Pomodoro Timer

How to use the Pomodoro Timer

1. Click Start to begin your first 25-minute focus session.
2. Work on your task without interruption until the timer alerts you that the session is over.
3. Take the suggested 5-minute break. The timer will count down your break automatically.
4. After four completed work sessions, enjoy a longer break to recharge before the next cycle.
5. Check your session count and total focus time to track your productivity over time.

Why 25 minutes, and when to break the rule

Francesco Cirillo picked 25 minutes somewhat arbitrarily in the late 1980s, but it's held up because it's short enough that starting doesn't feel daunting and long enough to get past the initial ramp-up cost of a task. If you do deep, hard-to-interrupt work (writing, complex debugging), a 50/10 split often works better than the default 25/5. You lose more to context-switching than you gain from the extra break. Use the settings to adjust the ratio rather than forcing the classic numbers if they're not working for your task.

Frequently asked questions

What happens if I get interrupted mid-session?

Pause rather than reset if you can. The technique's inventor's own advice is that an interrupted Pomodoro is void and should restart, but in practice, pausing and resuming preserves more of your momentum than starting the 25 minutes over.

Does it track my history across days?

Session counts are tracked for your current visit. Refreshing or closing the tab clears the running total, so note your count if you want a daily log.

Why does it suggest a longer break every 4 cycles?

After roughly two hours of focused work, a short break stops being enough to actually recover attention. A longer break (15–30 minutes) is what lets you sustain multiple Pomodoro blocks across a full day instead of burning out by early afternoon.