Pick the app you want to stay in. The moment it loses focus, your animal deploys.
Dolphin mode
The first thing you see after scrolling.
When you leave your focus app, the dolphin jumps along the bottom of your desktop and nudges you back before the scroll turns into a lost afternoon.
The idea
Normal focus apps whisper. This one shows up.
Choose the app you are supposed to work in. If you drift, your animal appears on your desktop with a voice reminder, a banner, and just enough personality to make the interruption impossible to ignore.
🐬 Dolphin jumps playfully. 🐳 Whale brings the water siren. 🦈 Shark shows teeth. 🐧 Penguin slides in apologetically. 🐱 Cat judges silently then yells.
Every animal has its own voice lines, pitch, and delivery. Or bring your own messages and roasts.
Finish a session and export a PNG receipt: minutes survived, worst escape, animal, and mode.
Animal packs
Five animals. Five personalities. One goal.
Each animal has its own motion style, voice delivery, and set of lines for chill and chaos mode. Pick the one that matches how you work — or how much guilt you want.
Playful jump arcs. Friendly chaos. The original.
Surfaces dramatically. Sprays water. Sounds the siren.
Aggressive, fast, shows teeth. Low clipped voice.
Cute and clumsy. Gently, apologetically disappointed in you.
Passive-aggressive. Half-lidded. Slow, flat delivery.
Code Mode
It stays asleep while you build.
When VS Code, Cursor, Xcode, Terminal, or another coding app is foreground, the buddy chills. Open YouTube, X, Reddit, Instagram, or a game and it appears. Return to code and it celebrates. Keep escaping and the reminders escalate.
Quiet reminders when you drift. Good for studying, writing, and long work blocks.
Stronger nudges, blocked-app lists, and more pressure when you keep switching away.
The yelling dolphin energy. Voice lines, banners, animals, splashes, and desktop drama.
Sleeps in VS Code, Cursor, Xcode, and Terminal. Wakes up when YouTube wins.
v0.2.0 beta · macOS
Get the Mac app.
Universal build for Apple Silicon and Intel Macs. Now with onboarding, demo mode, and five animal packs. The build is unsigned while the project is still early — macOS asks you to approve it once.
First launch
Up and running in four steps.
The build is unsigned while the project is still early. That warning is normal — the code is public on GitHub. Accessibility permission lets the app read which app is in the foreground, locally, nothing sent anywhere.
1
Open the DMG
Drag YellAtMeToFocus into Applications and open it.
2
Approve it once
If macOS shows a warning, go to System Settings → Privacy & Security → Open Anyway.
3
Follow the onboarding
A 3-step setup walks you through picking your focus app, granting Accessibility, and testing your animal — before your first session.
4
Hit Trigger Demo anytime
Menu bar → 🎬 Trigger Demo shows your animal instantly. No focus app needed — great for recording or showing friends.
Contribute
Make the buddy more beautiful.
This project should feel delightful, not cheap. Contributions toward aesthetics, graphics, motion, voice, onboarding, and new animals are especially welcome.
New animal sprites — duck, frog, crab, dragon
Better water splashes and spray timing
Voice packs and roast preset bundles
Code signing and notarization
Pomodoro, stats, and app blocking polish
Windows tray version