馬 Dinesh Achari

SuperNudge — a macOS focus companion for ADHD brains

It notices you drifted. It offers a hand back.

Most focus tools are cops: blockers, streaks, red badges. SuperNudge watches your screen during a session and, when you wander, guides you back with a calm cue — never an alarm, never a block, never shame.

↓ Download the free beta Why I built this →
FOCUS · 18:24

SUPERNUDGE · just now

this is the whole product — recreated live, not a screenshot

FIG. 1 — a real minute of drifting, compressed to twenty seconds I open Reddit; the timer pill turns ember, the edge warms, a check-in slides down. The system reacts — it never punishes.

It refuses to —

  • Say "you are distracted"
  • Sound loud, jarring alarms
  • Show red "BLOCKED" screens
  • Present blank required fields
  • Let agents act silently
  • Auto-delete your parked ideas

It does, instead —

  • Verb-first nudges that leave the choice yours
  • Soft-landing glow and gentle chimes
  • Warm amber health, never alarm-red
  • Fields pre-filled from your real data
  • Propose-and-confirm — you approve first
  • "Vaporize safely," never nag

Why I built this —

I built the tool I was ashamed to need.

Every focus app I tried was a cop. Blockers, streaks, red badges — tools built on the assumption that I was lazy and needed policing. I wasn't lazy. I was drowning quietly behind a screen that looked productive.

I'd start a 25-minute timer and look up at 4 PM. One "you're distracted" ping could sink an entire day. Every planner assumed a person I have never been.

So SuperNudge isn't a startup idea. It's the accommodation I built for myself after 33 years — and every feature on this page started as one of my own failures.

Read the full story →

Real captures, no mockups —

Recorded from the actual app, mid-session, on my Mac.

FIG. 2 — start_focus One goal. One dial. One tap — the session settles in.
FIG. 3 — the nudge, up close "Life happens, Dinesh! Let's get back to the SuperNudge launch page." It knows the goal. It names no failure.
FIG. 4 — goal_sticky The goal never leaves the screen corner. Out of sight is no longer out of mind.
FIG. 5 — complete_goal I was on task 7% of that session. Confetti anyway. "How did that go?" anyway. That's the whole philosophy in one screen.

The scars became features —

Every feature started as one of my failures.

"I'd blink and four hours were gone."

Chromatic Time Ticker — the screen edge drifts teal → violet → amber, so I feel time in my peripheral vision instead of fearing a countdown.

"If the goal left my screen, it left my brain."

Holographic Goal Sticky — a click-through capsule that pins the goal on screen.

"Starting was always the hardest part."

1-Percent Micro-Victory — it only asks for the first action ("Open Xcode"). Do it, and the screen celebrates like you shipped.

"One 'you failed' ping could end my whole day."

Forgiveness Protocol — every nudge is verb-first and warm. There is no way to make this app tell you that you failed.

"Alarms ripped me out of hyperfocus like a fire drill."

Soft-Landing breaks — a slow glow shift and soft chimes land you gently.

"Some days there is no dopamine to spend."

Spoon Energy + 🎲 Roll for Dopamine — tell it you're at low energy and it shrinks every decision to match.

Index of components —

A full focus system, tuned for the inattentive-type brain.

Focus & sessions

  • Focus Sessions — timed deep work around a goal, with on-task tracking.
  • Focus / Break dial — one dial to flip between sprint and rest.
  • Auto goal breakdown — one tap splits a goal into ~3 micro-steps, tuned to your energy.
  • Sequential micro-goals — one step at a time; finishing pops confetti.
  • Open-ended sessions — counts up, never a stressful 00:00.
  • Menu-bar timer pill — time stays visible without opening the app.

Nudges & interventions

  • AI screen-aware nudges — when you drift, a calm capsule offers a way back.
  • Forgiveness Protocol — verb-first, warm copy, capped at three actions.
  • Quiet Mode — silence nudges for 2h; auto during meetings.
  • Focus Coach — optional gentle guidance mid-session.

The Focus Buddy — AI agent

  • Focus Buddy — a chat teammate across tasks, inbox, sessions, settings.
  • Propose-and-confirm — every action needs your approval first.
  • Skills — Weekly Review, Inbox-to-Tasks, Parked-List Triage, more.
  • Routines — scheduled runs that draft proposals; off by default.
  • Agent memory — threads, a facts notebook, on-device semantic recall.
  • Bring your own AI — Anthropic, OpenAI-compatible, Gemini, or Mimo.

Capture, tasks & email

  • Park a thought (⌥Space) — dump a distraction into the inbox from anywhere.
  • Kanban task board — columns, swimlanes, list views.
  • Parked-List Rescue — stale items decay to warm amber, "keep or let go?"
  • Email triage — Gmail + Outlook unified; any email becomes a calm 3-step task.

ADHD accommodations

  • Spoon Energy — low / balanced / high reshapes what surfaces.
  • 1-Percent Micro-Victory — the first action triggers a sparkling win.
  • Body Doubling Simulator — a subtle virtual companion.
  • Dopamine Menu — energy-aware breaks with 🎲 Roll for Dopamine.
  • Micro-Wins — "what went right?" incl. Bare Minimum & Spite Win.
  • Breathing Recharge — a calming reset overlay.

Ambient HUD

  • Chromatic Time Ticker — the edge shifts hue so you feel time pass.
  • Holographic Goal Sticky — the goal, always pinned.
  • Ambient vignette — focus health in calm green-amber-coral.
  • Configurable widgets — countdown ring, goal board, task panel.
  • Soft-Landing breaks — a slow glow and chimes, never an alarm.
  • Grounding soundscapes — ambient audio to steady a session.

Tracking & reflection

  • Analytics dashboard — on-task %, minutes, streaks, mood — all local.
  • Session timeline — browse past sessions and reflections.
  • Session-end reflection — optional mood, note, and a micro-win.

Built honestly —

Native, private, and calm by law.

Platform
Native macOS 14+ — Swift & SwiftUI, a menu-bar app with always-on, click-through overlays.
Detection
Screen captures get downscaled, then classified by the AI provider you configure. Nothing keeps a screenshot or a recording, ever.
Your data
Analytics, tasks, and history live locally on your Mac. Email connects over OAuth — no passwords stored.
Your AI
Bring your own provider key — Anthropic, OpenAI-compatible, Gemini, or Mimo. Nothing is tied to me, so switch whenever you like.
Calm law
Every feature is opt-in by default and every animation respects Reduce Motion.

Planned, not yet shipped —

Notch Companion · push-to-talk voice capture · graduated distraction blocking · session automation hooks · evening recap (wins only) · screenshot-free coach · Google Calendar true sync · Mac App Store build

Questions, answered plainly —

What is SuperNudge?
A native macOS focus companion built specifically for ADHD and neurodivergent (inattentive-type) brains. It runs in the menu bar, watches your screen during a focus session, and when you drift it guides you back with a calm, supportive nudge instead of an alarm, a blocker, or a shame message.
How is SuperNudge different from a Pomodoro timer or other focus apps?
Most focus apps block the thing you drifted to and sound an alarm at you. SuperNudge does neither. When you drift it slides down a calm capsule you can dismiss, and it shows time as a colour at the edge of the screen so you keep a sense of it without a countdown to watch. The AI agent proposes what to do and waits for you to say yes; it never acts on its own. No red "BLOCKED", no "you are distracted."
Is SuperNudge private? Where is my data stored?
Analytics, tasks, and history are stored locally on your Mac. Screen captures are downscaled and classified but no screenshot or recording history is retained. Email connects over OAuth with no passwords stored, and you bring your own AI provider key.
What platforms does SuperNudge support?
A native macOS 14+ app built with Swift and SwiftUI. It runs as a menu-bar app with always-on, click-through overlays. A sandboxed Mac App Store build is planned.
Is SuperNudge good for ADHD?
SuperNudge was built for inattentive-type ADHD and nothing else, so every feature answers one specific problem. The Chromatic Time Ticker is for time blindness. The Holographic Goal Sticky is for the goal falling out of your head the moment it leaves the screen. 1-Percent Micro-Victory is for the days you can't start. The Forgiveness Protocol is for rejection sensitivity — which is why there is no way to make this app tell you that you failed.
Why does macOS warn me that SuperNudge is from an unidentified developer?
The beta isn't notarized by Apple yet — notarization needs a paid Apple Developer account. The app is safe and the install guide shows the two-click override. If the beta earns enough users, notarized builds come next.
Why does SuperNudge need Screen Recording permission?
Screen awareness is how it notices you drifted. Captures are downscaled, classified by the AI provider you configure, and never stored — no screenshot or recording history is kept. All analytics stay local on your Mac.
Is SuperNudge free?
The beta is free. You bring your own AI provider key (Anthropic, OpenAI-compatible, Gemini, or Mimo) for the screen-aware features.
Do focus apps actually work for ADHD?
Sometimes — and the design decides it. Research presented at CHI 2026, from interviews with 27 neurodivergent students who use blockers, found the tools often deepen shame instead of helping: focus time becomes a score you lose against yourself, and people worry about needing a crutch forever. The same work found that switching a blocker off is frequently deliberate self-regulation, not a lapse. So the real question isn't whether focus apps work — it's whether one ends your session on a clock or on the work you named. Full breakdown of the research here.
What features should an ADHD focus app have?
One test covers most of it: does the session end when the work is done, or when the timer says so? A 25-minute block is an estimate, not a definition of done, and on a slow focus ramp it can cut the session just as focus arrives. Then check three things — does it keep a streak you can lose against yourself, does it call stopping early a failure, and does it treat a few minutes of familiar content as a breach rather than an on-ramp? The long version is here.
Are there free ADHD focus apps for Mac?
Yes. Several ADHD-oriented Mac apps run freemium tiers or trials — Focus Bear and Rize among them — and general task tools like Todoist have free plans. SuperNudge's beta is free outright with no trial clock, because it's early and unsigned and charging for that would be rude. One honest caveat on any free tier: check whether the free version keeps the streak mechanics, because that's the part most likely to backfire on an ADHD brain.
Is SuperNudge a Pomodoro timer?
No, and deliberately not. A Pomodoro timer ends the session on the clock. SuperNudge ends it on the goal you named — so if focus finally shows up at minute 24, nothing interrupts it. There's a peripheral colour cue for time so you keep a sense of duration without a countdown in your face, but the clock never decides when you're done.

Get it — free beta · macOS 14+ · Apple Silicon & Intel

Two minutes from now, your screen is on your side.

↓ Download for macOS Get launch updates →

hosted on GitHub Releases · free · bring your own AI key

Read me first —

This beta is unsigned. Apple charges $99/year to make the "unidentified developer" warning go away, and I'd rather ship to you first and pay that tax once we've earned it together. The install takes two extra clicks — the steps below walk you through them. One person built this; the code never phones home.

The install, ADHD-proofed — three steps, no step four

  1. Open the download, drag to Applications

    Open SuperNudge.dmg and drag the app into the Applications folder. Close the window. That part's done forever.

  2. Tell macOS you meant to do this

    Open the app once — macOS will decline politely. Then: System Settings → Privacy & Security → scroll down → "Open Anyway." Confirm. (On macOS 13–14, right-click the app → Open → Open also works.)

  3. Grant Screen Recording when asked

    Screen awareness is how it catches drift. Short version of what happens to those pixels: downscaled, classified, never stored — details in the privacy table below.

macOS says the app "is damaged"? — the 10-second fix 
xattr -cr /Applications/Supernudge.app

Paste that into Terminal and press return. It removes the quarantine flag macOS adds to downloads — nothing else.

What happens to your data — private by architecture, not by promise

Screen captures
Downscaled and sent only to the AI provider you configure, only during a focus session. No screenshot or recording history is ever kept.
Analytics & tasks
Stored locally on your Mac, in your user folder. Nothing syncs anywhere unless you connect it.
AI provider
Bring your own key — Anthropic, OpenAI-compatible, Gemini, or Mimo. Your key lives in the macOS Keychain.
Email
Optional. Connects over OAuth; passwords are never seen or stored.
This developer
Receives nothing. The app has no telemetry in the beta. If that changes it will be opt-in and announced.
↓ Download the beta Found a bug? Tell me →