Pomodoro Timer
Free online Pomodoro timer. Set work and break intervals, get desktop notifications and sound alerts when each session ends. Track your daily focus sessions. No signup required.
How to Use the Pomodoro Timer
Click Start to begin a 25-minute focus session. When the timer ends, a sound plays and a desktop notification appears — take a 5-minute break. After four work sessions, take a longer 15-minute break. Use the task label field to record what you are working on — it will appear in your session log. Adjust durations, sounds, and notifications in Settings. Press Space to start or pause, and the right arrow to skip the current interval.
About This Tool
The Pomodoro Technique was developed by Francesco Cirillo in the late 1980s as a university student who struggled with distractions and procrastination. He used a tomato-shaped kitchen timer to break his study sessions into 25-minute intervals of focused work separated by short breaks. The method works by making large tasks approachable through time-boxing, reducing the cognitive load of deciding how long to work, and creating natural stopping points that prevent mental fatigue. Research on focused attention suggests that the human brain can sustain high-quality concentration for 20–40 minutes before requiring a rest, which aligns closely with the 25-minute Pomodoro interval. This tool implements the full Pomodoro cycle with configurable durations, desktop notifications via the Notifications API, synthesized sounds via the Web Audio API, session logging, daily statistics, streak tracking, and a weekly bar chart. All timing uses a drift-free performance.now() epoch approach identical to the Stopwatch & Timer. Zero external libraries. Related: Date Calculator for date arithmetic.
Quick Reference Table
| Setting | Default | Range |
|---|---|---|
| Work session | 25 minutes | 1–90 minutes |
| Short break | 5 minutes | 1–30 minutes |
| Long break | 15 minutes | 5–60 minutes |
| Sessions before long break | 4 | 2–8 |
| Sound alerts | On | On / Off |
| Auto-start breaks | On | On / Off |
Frequently Asked Questions
What should I do if I am interrupted during a Pomodoro?
Cirillo's original method treats an incomplete Pomodoro as void — if an interruption cannot be deferred, he suggests noting it, dealing with it, then restarting the full Pomodoro. Modern practitioners often take a more pragmatic approach: pause the timer, handle the interruption, and resume. The key principle is to protect the work window from voluntary distractions.
Does it matter what I work on during each Pomodoro?
The technique works best when you have a clear task for each session. Before starting, define specifically what you will accomplish — not 'work on project' but 'write the introduction section'. Using the task label field builds a log of your daily focus that helps identify which tasks consume the most sessions.
Will the timer alert me if I switch to another tab?
Yes. Desktop notifications appear even when the tab is in the background — you will need to grant notification permission when first asked. The timer continues running accurately in the background regardless of whether the tab is visible. Note that browser sound policies prevent audio from playing in background tabs in most browsers, so the desktop notification is the primary alert when working in another tab.
What is the difference between the short and long break?
After each of the first three work sessions, you take a short break (default 5 minutes) — a brief mental reset. After the fourth work session, you take a long break (default 15 minutes) — a more thorough recovery before beginning the next set of four. The session counter dots below the timer show your progress through the current four-session cycle.