Focus tools for ADHD software engineers
Your work lives on the same machine as every distraction. These help you start anyway.
Software engineers with ADHD face a specific bind: the work demands long stretches of deep focus, and it happens on the exact device that hosts every notification, tab and rabbit hole. adhd.rehab is built first for this audience. Task Breakdown turns "refactor the auth module" into an ordered list of small, shippable steps so you always have an obvious next action instead of a wall. A Focus Timer plus Focus Sounds create a defined, low-stimulation block for deep work. A Distraction Parking Lot lets you capture the "I should also fix…" thought in one tap and get straight back to the task, so context-switching does not cost you the whole session. None of it requires a login or sends your work anywhere. The full product will plug into your editor and calendar; the free tools already fit a developer workflow today.
The bind every ADHD engineer knows
Software work asks for long stretches of deep, sustained focus — and it happens on the exact machine that hosts every notification, every open tab, and every rabbit hole one search away. The tool and the distraction are the same device. For an ADHD brain that already struggles to start and sustain, that is the hardest possible arrangement.
It shows up as a specific pattern: you open the ticket, feel the size of it, and suddenly you are reading docs for an unrelated thing. Or you finally drop into flow at 4pm, three hours after you meant to. None of that is a discipline problem. It is what deep work costs when starting and sustaining are unreliable.
Turn the ticket into shippable steps
A task like "refactor the auth module" is not one action — it is a fog, and the brain cannot grip fog. Task Breakdown turns it into an ordered list of small, concrete steps with a one-step-at-a-time view, so you always have an obvious next action instead of a wall. The trick that works for ADHD is making the first step almost insultingly small: "open the file and read the two functions", not "do the refactor".
Defend the deep-work block
The Focus Timer creates a defined, bounded block — a visible countdown borrows the urgency your brain does not reliably generate — and Focus Sounds lays a steady, low-information floor of noise so the room is not silent enough for every distraction to land. Pair them: name the one thing the block is for, start the timer, bring up brown noise, and work until the gentle chime.
Park the "I should also fix…" thought
The most expensive ADHD tax in engineering is the mid-task tangent: you spot an unrelated bug, chase it, and lose the whole session’s context. The Brain Dump (and, in the full product, a one-tap Distraction Parking Lot) lets you capture that thought in a second and get straight back, so the idea is safe but the context is not lost.
It fits the workflow you already have
Everything here runs in the browser, needs no login, and sends your work nowhere — which matters when "the work" is your employer’s code. Use the tools next to your editor today. When the full product ships, it is designed to plug into the editor and calendar directly; the free tools are the part you can adopt right now.
Questions people ask
What is the best focus or ADHD tool for software engineers?
The combination that fits a dev workflow: a task breakdown that produces small, shippable steps, a focus timer plus steady background sound for deep-work blocks, and a fast way to park mid-task tangents. All three are free here, no login.
Does anything get sent to a server or stored?
No. The tools run client-side and store only in your browser. Task text sent to the optional AI breakdown is processed transiently and never stored — important when the work is proprietary code.
Will it integrate with my editor or calendar?
Not yet — the free tools are standalone and run in the browser. Editor and calendar integration is planned for the full product. Join the waitlist to hear when it lands.
Want the calmer way to start?
The free tools put these ideas to work — no account, nothing stored.