CLI Pomodoro for Mac

.zshrc

# I'll be doing another one for Linux, but this one will give you 
# a pop up notification and sound alert (using the built-in sounds for macOS)

# Requires https://github.com/caarlos0/timer to be installed

# Mac setup for pomo
alias work="timer 60m && terminal-notifier -message 'Pomodoro'\
        -title 'Work Timer is up! Take a Break 😊'\
        -appIcon '~/Pictures/pumpkin.png'\
        -sound Crystal"
        
alias rest="timer 10m && terminal-notifier -message 'Pomodoro'\
        -title 'Break is over! Get back to work 😬'\
        -appIcon '~/Pictures/pumpkin.png'\
        -sound Crystal"

For anyone who wants the notification sound to play during "Do not disturb", try using afplay as the -ignoreDnD flag on terminal-notifier is broken. For example:

alias work="timer 30m -n work! --format 24h && terminal-notifier -message 'Pomodoro'\
	-title 'break!'\
	&& afplay /System/Library/Sounds/Glass.aiff"

I work in DnD mode too so I was running into the same issue! The way I fixed it so that it would both show the notification and play the sound is by going to System Preferences > Focus > Do Not Disturb > and then adding terminal-notifier to Allowed Apps. Now it works like a charm :)

Sorry I'm late to the game here. So do you just sacrifice a terminal when you run this? Or you ctrl-z + bg your work alias so you can still use the terminal? When I saw the youtube I was imagining it would adjust the prompt or something.

Sorry I'm late to the game here. So do you just sacrifice a terminal when you run this? Or you ctrl-z + bg your work alias so you can still use the terminal? When I saw the youtube I was imagining it would adjust the prompt or something.

Brother you need to use Tmux or smth like that to split the terminal and work on the same window. Otherwise, yes, you will sacrifice one terminal window just for this.

Example of how Tmux works:

In case anyone else wanted this. Added functions for specifying the time.

Use:
w 50 # work 50 minutes

# Mac setup for pomo
alias work="timer 60m && terminal-notifier -message 'Pomodoro'\
        -title 'Work Timer is up! Take a Break 😊'\
        -appIcon '~/Pictures/pumpkin.jpg'\
        -sound Crystal"
        
alias rest="timer 10m && terminal-notifier -message 'Pomodoro'\
        -title 'Break is over! Get back to work 😬'\
        -appIcon '~/Pictures/pumpkin.jpg'\
        -sound Crystal"

w() {
    timer "${1}m" && terminal-notifier -message 'Pomodoro'\
        -title 'Work Timer is up! Take a Break 😊'\
        -appIcon '~/Pictures/pumpkin.jpg'\
        -sound Crystal
}

r() {
    timer "${1}m" && terminal-notifier -message 'Pomodoro'\
        -title 'Break is over! Get back to work 😬'\
        -appIcon '~/Pictures/pumpkin.jpg'\
        -sound Crystal
}

for those who want to use this on windows here is a workaround you can add the following code to your powershell profile

Requires https://github.com/caarlos0/timer to be installed

# --- The Main Function ---
function Start-PomoTimer {
    param (
        [string]$TimerType
    )

    $pomoOptions = @{
        "work"  = "50m"
        "break" = "10m"
        "short" = "5m"
    }

    # --- REMEMBER TO UPDATE THIS PATH WITH THE PATH WHERE YOU CLONED THE REPO MENTIONED ABOVE ---
    $timerPath = "D:\timer\timer.exe"

    if ($pomoOptions.ContainsKey($TimerType)) {
        $duration = $pomoOptions[$TimerType]
        Write-Host "Starting '$TimerType' timer for $duration..."
        & $timerPath $duration -n $TimerType
        Write-Host "'$TimerType' session done!"
    } else {
        Write-Host "Invalid timer type: '$TimerType'. Available types: $($pomoOptions.Keys -join ', ')"
    }
}

function Start-PomoWork {
    Start-PomoTimer -TimerType "work"
}

function Start-PomoBreak {
    Start-PomoTimer -TimerType "break"
}


# --- Updated Aliases pointing to the new functions ---
Set-Alias -Name wo -Value Start-PomoWork
Set-Alias -Name br -Value Start-PomoBreak

Nice setup! I built a Go CLI tool inspired by this approach - handles notifications and timing with a simple config file:
https://github.com/Bahaaio/pomo

you can do:

• pomo (work session)
• pomo 15m (custom duration)
• pomo break

Is cross-platform (Linux, macOS, Windows).
Includes pause/resume, add/subtract time, and reset functionality.

example notification config:

notification:
    enabled: true
    title: work finished 🎉
    message: time to take a break
    icon: ~/my/icon.png