Timebox icon

Don't get lost in time.

Focus has a paradox: the attention that makes deep work valuable also makes you blind to the clock.

Timebox is a calm macOS menu-bar timer that holds time for you, so you can stop checking the clock and start finishing what matters.

Download for Mac
Universal (Apple Silicon & Intel) macOS 13+ ~880 KB
24:36

The floating pill — always visible, never modal. Sits in your periphery the entire session.

Why

Deep work has a paradox.

When you're in flow, your perception of time compresses. You reliably underestimate how long you've been working, miss the end of your block, and emerge two hours late wondering where the day went. And every glance at the clock — every task switch, however small — leaves cognitive residue that degrades your performance for minutes afterward.

So you have a choice: keep checking the time and shred your focus, or don't check and lose track of the day.

Timebox removes the choice. The floating pill externalizes time for you. You glance at it; you don't think about it. Your brain stops spending cycles on "what time is it?" and gets those cycles back for the work — the same reason writers use outlines and pilots use checklists.

Time compresses during flowCsíkszentmihályi, 1990
You can't trust your internal clock during deep work — you need an external anchor.
Attention residueLeroy, 2009
Every task switch costs minutes of degraded performance afterward. Single-focus blocks aren't optional.
Average screen focus: 47 secondsGloria Mark, UC Irvine, 2023
It now takes 23+ minutes to recover from an interruption. You can't afford casual context switches.
Parkinson's LawParkinson, 1955
Work expands to fill the time available. A fixed box forces decisions.
Implementation intentionsGollwitzer, 1999
Pre-committing "I will do X for Y minutes" roughly doubles follow-through.
Ultradian rhythm (~90 min)Kleitman; Ericsson
Sustained intense focus has a natural ceiling around 90 min. The presets respect it.

How it works

Type. Return. Get to work.

Press ⌘⌥T from anywhere. Type a duration + task, or / for the command palette. Hit return. The pill appears and stays out of your way.

⌘ /pom
◎ Pomodoro · 25 min work /pomodoro
☕ Pomodoro · 5 min short break /short
🍃 Pomodoro · 15 min long break /long

↑↓ navigate · ⏎ fires · esc closes

Built around proven methods

Pick a school, pick a block.

Every preset is grounded in a real productivity tradition with a real author. The history log records which one you actually followed.

Cirillo

Pomodoro

25-minute focus blocks with structured breaks. The discipline of stopping is as important as the discipline of starting.

25m work · 5m break · 15m long
Newport · Kleitman

Deep Work & Ultradian

60–90 minute distraction-free blocks aligned with the brain's natural rest-activity cycle.

60m deep · 90m ultradian · 20m recovery
DeskTime study

52/17 Rule

Observed cadence of the most productive 10% of knowledge workers — 52 min focus paired with 17 min of active break.

52m sprint · 17m active break
Babauta · Zen Habits

Single-tasking & MIT

Most Important Task first. Single focus, mindful pace, fewer commitments — the morning ritual that protects the day.

60m MIT · 90m morning · 10m mindful

Global hotkeys

From anywhere on your Mac.

Registered system-wide. Timebox doesn't have to be the active app.

History

Proof, at the end of the day.

Every session is logged with planned vs. actual duration. The Today summary tells you, at a glance, what you actually did.

3h 22m
focused today
4
completed
6
total sessions

Stored locally at ~/Library/Application Support/Timebox/history.json. No cloud, no accounts, no tracking.

Install

Three minutes, one menu bar.

  1. Download and unzip.
  2. Drag Timebox.app to /Applications.
  3. First launch only: right-click → Open. macOS warns once because the app isn't notarized. On macOS 15+, you may need System Settings → Privacy & Security → "Open Anyway".
  4. Allow notifications when asked.
  5. Look for the timer glyph in the menu bar. Press ⌘⌥T anywhere to start.