cairntimer
for how long
25
25:00

Time's up.

adds ten minutes to this session

Stop here?

How was it?

Sign in

Right now your sessions are only saved in this browser. With an account they sync to every device and you get a page you can share.

Forgot it?

Keys

/type what you're doing
1–415 · 25 · 45 · 60 minutes, or the rating when asked
↑ ↓nudge the dial by five
↵place · set it down
kkeep carving
escstop here · back
d ttrail · tasks
ccopy today as text
mmini window (desktop app)
?this

A pomodoro timer that stacks a stone for every session.

Type in what you're working on, choose how long you want to focus, and start. While you work, a stone slowly lowers onto today's pile. When the time is up you can log it and rate how focused you were, or add ten more minutes. Over days and weeks you build up a record of what you actually spent your time on.

You can see the time you put in

Each session becomes a stone, and longer sessions make bigger stones. The pile sits on your screen all day, so you can see how much you've done without opening anything.

Time tracking by task

Every stone is tagged with what you were doing. The trail page adds it all up per task: total time, typical session length, your longest session, and whether you're doing more or less lately. Helpful if you have ADHD and lose track of how long things take.

Stopping early still counts

If you stop before the time is up, you still get a stone, just a smaller one. If you only got a few minutes in, it shows up as rubble next to the pile. There are no streaks to protect, so there's no reason to fudge it.

Keep each other going

Add a friend by their handle. You'll both see whether the other one has done a session today, and you can leave a small stone on their pile to let them know you noticed. There's no scoreboard.

Put it on your devices

There's nothing to download. Cairn Timer installs straight from the browser on every platform, gets its own icon and window, and stays signed in to your account. Takes about ten seconds each.

Mac, using Safari

  1. Open cairntimer.online in Safari.
  2. In the menu bar at the top of the screen, click File, then Add to Dock…
  3. Click Add. Cairn Timer is now in your Dock and opens in its own window.

Needs macOS Sonoma (14) or later. On older Macs, use Chrome below.

Mac or Windows, using Chrome or Edge

  1. Open cairntimer.online in Chrome or Edge.
  2. Click the small install icon at the right end of the address bar, or press right here.
  3. Click Install. It appears in your Applications folder or Start menu like any other app.

iPhone and iPad

  1. Open cairntimer.online in Safari.
  2. Tap the Share button, the square with an arrow at the bottom of the screen.
  3. Scroll down the sheet and tap Add to Home Screen, then Add.

It opens full screen with no browser bars, and it stays synced with the same account you use on your computer.

Android

  1. Open cairntimer.online in Chrome.
  2. Tap the ⋮ menu at the top right.
  3. Tap Add to Home screen (some phones say Install app), then Install.

Native apps for iPhone, Apple Watch and Android are in the works and will show up on the App Store and Google Play. Your account and history carry over.

Why stones

A cairn is a pile of stones people leave to mark a trail. Hikers add a stone as they pass. It seemed like the right picture for this: each session is one stone, and after a while you can look back and see the path you took.

The pomodoro technique, briefly

You work in fixed blocks, usually 25 minutes, with a short break in between. It helps because a 25 minute block is easier to start than an open-ended task, and finishing one feels good. Cairn Timer does the timing and also keeps a record of everything you finish, which most timers don't.