Why I made it

I made Chataltul for the moment everybody knows: you sit down to do one thing, and twenty minutes later you're in your email, or on your phone, and you can't quite say how you got there. A timer doesn't help with that, because it only speaks up at the end, and by then the block is gone. What helps is someone noticing early and asking, kindly, "Still on it?"

Who it's for

It's for anyone who loses the thread, which is most of us. A student reading for class, someone writing a cover letter they keep putting off, someone working through a pile of receipts. You don't need to be organized to use it. You need one sentence, the thing you're working on right now, and the app takes it from there.

It's also for people who work better next to someone. With an account you can see when a friend is focusing and join their block, so you both finish at the same moment, which is a lot like sitting at the same table in a library.

Why it works the way it does

It asks instead of scolding. A check-in is one question with two answers, and Drifted is a perfectly good answer. After it, Chataltul asks what pulled you away, and over a week the Café tab shows you what does it most, which is useful to know and nothing to feel bad about.

It's a web app that looks like an app. I wanted it on an iPad without going through the App Store, and a web app works on an iPhone, an iPad, Android and a computer from one link, for free. On iPhones and iPads you add it to the Home Screen, which is the one place Apple lets a web app send notifications. And since that's where it lives, it's dressed like it belongs there: tabs, a sidebar on the iPad, sheets that slide up, and a timer like the Clock app's.

It doesn't need an account. What you work on and how often you drift is your business, so by default it all stays in your browser. An account is there if you want a backup, a second device, or friends, and you can delete it from Settings at any time.

The cats. Cat mode is on unless you turn it off, and it works a bit like Forest: a kitten grows up in the ring while you work, and if you stay to the end it comes home to your Cat Café. If you leave in the middle, it wanders off, which sounds harsh, but honestly that's the point, it's a small, friendly reason to stay put. A cat also peeks over the card at a check-in, and the notifications get a 🐱, and a cat peeking at you is a much easier interruption to take than a beep. There are fourteen of them: you meet eight just by focusing (a first block, a few days in a row, a few breaks) and adopt the other six with the treats you earn. That's the "game" in Chataltul, and it's a gentle one. The worst that happens is one cat missing from the café, and treats only ever come from focusing, NEVER from money. See Cats.

What I left out on purpose

• Blocking apps and websites. A web app can't do it, and even if it could, Chataltul is meant to help you notice, not to lock the door.
• Pressure and streak guilt. The treats are only for your own café, there's a streak on the Café tab because it's nice to see, and nothing nags you about either. Forest has rankings, so Chataltul has them too, but they're opt-in, and friends never see your history, your café, your notes, your parked thoughts or your check-ins.
• Anything that reads what you type. The usage counts are only counts of which features get used, and you can turn them off in Settings → Privacy. See Accounts and privacy.

If you want to help

The code is MIT, it's small, and it has no dependencies, so it's easy to read and easy to run yourself (Your own server). If something doesn't work the way these pages say, or you have an idea, feel free to open an issue.