HealthyProgrammer — A Modern Productivity & Break Reminder App

A lightweight cross-platform desktop app built with Rust + Tauri.

HealthyProgrammer helps users maintain a healthy work rhythm by reminding them to take breaks at regular intervals. It’s designed to reduce eye strain, improve focus, and promote better work habits — without heavy system usage.

Features (Planned)

• Set total work duration
• Set break intervals & break duration
• System notifications (Linux/Windows/macOS)
• Custom alarm sound playback
• System tray support (run in background)
• Global shortcut to open/close the UI
• Beautiful modern UI (Tauri + HTML/CSS/JS)
• Cross-platform lightweight build (~5–10 MB)
• Persistent settings (work intervals saved locally)

Tech Stack

Layer	Technology
Desktop Shell	Tauri
Backend Logic	Rust
Frontend UI	HTML • CSS • JavaScript (or Svelte/React later)
Notifications	Tauri notify plugin
Audio Playback	Rust crate (rodio or lofty)
Global Shortcuts	Tauri global shortcut API
Packaging	.AppImage (Linux), .exe (Windows), .app (macOS)

Project Structure (Proposed)

breaktimer/
 ├── src-tauri/
 │   ├── src/
 │   │    ├── main.rs          # Rust backend
 │   │    ├── timer.rs         # Timer engine
 │   │    ├── notifier.rs      # Notifications
 │   │    ├── audio.rs         # Alarm sound player
 │   │    └── settings.rs      # Load/save settings
 │   └── tauri.conf.json       # App configuration
 │
 ├── src/
 │   ├── index.html            # Main UI
 │   ├── app.js                # Frontend logic
 │   ├── styles.css            # Styling
 │
 ├── README.md
 └── package.json (if using JS bundler)

Core Logic (Short Summary)

1. User sets:

• Total work time (in hours)
• Break interval (in minutes)
• Break duration (in minutes)

2. Timer Engine (Rust)

• Runs in background thread
• Tracks time precisely (Rust is perfect for this)
• Sends events to frontend (start break, resume work)

3. When break begins

• Show notification
• Play alarm sound
• Pause work timer

4. When break ends

• Show “Resume Work” notification
• Restart work timer

5. When total work time ends

• Final notification
• Stop timers
• Optionally quit or reset

Installation (Developer Setup)

1️ Install Rust

curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh

2️ Install Tauri Requirements

Linux example:

sudo apt install libwebkit2gtk-4.1-dev libgtk-3-dev libappindicator3-dev librsvg2-dev

3️ Create a Tauri project

cargo create-tauri-app breaktimer

4️ Run dev mode

cargo tauri dev

5️ Build final binary

cargo tauri build

Team Work Guidelines

• Use feature branches (feature/timer-engine, feature-notifications)
• Keep Rust logic modular
• UI can be improved anytime without touching backend
• Document every function inside src-tauri/src
• Always test on Linux + Windows (team can divide tasks)

Roadmap (Milestones)

Phase 1 — MVP

• Basic UI
• Timer engine in Rust
• Notifications + Sound
• Settings input form

Phase 2 — UX Upgrade

• System tray
• Global shortcut (Ctrl+Shift+B)
• Dark mode UI

Phase 3 — Production

• Auto-updater (optional)
• AppImage packaging
• Windows installer
• Polished UI

Credits

Created by bugsfounder Inspired by a prototype built 2 years ago, now rebuilt with Rust for long-term quality.