Blink

Blink is a really small single-binary program that helps you to remember to take breaks (and blink your eyes) while using the computer.

Features

• Create multiple break types with different intervals, weights, timeouts, & decaying prompts.
• Notifications with customizable descriptions.
• Playing a sound when it's time to take a break.
• Keeping track if the computer is used: after a timeout the timer will be paused or reset.

Installation

You can download the latest executable from GitHub releases.

Usage

Start the executable in the background. You'll probably want to run it on system boot but you can try it out from a terminal.

Configuration

A default blink.toml config file will be generated in your system config directory (~/.config on Linux) if not already present. You can specify a different config file using blink -c [path].

Use the example below as a reference and to configure the behavior of the program to your needs. The duration type is specified as a string in seconds.

# The delay between each update.
update_delay = "1"
# How long it takes for the timer to pause after receiving no input.
input_timeout = "30"
# How long it takes for the timer to reset after receiving no input.
input_reset = "300"
# The delay between updates at which the timer resets. This is caused by your computer sleeping.
timeout_reset = "200"
# How long the notifications are displayed.
notification_timeout = "10"
# Resets the timer when the notification is pressed (only supported on Linux)
notification_press_reset = true
# Templates for the time description in the notification.
time_descriptions = ["Using the computer for {} minutes.", "Staring at the screen for {} minutes."]
# The path of the directory the sounds are loaded from. You can specify a different sound for earch break type.
sounds_dir = "/path/to/my/sounds"

# You can specify multiple break types / timers.
[[break]]
# Required: title of the break, will be shown on notifications.
title = "Micro break"
# Required: the interval between each break.
interval = "1200"
# A list of random descriptions. A random one will be shown in notifications
descriptions = ["Don't forget to blink your eyes.", "Look away from the screen for a moment.", "Make sure you have a good posture."]

[[break]]
title = "Computer break"
interval = "1800"
# How long it takes for the break to become 'active'.
timeout = "2000"
# Breaks with a higher weight will be chosen before others.
weight = 2
# The decay of the break interval after each prompt. A decay of 1.0 will multiply the interval with 0.5 after each prompt.
decay = 0.5
descriptions = ["Get away from behind your screen!", "Time to relax for a moment!"]
# The sound to play on each prompt. Refering to a file in the sounds_dir.
# Note that only the .ogg (vorbis) codec is supported!
# You can use ffmpeg to convert audio files: ffmpeg -i mysound.mp3 mysound.ogg
sound_file = "time-for-a-break.ogg"
# How long the sound should be played.
sound_duration = "10"
# A command that gets run on the break
command = 'mpv "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ"'