Pomo Pal

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  what the extension looks like

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  the cat floating across the page

Most study timers feel so cold and mechanical, but I wanted to build something genuinely sweet, a tool that makes mental health support feel approachable rather than clinical or scary. That was the spark for PomoPal, a Chrome extension designed to meet you exactly where you already are. Instead of just a countdown, we created a tiny ASCII cat that lives on your screen, running around while you work and gently checking in on how you're feeling. It combines a Pomodoro timer with evidence-based micro-interventions like box breathing and light yoga, specifically designed to help the parasympathetic nervous system counteract the cortisol spikes (Δ[cortisol]∝−rest) that come from long, unbroken focus sessions. By making it a browser extension with no accounts or downloads, we removed every barrier to a moment of calm, proving that a blinking cat and a simple, caring question can carry much more weight than a rigid schedule ever could.

Built With

• claude