The whole Pomodoro cycle, chained
This page opens with a complete cycle loaded as one routine: 25 minutes of focus, a 5-minute break, repeated four times, then a 15-minute long break. Press Start once and the disk runs the whole two hours, chiming at every change and showing what comes next under the dial. Focus steps and break steps have different colours, so a glance tells you which you are in.
The Pomodoro Technique is Francesco Cirillo's method: work in 25-minute intervals, separated by short breaks, with a longer break after four. The interval is meant to be indivisible; if you are interrupted, the pomodoro is abandoned rather than paused. The timer here will pause if you ask it to, but the method says do not.
Why a disk suits Pomodoro
- Peripheral awareness. A shrinking wedge at the edge of your vision tells you roughly where you are in the block without reading a number and breaking focus.
- The last tenth is red. Two and a half minutes of warning before each change, so you can finish a sentence instead of being cut off.
- The break is a timer too. Breaks that run over are how Pomodoro fails. Here the break has its own disk and its own chime.
Adjust the cycle
Open Routine link and edit the code. Shorter cycles for a first week: 15m-Focus.3m-Break.15m-Focus.3m-Break. A 50/10 variant: 50m-Deep_work.10m-Break.50m-Deep_work.10m-Break. One pomodoro only: 25m-Focus.5m-Break. The link format has every option; press Copy link to keep your version as a bookmark.
Other preset timers
Teachers: the guide to using a visual timer in the classroom covers placement, step lengths and introducing the timer to a class.
Questions
How long is a Pomodoro?
In Francesco Cirillo's technique a pomodoro is 25 minutes of work followed by a short break of about 5 minutes; after four pomodoros you take a longer break of 15 to 30 minutes. This page loads that cycle, and you can edit the lengths in Routine link.
Does the timer run the breaks as well?
Yes. Each break is a step of its own with its own colour and chime, so the break ends as visibly as the work block did.
Can I skip a break or a block?
Yes. The Skip button moves to the next step. Pause is there too, though the method itself asks you to treat an interrupted pomodoro as abandoned.
Can I change it to 50/10 or 15/3?
Yes. Open Routine link, type for example 50m-Focus.10m-Break.50m-Focus.10m-Break and press Use. Copy link saves your version as a shareable address.
Does the Pomodoro timer work full screen?
Yes. Press Full screen or the F key. The disk, the step name and the countdown fill the display, and the controls fade until the mouse moves.
Does the Timedisk app have a Pomodoro mode?
The app has routines, which is the same chained-timer model; you can build a Pomodoro cycle as a routine. It does not have task tracking or statistics, by design.