Tomatick

Quick Start

A macOS menu bar timer, stopwatch, alarm and pomodoro — all in one icon, with a timestamped history of everything you run.

Requirements: Apple Silicon Mac (M1/M2/M3/M4), a recent macOS. The build is unsigned (no Apple Developer Program needed).

1. Install

  1. Download the latest Tomatick-x.y.z.dmg from the Releases page.
  2. Open the .dmg and drag Tomatick onto the Applications folder.
  3. First launch only: right-click Tomatick in Applications → Open → Open. (A plain double-click is blocked the first time because the app is unsigned.) If macOS still refuses, run once in Terminal: 
    xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Tomatick.app

Tomatick is a menu bar app — there's no Dock icon and no window. Look for the 🍅 (or stopwatch) icon in the top-right menu bar. Click it for everything.

2. Start something

Click the menu bar icon → Start:

  • Timer — a natural duration: 25m, 1h30m, 90s, 2:30, or a bare number (minutes).
  • Stopwatch — counts up; supports laps.
  • Pomodoro — 25 / 5 / 15 by default, auto-advancing work ↔ break, long break every 4th work cycle.
  • Alarm — one-shot (a date + time) or recurring (a time on chosen weekdays).

Every running session is listed in the menu. Click one for Pause/Resume and Stop, plus Reset (timer & stopwatch), Skip phase (pomodoro) or Lap (stopwatch) — and Pin to make its countdown the one shown in the menu bar. When a timer finishes it keeps ringing until you click Dismiss, so you won't miss it.

3. Presets (one-click timers)

Save the timers you start often (it ships with Focus 25:00 and Quick break 5:00):

  • Use one: Start menu → pick a preset under the divider.
  • Manage them: Settings → Presets tab → Add / Edit / Delete.

4. Settings

Open Settings… from the menu — one window with tabs:

TabWhat's in it
GeneralDefault sound, snooze minutes, global hotkey, launch at login, Export / Import Settings
PomodoroWork / break lengths, auto-start, Focus during work
PresetsManage quick-start timers
AlarmsAdd / edit / delete alarms
HistoryFull event log — Export to CSV/JSON, Clear
AboutVersion, credits, links

5. Focus / Do-Not-Disturb during work

Tomatick can turn a macOS Focus on during a pomodoro work phase and off on breaks. macOS has no public API for this, so it runs Shortcuts you create:

  1. Open Shortcuts → + for a new shortcut.
  2. Add Set Focus → choose your Focus → Turn On. Name it e.g. Tomatick Focus On.
  3. Make a second shortcut that Turns Off that Focus, e.g. Tomatick Focus Off.
  4. In Tomatick → Settings → Pomodoro, type those exact names into Focus Shortcut (on)/(off) and tick Trigger Focus during work phases. Save.

Leave the names blank to disable the feature.

6. Global hotkey

Settings → General → Global hotkey: pick an action (Start Pomodoro, Start Timer, or Toggle Keep Awake) and a key (e.g. ⌥⌘P). The first use prompts for Accessibility permission (System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility).

7. Keep Awake

Menu → Keep awake prevents sleep while it's on. Bindable to the hotkey; turns itself off on quit.

8. Copy your setup to another Mac

  1. Settings → General → Export Settings… → save the .json.
  2. On the other Mac: Import Settings… → pick that file.

This copies presets, pomodoro lengths, sounds, snooze, Focus shortcut names, hotkey, and alarms. (Launch-at-login stays per-machine.)

Where your data lives

~/Library/Application Support/Tomatick/
├── config.json     # all settings, presets, alarms
└── history.db      # SQLite event history

It never leaves your Mac. See the Privacy Policy for the details.

Questions or bugs? See the GitHub repository.