Drowsie
A calm alarm experience for people who want to wake up consistently without dreading mornings.
The sleep–alarm category is dominated by “wake at any cost” apps (missions, loud persistence, cognitive tasks). Many users eventually hit tolerance, anxiety, or both. Drowsie sits in the gentle wake-up and sleep hygiene lane: circadian-friendly defaults, minimal stress, and a bedside companion tone—not a drill sergeant. Full market context, whitespace, and monetization pressures are in docs/direction.md.
Why this product (in brief)
From that direction doc:
- Anti–mission-by-default — reduce morning anxiety and muscle-memory “half-asleep” completions; favor gradual sound, ambient-first UX, and intentional simplicity for groggy users.
- AI and personalization (roadmap) — conversational or dynamic wake experiences and morning-assistant patterns are where the category is moving; static missions alone age poorly.
- Retention and monetization — subscription apps need instant proof of value and a clear model; direction.md summarizes strategic options (paywall discipline, hardware, B2B wellness) without committing the repo to one path.
Product vision, audience, design language, feature map, and metrics live in docs/prodStrategy.md. MVP scope and sequencing live in docs/productGuidelines.md.
Vision in one line
Help users wake up consistently without hating mornings.
What we’re building first
Near-term delivery is deliberately narrow; see docs/productGuidelines.md.
Must work first
- Set alarm → fires on time → snooze / dismiss → recurring schedules aligned with basic alarm behavior.
- Reliability on real devices (background, battery optimizations, reboots)—the product is only as good as the alarm showing up.
Must feel like Drowsie
- At least one calm default path: e.g. volume fade-in and an ambient-leaning wake experience, in the spirit of gradual wake before richer “adaptive” or AI-driven flows ship.
Explicitly later (Phase 2+)
- Adaptive wake intelligence, widgets, bedtime mode, wake verification, AI-driven personalization, and social accountability ideas—after core alarm UX and sound prove the emotional promise.
Principles (filters for every change)
- Reduce stress — every screen should answer: does this reduce anxiety or add it?
- Intentional simplicity — especially for half-awake users; shallow settings, one primary flow.
- Calm first — comfort over hyper-productivity aesthetics; subtle haptics; audio as product, not garnish.
- Minimal surveillance — align analytics with what matters (e.g. fired vs dismissed, snooze patterns), not a wall of charts.
Tech stack
| Layer | Choice |
|---|---|
| App runtime | Expo (~54) |
| UI | React Native, Expo Router (file-based routes in app/) |
| Styling | NativeWind (Tailwind) |
| Tooling | TypeScript, ESLint (Expo config), Prettier |
This repo is the mobile client. Backend and push services are optional follow-ons per docs/prodStrategy.md (Section 6).
Getting started
Requirements: Node.js and npm (or your preferred compatible package manager).
npm install
npm start
Then open the dev menu and run on iOS simulator, Android emulator, or a development build. For day-to-day UI work, Expo Go may be enough; alarm reliability must eventually be validated on real devices and, where needed, development builds.
Other scripts:
| Script | Command |
|---|---|
| Start dev server | npm start |
| iOS | npm run ios |
| Android | npm run android |
| Web | npm run web |
| Lint | npm run lint |
| Reset starter layout | npm run reset-project |
Project layout (high level)
app/— routes and screens (Expo Router).src/— shared components, hooks, and app-specific modules.assets/— images, fonts, and static assets.docs/— market direction, product strategy, and execution guidelines (source of truth for why and what).
Documentation
| Document | Purpose |
|---|---|
docs/direction.md |
Market whitespace beyond mission-based alarms; gentle wake, AI, social/gamification, monetization and retention context |
docs/prodStrategy.md |
Vision, audience, positioning, design system, features, accessibility, monetization, notifications |
docs/productGuidelines.md |
MVP slice, sequencing, platform risk, sound/haptics, verification vs later, metrics |
Contributing mindset
Every product decision should reinforce:
A calm transition between sleep and life.
If a feature, copy choice, or interaction feels harsh, cluttered, or guilt-driven, it probably does not belong—see docs/prodStrategy.md Sections 5, 9, and 14.
License
Private project ("private": true in package.json). Add a public license here if the repo is opened up.
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