⏳ Terminal-based Pomodoro Timer

A simple command-line Pomodoro Timer written in Python for improving productivity using the Pomodoro Technique. It alternates between work and break sessions, helps reduce burnout, and includes a terminal beep as a reminder.

📚 What is the Pomodoro Technique?

The Pomodoro Technique is a time management method developed by Francesco Cirillo. It uses a timer to break work into intervals, traditionally:

25 minutes of focused work
5 minutes of break
Repeated for 4 cycles

🧠 What This Project Does

Runs in your terminal/command prompt
Displays countdown timers for work and break sessions
Beeps (\a) when a session ends
Loops through 4 full Pomodoro cycles (Work → Break)

🚀 How to Run

✅ Requirements

Python 3 installed

▶️ Run the Program

python pomodoro.py

🧾 Code Explanation

✅ `import time`

Used for:

time.sleep(seconds): Pauses the program for the given number of seconds to create a countdown effect.

✅ `def format_time(seconds)`

Purpose: Converts total seconds to a readable format like mm:ss.

def format_time(seconds):
    mins = seconds // 60
    secs = seconds % 60
    return f"{mins:02d}:{secs:02d}"

Example: format_time(150) returns 02:30

✅ Timer Settings

work_duration = 25 * 60
break_duration = 5 * 60
cycles = 4

You can change these values for quick testing (e.g. work_duration = 5 for 5 seconds).

✅ The Loop: Running Pomodoro Cycles

for cycle in range(1, cycles + 1):

Runs the work + break cycle 4 times.

✅ Work Timer

for remaining in range(work_duration, 0, -1):
    print(f"Work: {format_time(remaining)}", end='\r')
    time.sleep(1)

✅ Break Timer

Same as work timer but uses break_duration.

✅ Terminal Beep

print("\a")

This plays the bell sound in the terminal.

🎨 Output Example

Pomodoro Cycle 1 - Work Time!
Work: 24:59
Work: 24:58
...

Time to take a break! 🔔
Break: 04:59
Break: 04:58
...

Break over! Get ready to work again.

✅ Features Summary

Feature	Description
Timer Format	Countdown in mm:ss format
Terminal Refresh	Clean, single-line updates
Sound Alert	Terminal bell `\a` at session end
Cycles	4 repeated Pomodoro sessions
Beginner-Friendly	No external libraries, pure Python

🧪 Customize It!

What you want to change	How to do it
Shorter testing times	Change `work_duration` and `break_duration` to smaller numbers
More Pomodoros	Change the value of `cycles`
Add long breaks	Add a longer break after 4 cycles
Add GUI or sound files	Use libraries like `tkinter` or `playsound`

🙌 Contribution Ideas

Add a longer break after 4 cycles
Create a GUI with Tkinter or PyQt
Log session stats to a text file
Use playsound for custom audio alerts

📃 License

This project is open-source and free to use for personal productivity!

📂 GitHub