Pause
AI-powered Chrome extension for presence. Best use of Gemini API.
[ Visit project → ]Summary
A Chrome extension that nudges you to actually stop and breathe during long screen sessions, with a gentle animation, ambient sound, or one line of text — no login, streaks, or guilt.
Problem you're solving
Existing focus and wellness tools gamify breaks with streaks and stats, which adds pressure rather than relief — people just wanted "a gentle reminder to breathe," not another dashboard to maintain.
Target user
Students and professionals who live in dozens of open tabs and notice screen fatigue, but won't install anything that feels like homework.
Competitors
RescueTime, Forest, and One Sec are all built around streaks, blocking, or guilt-based nudges rather than a no-pressure micro-break.
Insight
The intervention has to cost nothing — no sign-up, no gamification — or people uninstall it within a day. Removing pressure was the actual feature.
Solution
A cross-platform Chrome extension that uses background scripts to time reminders and generates varied, personalized encouragement, with calming animation, audio, or text modes and no account required.
- React
- TypeScript
- Tailwind CSS
- Chrome Extensions API
- Gemini API
Distribution
Built for and shown at a hackathon, winning Best Use of Gemini API; next step is a public Chrome Web Store listing.
Adapting to user feedback
Early testers said fixed-interval reminders felt disruptive mid-task, so timing logic was tuned in Figma prototypes first to find intervals that read as supportive rather than intrusive before writing the extension code.