling it in.

During a focus block

Countdown and expected finish

The countdown shows minutes and seconds remaining. The wave shows progress through the current interval.

Before starting, ends at previews when the selected focus duration would finish if you started now. During a running focus block or break, it shows that interval’s expected finish. Times follow your browser’s locale and local time zone; a finish on another calendar day also includes a date.

Pause freezes the remaining time and replaces the finish label with Paused. Resume continues from the remaining time and updates the expected finish. Pausing does not count as completing a block.

The browser tab title stays Focus Timer • PlanTheFlow. It does not show a live countdown or completion status.

Edit your outcome and check the first action

Select your desired outcome to edit it while a focus block is running or paused. Enter or Escape finishes editing without starting or pausing the timer. The outcome becomes read-only after focus completion and during breaks.

If you added a first action, use its checkbox to mark it done. You can uncheck it, including during a break. A new focus block starts with an unchecked first action.

The checkbox records only your first step. Neither checking it nor reaching zero means you achieved the desired outcome; assess that yourself when the block ends.

Reset or change mode

Reset timer returns a focus interval to preparation with its outcome and first action filled in. You can revise them before starting again. Resetting a break instead leaves that break stopped at its configured duration. Reset does not clear the completed-block count.

The Focus, Short break, and Long break mode buttons let you choose another mode. Choosing a different mode ends the current interval and leaves the selected mode ready to start; choosing Focus opens preparation. Selecting the already selected mode does not restart it.

Resetting or changing mode during a running or paused interval asks for confirmation. Cancel or Escape keeps the interval unchanged. A running countdown continues while the confirmation is open. If the interval ends before you confirm, the old confirmation closes rather than acting on the next interval.

There is no session history or undo for an abandoned interval. An interrupted focus block does not earn a completed block.

Breaks and the next block

The defaults are 25 minutes of focus, 5 minutes for a short break, and 15 minutes for a long break. A focus block counts when its countdown finishes, not when you check the first action.

After a focus block, your plan remains visible. Start the suggested break or select Prepare next block to return to preparation without taking it. After four completed focus blocks, the timer suggests a long break. The four-block cycle resets when you start the next focus block, not when you open preparation or finish a break.

You can also select a break mode yourself and use Start break. Breaks support Pause, Resume, and Reset timer, but do not add completed focus blocks.

When a break ends, preparation opens with an empty draft and the previous outcome available. Continue this outcome copies only that outcome into preparation: it does not copy the first action or start the timer. Add a new first action if useful, then select Start focus. You can also write a different outcome.

Automatic breaks

In Timer settings, enable Start breaks automatically and select Save settings to start the appropriate short or long break when focus time runs out. This is off by default. Focus blocks always start manually.

An automatic break is timed from the end of the focus interval, not from when you return to the page. If you return after both focus and break time have elapsed, the timer returns to preparation. It does not start more focus blocks or replay a series of missed alarms.

Durations and settings

Choose a focus duration

During preparation, select the duration button beside Start focus. Choose 25 min, 45 min, 60 min, or Custom. Presets apply immediately. For Custom, enter a whole number from 1 to 180 and use Save duration or Enter. Cancel or Escape discards an unsaved custom value.

Choosing a duration changes future focus blocks and the preparation finish preview. It does not start the timer or change your outcome or first action.

Timer settings

Open Timer settings using the settings icon. Set focus, short-break, and long-break durations independently, using whole minutes from 1 to 180. Invalid values must be corrected before saving.

The other settings are:

• Enable ambient motion: animate the decorative background. Turning it off freezes ambient decoration, not countdown progress. Your system’s reduced-motion preference is also respected.
• Sound on completion: play a cue when an interval finishes. Sound is on by default. Preview sound lets you try it, even when completion sound is off; it does not start an interval.
• Start breaks automatically: begin a break when a focus block ends. New focus blocks still require preparation and a manual start.
• Reduce visual effects: stop ambient motion and remove background blur while keeping timer progress smooth.
• Keyboard shortcuts: enable or disable the character shortcuts listed below. They are on by default; standard keyboard controls remain available when they are off.

Select Save settings to apply your changes. Cancel or Escape discards unsaved changes. Closing the dialog returns focus to the settings control.

Duration changes do not resize a running or paused interval. Its remaining time and progress keep the duration captured when it started; new durations apply to future intervals and stopped, ready-to-start intervals.

Reset preferences immediately restores default settings and closes the dialog. It does not reset an active countdown, its captured duration, your plan or draft, or the completed-block count. It is separate from Reset timer.

Keyboard and Help

Open Help using the help icon for an in-app reference showing shortcuts and their current availability. Opening Help does not pause or reset the timer. It remains available when character shortcuts are disabled.

Key	Action	When available
G	Focus the desired outcome	Preparation or an editable focus session
P	Pause or resume	A running or paused focus block or break
?	Open Help	On the timer page, outside text fields and dialogs

Character shortcuts work only when the timer page is visible and focused, outside text fields and dialogs. They ignore held keys, text composition, and Ctrl, Alt, or Meta combinations; Shift is used only to produce ?. Turn them off with Timer settings → Keyboard shortcuts → Save settings.

Standard keyboard controls work independently of that setting:

• Tab / Shift+Tab: move between controls. Working controls come first, then modes, then navigation and Help. Within a dialog, Tab stays in the dialog.
• Enter in Desired outcome during preparation: validate the outcome, then move to First action. Enter in First action starts the focus block, even if the optional field is blank. You can always activate Start focus directly instead.
• Enter or Space on a button: activate it. Space on a checkbox: toggle it.
• Enter or Escape while editing a session outcome: finish editing, without activating the timer’s primary action.
• Escape in a dialog: close it without applying unsaved edits; in a reset or mode-change confirmation, cancel the action.

Fullscreen and visual comfort

Use Enter fullscreen beside settings to expand the timer, and Exit fullscreen or your browser’s Escape behavior to leave it. Entering or leaving fullscreen does not change your interval, plan, or progress. Settings remain available.

For a second monitor, move the browser window there before entering fullscreen. The timer does not select a monitor for you. The fullscreen control is hidden if unsupported; a rejected fullscreen request leaves the timer intact. Fullscreen is not remembered and does not prevent device sleep.

On a small or short screen, scroll to reach the controls. Use ambient-motion and reduced-effects settings for visual comfort. Ambient decoration can keep moving while the countdown is paused; that does not mean time is still counting down.

What the timer remembers

Your working session and your reusable preferences are stored separately in your browser. There is no account, server-side session backup, shareable session link, or synchronization between open tabs or devices.

This tab’s session

The browser keeps your current interval, plan, preparation draft, completed-block count, and session settings for this tab. Refreshing, or visiting another PlanTheFlow page and returning in the same tab, restores the session when browser storage is available. A paused interval stays paused; a running interval catches up with elapsed time.

Keep the tab open to retain your working session. Do not rely on closing and reopening a tab or restarting the browser to preserve it; browser recovery behavior varies. Starting a fresh session does not restore the previous outcome, first action, or block count from remembered preferences.

Preferences for future visits

Explicit changes to durations, sound, motion, visual effects, automatic breaks, and keyboard shortcuts are remembered for future visits in the same browser when storage is available. This includes the preparation duration picker and sound toggle. A valid session already in this tab takes priority over those saved preferences.

Only preferences are kept between fresh sessions this way: not your outcome, first action, draft, countdown, or completed-block count. Changes in another tab do not update an already open session.

Use Reset preferences to restore the defaults. This does not delete your active work or unrelated browser data. Clearing site data can remove both the saved preferences and working session.

If storage is blocked, unavailable, or contains unusable data, you can still use the timer. It falls back to usable defaults where needed and can continue in memory, but saving and restoration are not guaranteed. Avoid treating it as the only copy of important work notes.

Sound and background limitations

Keep the timer open and visible. A hidden or minimized tab, browser suspension, or device sleep can delay execution and prevent a timely completion sound. Returning to the page reconciles elapsed time; it cannot deliver an on-time alarm retroactively, and missed completion sounds are not replayed.

Browsers may require an interaction before allowing audio. Start the timer or try Preview sound, check your device volume and tab mute state, and keep the page visible. A sound failure does not stop the timer. Background sound is not guaranteed, even if a preview worked.

There are no desktop notifications, live countdown in the tab title, or controls to keep the device awake. Fullscreen does not remove these limitations.

Ready to begin? Open Focus Timer and prepare your next block.