Intent · A focus app for Windows Your goals shouldn't disappear
when you get distracted.
Intent links your monthly goals to today's tasks, keeps one current mission in front of you, and helps you get back to work after an interruption. No streaks to break, no alarms, no guilt.
Windows 10 & 11 Local-first storage Kero desktop companion
The fundamental shift
Most focus apps assume you won't get distracted. Intent assumes you will.
Many productivity tools treat attention like an assembly line. When an interruption arrives, and it always does, they answer with broken streaks and red “failed” states. That's usually when people quietly stop using them.
THE USUAL APPROACH
Perfection, or nothing
- Streaks that reset to zero the first time Slack needs you.
- Red warnings and broken-streak animations for being human.
- Endless backlogs with no link to what this month is actually about.
- Miss a few days and the whole system gets abandoned.
HOW INTENT WORKS
Returning is the skill
- “I got distracted” is a first-class button with a one-tap way back.
- Time away is yours to classify as focus, a break or a distraction. It's never a failure.
- Tasks link to monthly goals, so today's work connects to the bigger picture.
- Unfinished work is “not done yet” or “moved”, never “failed”.
“Getting distracted is expected.
Returning is the skill.”
How it works
One loop, from monthly goals to monthly progress
Intent connects planning, focus, recovery and reflection, so your goals carry on after a session ends, after an interruption, and after you close the app.
01 · Plan
Set monthly goals
Decide what this month is about and how you'll measure it: active days, sessions, focus time, or no number at all.
02 · Plan
Plan today
Add today's tasks, estimate them, mark what's important, and link each one to the monthly goal it moves forward.
03 · Focus
Pick one current mission
Choose a single task and start a focus session: 15, 25, 45 or 60 minutes, a custom length, or open-ended.
04 · Return — the core difference
Come back after distraction
Press “I got distracted”, or come back from a locked or sleeping PC, and Intent asks how to count the time away. Then you pick up where you left off.
05 · Reflect
Wrap up the day
A short evening reflection: what got done, an honest check on important tasks, and where unfinished work should go.
06 · Review
Review the week and month
See focus time, sessions, completion and how often you came back after interruptions, then decide which goals carry into next month.
Returning after distraction
You don't need a perfect day. You need a reliable way back.
When something pulls you away, press I got distracted. Intent pauses your focus time and asks, simply, “That's okay. Ready to get back to your task?” You can resume, take a break or switch tasks, and if you like, note what pulled you away.
If you lock your PC, it goes to sleep, or you're gone for more than five minutes mid-session, Intent pauses and waits. When you return, it asks how to count the time away:
- I was still focusedAdds the time to this session.
- I took a breakNot counted as focus.
- I got distractedLogged as a return.
- End the sessionKeeps the focus from before you left.
Not sure yet? Close the prompt and the session stays paused until you decide. Every return is recorded, so your weekly review shows how often you came back, not just how often you drifted.
“Welcome back. How should we count the time away?”
Interactive preview of the return flow. Try an option.
Monthly & daily goals
Monthly goals that turn into today's work
Planning in Intent starts with what you want this month to be about. Today's tasks link back to those goals, and progress is counted from the work you actually do, not from how you feel about it.
Practise DSA
Measured in active days: show up on 20 days this month.
→ Today: Graph problems daily
Finish thesis chapter 2
Measured in focus time: 20 hours of writing and research.
→ Today: Outline section 2.3
ONE CURRENT MISSION
What are you doing right now?
Pick one task. Everything else can wait. Only one task is your current mission at a time, and it's the one Kero keeps on your desktop.
At month end, each goal gets a calm decision: continue it, complete it, or let it go.
Kero's real animations from the app. Press and hold to pick Kero up.
Kero, the desktop companion
Your current task, still in view when the app is closed.
Kero is a small pixel-art frog that sits on top of your other windows. It keeps your current mission in your field of view, so your goals don't disappear the moment you switch to a browser, an editor or a chat.
Mirrors your session
Kero looks focused while you work, rests on a break, waits when you're paused and greets you when you come back.
Gentle, rationed nudges
Short reminders, like a break ending or time to wrap up the day, are capped at four an hour, stay silent during quiet hours, and hold back while a fullscreen app is in front.
On your terms
Adjust Kero's size and opacity, make it click-through, snooze it for 15 minutes, an hour or until tomorrow, or hide it with one switch.
Daily reflection & reviews
Close the day, then see the week clearly
The evening Day Wrap takes about two minutes. It looks at what happened without judgment and helps unfinished work land somewhere sensible, instead of following you to dinner.
DAY WRAP
Wrap up your day
- Honesty check
- For important tasks marked done: did you actually finish it? Yes, fully · Partly · Not really. Private to you, never a score.
- Unfinished tasks
- Carry to today, carry to tomorrow, drop quietly, or leave for now. Remaining work is normal.
- Energy and one line
- How did your energy feel, and what supported your focus today? One line is plenty.
WEEKLY & MONTHLY REVIEWS
Numbers without moralizing
Reviews are built from your own sessions and tasks: what happened, not a grade for you as a person. Interruptions happen; the useful signal is how often you return.
Then reflect on what went well, what got in the way, what to carry forward and next week's intentions. Any review can be copied as Markdown.
Who it's for
For people who lose the thread and want a calm way back
Intent is for anyone whose work needs long stretches of attention in a day full of interruptions.
Students
Turn exam prep, problem sets and thesis writing into focus sessions linked to monthly goals, and watch progress build across the month.
Developers
Keep one task in view through code reviews, chat pings and long builds. When you get pulled away, the way back is one click.
Early-career professionals & knowledge workers
Turn a vague monthly intention into today's short list, and finish the day knowing exactly where unfinished work went.
Principles
Four principles Intent is built on
These shape every screen, every line of copy and every number in the app.
One task at a time
Everything funnels toward a single current mission. The rest of today's list can wait.
Never shame
No red “failed” states and no broken-streak animations. Missed work is “not done yet” or “moved”.
Measure, don't judge
Counts and durations from real sessions and tasks. No “focus score” and no labels for you as a person.
Private by design
Your goals and tasks are stored locally in SQLite. Intent never captures your screen, keystrokes, browsing history or which apps you use.
INTENT FOR WINDOWS
Your goals shouldn't disappear when you close the app.
Plan the month, focus on one task, come back after distractions, and end each day knowing where things stand.
Intent for Windows — v0.1.1
64-bit installer · Intent_0.1.1_x64-setup.exe
Download Intent for WindowsThe installer isn't Authenticode-signed yet, so Windows may show an “unknown publisher” warning. In-app updates are verified with a Tauri updater signature (update manifest).
- Windows 10 (22H2+) & 11
- Local-first SQLite storage
- Kero companion included