Embralynn replaces every timer and counter with one small pixel fire that mirrors your focus. It grows while you work, settles to embers on a break, and fades if you drift off. Native Tauri (Rust) app, under 80MB, under 1% idle CPU. Once, forever, no subscription. macOS only for now.
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A calmer Mac menu bar, one click away.
Enterprise Software. Intelligent Automation. Global Impact.
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6Hey Fazier! I built Embralynn because I kept checking the countdown on Pomodoro timers more than actually working. So I stripped out every number: it's a tiny pixel fire that grows while you focus, settles to embers on a break, and fades if you drift off. Native Tauri (Rust) app, under 80MB RAM, under 1% idle CPU. Happy to answer anything about the build or the "zero numbers" bet.
Removing the countdown entirely is a clever take on focus tools — the fire as the only feedback loop avoids the anxiety of watching numbers tick down. Under 1% idle CPU in a Tauri shell is impressive for an ambient app. Does the fire state persist across sessions, or does each session start from a fresh spark?
Good question — honest answer is fresh spark right now. Each launch of the app builds a brand new state machine in memory, so quitting resets you to idle. There's a short "warm embers" grace window (a couple minutes) if you just stepped away without quitting, but a real relaunch always starts cold. Cross-session persistence is on my list, just hasn't made the cut yet — didn't want to add a number-shaped stat just to solve it.
Building MVPs and iterate until we find product market fit.
The zero-numbers approach is a thoughtful way to reduce timer anxiety, and the tiny native footprint makes it feel well suited to the Mac menu-bar workflow. Have you considered letting users choose different visual themes while keeping the no-countdown principle?
Honestly, I went the other way on this one — I actually cut a cat companion and seasonal themes out of the product before launch. The bet is that one warm fire, no choices, is the whole point: less deciding, more focusing. Never say never for a v2 if enough people ask, but for v1 I wanted the smallest possible surface area.
This is a very interesting concept. I'm working on an Il Pomodoro app but I really love the simple approach to focus and wandering off that you came up with a simple small fire widget. Kudos for that. I hope a lot of people try it. I will soon.