The Pomodoro technique on your computer

How it works

The technique comes from Francesco Cirillo, in the late 1980s: pomodoro means tomato in Italian, the shape of his kitchen timer.

1. Pick one task.
2. Work on it for 25 minutes, and nothing else.
3. Take a 5-minute break.
4. Start again; after four rounds, take a longer break.

Start a Pomodoro in Chrome

1. Add Claryda to Chrome from the Chrome Web Store. No account to create.
2. Click Claryda's icon, then the Focus tab.
3. Start the timer with the ▶ button.

The same timer, full size, is on the Focus page of the dashboard; the space bar starts and pauses it there.

During the phases

• At the end of each phase, a Chrome notification and a sound, which you can turn off in the timer settings.
• During work, sites with a time limit shut until the break; sites blocked all the time stay blocked.
• An ambience (rain, coffee shop, waves, white, pink or brown noise) can start with the timer and go quiet during breaks.
• Each minute of work earns 1 XP in Progression, and 3 Pomodoros in one day earn the Deep focus badge.

To shut YouTube during work and open it on the break, see Block YouTube while you study.

The durations

Claryda offers the original durations and three others, in the timer settings (the popup's gear):

• Classic, 25 min of work, 5 min break, 4 rounds: the original Pomodoro method, for most tasks.
• Deep, 50 min, 10 min, 3 rounds: for work that takes a while to get into: writing, coding, studying.
• Sprint, 15 min, 3 min, 6 rounds: to get started when it's hard, or to get through small tasks.
• Flow, 90 min, 20 min, 2 rounds: for long sessions you don't want to break.

Or your own: up to 3 hours of work, 1 hour of break and 12 rounds. After the last round the session ends: take the long break at your own pace.

Free, and with Pro

• Free, for good: the Pomodoro, its four settings, your own durations and six ambiences.
• With Pro: strict mode (during work, nothing unblocks and the timer doesn't stop), seven more ambiences and a mixer of up to four sounds, and more colours and styles for the timer. See pricing

Questions

Does the timer keep going if I close the popup?

Yes: it runs in the background, and a notification tells you when each phase ends.

What if I pause the timer?

The phase stops where it is; sites with a time limit open again until you resume. With strict mode (Pro), you can only pause when the work phase ends.

Can I use it without blocking anything?

Yes. The timer works on its own; nothing is blocked while your list is empty.