Focus Check-in

A simple Obsidian plugin that helps you maintain focus by sending periodic reminders to check in on what you're working on. Perfect for time-tracking, productivity logging, and staying mindful of your work.

Features

• 🔔 System notifications that appear even when Obsidian is in the background
• ⏰ Customizable intervals - Set check-ins from 1 minute to hours
• 📢 Pre-alerts - Get a warning before the main check-in notification
• 📝 Optional daily note opening - Choose whether to open your daily note when it's time to log
• 🎯 Live countdown timer - Status bar shows real-time countdown to next check-in
• 🔄 Auto-start - Automatically resumes check-ins when you reopen Obsidian (if previously enabled)
• ⚙️ Easy controls - Start/stop with a ribbon icon, keyboard commands, or settings

How It Works

1. Enable the plugin and click the clock icon in the ribbon (or use the command palette)
2. The plugin will send you periodic reminders at your chosen interval
3. When a check-in notification appears:
   • System notifications appear even when Obsidian is in the background
   • Your daily note opens automatically (if enabled in settings)
   • The status bar shows a live countdown to the next check-in
4. Log what you're working on, then get back to it!

Installation

From Obsidian Community Plugins (Recommended)

1. Open Settings → Community plugins
2. Browse community plugins and search for "Focus Check-in"
3. Install and enable the plugin

Manual Installation

1. Download the latest release (main.js, manifest.json, styles.css)
2. Create a folder <vault>/.obsidian/plugins/focus-checkin/
3. Copy the downloaded files into this folder
4. Reload Obsidian and enable the plugin in Settings → Community plugins

Configuration

Go to Settings → Focus Check-in to configure:

• Check-in interval - How often to remind you (default: 30 minutes)
• Pre-alert time - Warning notification before check-in (default: 30 seconds, set to 0 to disable)
• Daily notes path - Where your daily notes are stored (default: Daily Notes)
  • Note: Daily notes should be organized as Daily Notes/YYYY/YYYY-MM-DD.md (e.g., Daily Notes/2025/2025-10-08.md)
• Auto-open daily note - Toggle whether today's note opens automatically (default: off)
• Focus check-in status - Start/stop button to control check-ins directly from settings

Usage

Starting Focus Check-ins

• Click the clock icon in the left ribbon
• Or use Command Palette: "Start focus check-in"
• Or use Command Palette: "Toggle focus check-in"
• Or use the Start button in Settings → Focus Check-in

Stopping Focus Check-ins

• Click the clock icon again
• Or use Command Palette: "Stop focus check-in"
• Or use Command Palette: "Toggle focus check-in"
• Or use the Stop button in Settings → Focus Check-in

Testing Notifications

• Use Command Palette: "Test system notification" to verify notifications work on your system

Status

Check the status bar at the bottom of Obsidian:

• 🎯 Focus: 29m 45s - Live countdown to next check-in (updates every second)
• 🎯 Focus: OFF - Check-ins are stopped

Tips

• Start with short intervals - Try 15-30 minutes and adjust based on your workflow
• Test it first - Set a 1-minute interval or use "Test system notification" command to verify notifications work
• Organize daily notes properly - Keep notes in Daily Notes/YYYY/YYYY-MM-DD.md format for the plugin to find them
• Use pre-alerts - The 30-second warning helps you finish your current thought before logging
• Watch the countdown - The status bar updates every second to show exactly when your next check-in is coming

Compatibility

• Desktop: ✅ macOS, Windows, Linux
• Mobile: ✅ iOS, Android
• Minimum Obsidian version: 0.15.0

Privacy

This plugin:

• ✅ Runs entirely locally on your device
• ✅ Does not collect any data
• ✅ Does not make any network requests
• ✅ Only accesses your daily notes folder as configured

Development

Setup

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/yourusername/obsidian-focus-checkin.git
cd obsidian-focus-checkin

# Install dependencies
pnpm install

# Build the plugin
pnpm run build

# Or run in development mode with auto-reload
pnpm run dev

Project Structure

focus-checkin/
├── main.ts           # Plugin entry point and main logic
├── manifest.json     # Plugin metadata
├── styles.css        # Plugin styles
├── package.json      # Node.js dependencies
├── tsconfig.json     # TypeScript configuration
├── esbuild.config.mjs # Build configuration
├── versions.json     # Version history
└── README.md         # This file

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

1. Fork the repository
2. Create your feature branch (git checkout -b feature/AmazingFeature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add some AmazingFeature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/AmazingFeature)
5. Open a Pull Request

Support

If you encounter any issues or have suggestions:

• Open an issue on GitHub
• Check existing issues for solutions

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Acknowledgments

• Inspired by the Pomodoro Technique and mindful work practices
• Built with the Obsidian API
• Thanks to the Obsidian community for feedback and support

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Made with ❤️ for the Obsidian community