Pomodoro Timer

How do you run a complete Pomodoro cycle?

Click Start for 25 minutes of focus, followed by a 5-minute Short Break. Repeat the focus and short-break sequence until the fourth focus phase ends, when a 15-minute Long Break replaces the short break. The defaults enable Auto-start breaks and disable Auto-start focus: the break begins immediately, but the next work session waits for Start.

For a concrete plan, add “Draft report,” set Estimated pomodoros to 4, and click Focus. Starting with a fresh cycle, four completed focus phases contribute 4 × 25 = 100 focus minutes. Three short breaks contribute 3 × 5 = 15 minutes. You reach the long break after 115 minutes of scheduled activity; including that 15-minute break makes 130 minutes. Waiting before Start or pausing adds elapsed time without adding recorded focus minutes.

A fresh default cycle, with no skips or duration changes

Completed focus phase	Cumulative focus time	Next phase
First	25 minutes	5-minute Short Break
Second	50 minutes	5-minute Short Break
Third	75 minutes	5-minute Short Break
Fourth	100 minutes	15-minute Long Break

What is the Pomodoro Technique used for?

The Pomodoro Technique organizes work into bounded focus periods separated by breaks. A pomodoro here means a completed focus phase, rather than a task being finished. A report might take several pomodoros; one short task might finish before its first countdown ends. The timer records completed intervals, so its totals describe scheduled focus time rather than measuring the quality or quantity of your output.

Choose a concrete next action before starting, such as outlining a section or reviewing a function. Keep a note for unrelated thoughts and review it during the break. Use the longer break to step away from the task. These are practical ways to structure a session, not promises of a particular productivity gain. Shorten or extend the focus duration to fit the work instead of treating the default as a requirement.

How does this differ from a single countdown timer?

This tool connects a countdown to a repeating focus-and-break sequence. You do not need to re-enter the next break duration after each session. Its additional controls make the distinction concrete:

Need	This timer's control or output
Choose when work restarts	Separate Auto-start focus and Auto-start breaks
Plan a task's remaining effort	Estimated pomodoros and remaining focus time
Review completed intervals	Daily totals, seven-day chart, and CSV export

Breaks are scheduled rather than enforced: Skip remains available, and you decide when to resume work. The timer does not block websites or monitor which application you use.

Which settings control your work and break rhythm?

Settings contains Focus (min), Short break (min), Long break (min), and Long break every. Focus accepts 1–120 minutes, short breaks 1–30 minutes, and long breaks 1–60 minutes. The long-break interval accepts 1–10. These fields use whole minutes or session counts; they do not offer a seconds-based custom schedule. Set the interval to 1 if every focus phase should lead to a long break.

Changing any duration or the long-break interval stops the current countdown and restores that phase to its full configured length. Pause first if you need to consider a change, but remember that editing the setting still discards partial progress. Auto-start breaks and Auto-start focus are separate controls: enable both for automatic transitions or disable both to start each phase manually. Toggling these preferences does not reset the current duration.

How do task estimates translate into remaining work?

Use Add a task and Add to create up to 20 tasks, with names limited to 80 characters. Click Focus to select a task; the button becomes Focusing and its name appears beneath the timer. Each completed focus phase credits whichever task is active at completion. The timer does not divide a session among tasks if you switch midway.

Estimated pomodoros accepts 1–1,000 and defaults to 1. Remaining time equals max(0, estimate − completed pomodoros) × current focus minutes. For a task estimated at 3 pomodoros with 1 completed and a 40-minute focus setting, the display shows 2 × 40 min ≈ 1:20, breaks excluded. This is a planning estimate, not a finish-time prediction: it does not subtract the partial progress of a running session. Reaching the estimate does not automatically mark the task done.

Mark a task done with its checkbox; Rename and Delete manage individual entries, while Clear completed removes checked tasks. Marking the active task done clears its focus selection. Task counts remain separate from retained history, so clearing history does not reset completed pomodoros on task rows.

What happens when you pause, reset, or skip?

Pause preserves the remaining countdown and Resume continues it. Reset restores the current phase's full duration and leaves it stopped. Neither operation creates a completed-session record. Skip moves to the next phase and also leaves it stopped, even when automatic starts are enabled. Skipping a focus phase adds no task credit or focus minutes, but advances the cycle position toward the next long break.

The dots therefore show cycle position, not proof of completed work; use Your focus history for recorded completions. Keyboard shortcuts are Space for start/pause, S for skip, and R for reset. They are ignored while typing in an input, textarea, select, or editable element. This lets you enter task names without accidentally changing the timer.

Will the countdown survive background tabs and reloads?

The timer calculates remaining seconds from a stored deadline and the current clock. It synchronizes on window focus and visibility changes, and shows MM:SS plus the phase in the tab title while running. Background throttling can delay callbacks and alerts, so keep the page open and test sound before depending on it. A sleeping device or closed tab cannot deliver a reliable live reminder.

With local storage available, reloading before the deadline restores the remaining time. If the deadline has passed, restoration advances one phase and pauses instead of replaying every missed cycle. It does not manufacture a day's focus history while the page is closed. When storage is blocked or full, the timer continues in memory, but changes may not survive another visit.

What do the history, export, and privacy controls include?

Your focus history shows Today, Last 7 days, and Last 365 days. Each completed focus phase records its local calendar date, configured focus minutes, and active task name. Breaks and partial sessions are excluded. The totals are not an all-time archive; records outside the retention window are removed. Task names in existing history are snapshots rather than links that follow later renames.

Export CSV downloads pomodoro-history.csv with date, minutes, and task columns. The file is generated in the browser; no import control restores it into the timer. Clear history asks for Yes, clear or Cancel, and removes the history without deleting tasks or settings. Timer state and task data are kept in browser localStorage rather than uploaded by this tool. Clearing browser site data also removes those saved values, so export any records you want to keep first.