AI Pomodoro

Tracking since May 19, 2026.

Changelog

• Jun 1, 2026
  description

  I noticed I couldn't think anymore without asking Claude first. So I built this.
  
  Ask one before you've thought about something yourself and what you get back is a weighted average of the internet, polished to sound competent. Useful for plenty. Bad as a reflex.
  
  Let it draft for you before you've drafted for yourself and your own writing starts to wear the same outfit. Your texts get longer. Your emails open with "I hope this finds you well." You stop swearing. You stop being funny. You start having "perspectives" instead of opinions. The read on a situation only you would have had — sanded down. Same shape as everyone else outsourcing the first move to the same five tools.
  
  AI Pomodoro is a Chrome extension. Time-blocks the AI sites you list so you have to start from a blank page. Set how long. Hit start. When time's up, everything unblocks. Simple version, done.
  
  Want more structure? Cycles mode alternates solo-thinking blocks and AI-assist blocks across rounds. Solo first. AI after.
  
  Need to break a block? Override per-site by typing a sentence verbatim. Two minutes, then it locks again. Friction is the point. Typing a commitment is enough to make it a choice, not a reflex.
  
  Defaults: claude.ai, chatgpt.com, gemini.google.com, perplexity.ai, copilot.microsoft.com. Add or remove from settings.
  
  FEATURES
  
  - Simple mode: block AI for a set duration, then unblock
  - Cycles mode: alternate solo-thinking and AI-assist blocks across rounds
  - Toolbar countdown badge — rust for solo, green for assist
  - Per-site override via typed sentence; expires after two minutes
  - Customizable blocklist; defaults cover the major AI tools
  - Optional desktop prompt to start a session when Chrome opens
  - All data stays local. No servers contacted. No analytics.
  
  LIMITATIONS
  
  - Browser-only. Doesn't touch AI desktop apps, AI inside other apps (Gmail Smart Compose, Notion AI), or AI in your terminal.
  - Blocks only the chat sites you configure, not embedded AI features on arbitrary sites.

  Block the instinct to outsource your thinking to AI chatbots
  
  Defer to AI chatbots first and there's nothing of yours to sharpen, because nothing of yours went in. What comes back is a weighted average of the internet, polished to sound competent. Your taste, your intuition, the odd connection only you would have made: averaged away. And you can't quite explain the answer, because you were never the one who worked it out.
  
  I built this for myself, because I'd stopped thinking through difficult problems without reaching for ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini first. The fix wasn't using AI less. It was using it second: think first, then bring it in to sharpen, test, and poke holes. 
  
  Here's how it works. Set a length, hit start, and the AI sites on your list stay blocked until the timer's up. That's the whole thing. Want more structure? Cycles mode alternates solo-thinking blocks and AI-assisted blocks across rounds, so you think, then sharpen, then think again. To override a block early, retype a sentence verbatim. The site unlocks for two minutes, then locks again, slow enough that you'll usually realize you can figure it out yourself. The site unlocks for two minutes, then locks again: long enough to grab the one thing you needed.
  
  Where it helps:
  - Writing: Draft the email, the post, the cover letter yourself, then hand it over to tighten. Skip that and it comes back sounding like everyone else's
  - Synthesizing: Find the throughline yourself before the model flattens a messy pile into a tidy - summary. The connection and context you'd have made is usually the most valuable takeaway
  - Strategizing: Form your own read on the decision first: the offer, the plan, the bet. Then pressure-test it instead of borrowing a position whole
  - Debugging: Before you paste the whole error into a chat, take a swing yourself. You learn your own codebase, and the model stays a reviewer instead of the author. (Browser chat only, it won't touch your terminal or IDE)
  
  Default block list: claude.ai, chatgpt.com, gemini.google.com, perplexity.ai, copilot.microsoft.com. Add or remove your own.
  
  FEATURES
  - Simple mode: block AI for a set duration, then unblock
  - Cycles mode: alternate solo and AI blocks across rounds
  - Toolbar countdown badge, rust for solo and green for assist
  - Per-site override by typed sentence, expires after two minutes
  - Customizable blocklist; defaults cover the major AI tools
  - Optional prompt to start a session when Chrome opens
  - All data stays local. No servers contacted, no performative analytics
  
  LIMITATIONS
  - Browser-only. It doesn't touch AI desktop apps, AI inside other apps (Gmail Smart Compose, Notion AI), or AI in your terminal
  - It blocks the chat sites you configure, not embedded AI features on arbitrary sites

Permissions & access

Permissions

storagewebNavigationalarmstabsnotifications

Host access

*://claude.ai/*, *://chatgpt.com/*, *://gemini.google.com/*, *://www.perplexity.ai/*, *://copilot.microsoft.com/*

Screenshots