A minimal macOS menu bar app for deep work sessions — built with Swift 6, SwiftUI, and Apple Notes integration.
FocusTimer lives in your menu bar. You pick a task from Apple Notes, start the timer, and when the session ends — the log is written directly back into the note, prepended to the exact bullet line you were working on.
No Electron. No cloud. No subscriptions. Just a native .app you build yourself in 10 seconds.
- Menu bar timer — always visible, never in the way
- Apple Notes integration — read tasks from any note, write session logs back inline
- Focus Mode — auto-enables macOS Do Not Disturb when the timer starts
- Custom duration — type any
MM:SSvalue, not just preset intervals - Session history — last 8 sessions with task name, note, and duration
- Export — dump all sessions to JSON or CSV
- Grain UI — dark monochrome interface with mesh orange accent
Requires Xcode Command Line Tools.
git clone https://github.com/larsen66/FocusTimer
cd FocusTimer
./build.sh
open dist/FocusTimer.appOn first launch macOS will ask for:
- Notifications permission — for session completion alerts
- Notes access — for reading and writing tasks (via AppleScript)
When you enable the Focus Mode checkbox for the first time, the app auto-generates two Shortcuts (Focus On / Focus Off) and opens them in the Shortcuts app. Click Add on each — that's the only setup required.
Each completed session prepends a compact entry to the selected bullet line:
[22.03, 14:30][25 min] Record demo video
| Layer | Tech |
|---|---|
| Language | Swift 6.2, strict concurrency |
| UI | SwiftUI + AppKit (NSStatusItem, NSPopover) |
| Timer | DispatchSourceTimer on main queue |
| Notes | NSAppleScript bridge |
| Focus | Shortcuts CLI (auto-generated) |
| Persistence | JSON in ~/Library/Application Support |
| Build | SPM + custom build.sh, no Xcode project |
Sources/FocusTimer/
├── main.swift — entry point
├── AppDelegate.swift — status bar, popover, wiring
├── TimerEngine.swift — @Observable timer state machine
├── Session.swift — Codable session model
├── SessionStore.swift — JSON persistence
├── NotesIntegration.swift — AppleScript ↔ Notes bridge
├── FocusMode.swift — Do Not Disturb via Shortcuts
├── NotificationManager.swift — UNUserNotificationCenter
├── PopoverView.swift — design tokens, grain overlay, tab bar
├── TimerDisplayView.swift — main timer UI + note/task picker
└── SettingsView.swift — duration input, history, export
MIT License