Callulu is a Mac menu bar app. It gives you eight quiet visual cues for the moments that decide how a workday goes — starting, staying with something, stepping back, and stopping at a reasonable hour.
Requires macOS 13 or later. Apple silicon and Intel.
Each one is a single visual signal. Nothing is measured, and nothing is scored. You decide what the cue means.
A flash across the screen, like a strike nearby. The signal that work has started.
Darkens the menu bar and the left, right, and bottom of the screen, so the centre of your work stands alone.
A light passes along the edge of the screen for one second, at an interval you choose. For catching yourself when you have gone too far into something.
A quiet, gently shifting light stays lit at the edge of the screen. Company for a long stretch of work.
A water surface appears across the screen, placing a cue to return to calm.
An eye appears, for looking at yourself and the situation from one step away.
A deep breathing guide.
Softens visual stimulation across the whole screen as the signal to end the day.
The eight cues, the settings, and the privacy position are identical in both. They differ in one thing: whether you can run a cue from the keyboard without opening the menu.
Mac App Store
Direct from Nowthy
Keyboard shortcuts need macOS Input Monitoring permission, which is why they cannot ship in the App Store edition. Apple's sandbox does not allow it. You grant the permission yourself, and it can be revoked at any time — key events are read only to match the patterns you assigned, and are never stored or sent anywhere.
Neither edition is on sale yet. Write to support@nowthy.com if you would like to hear when they ship.
Callulu has no account and no sign-in. It does not track what you work on, how long you worked, or whether you finished. There is no history, no score, and no streak to keep.
The app makes no network connections at all. Your settings are stored on your Mac and never leave it. Nothing is sent to Nowthy or to anyone else, because there is nothing that sends.
Callulu is not a timer, a task manager, or a habit tracker. There is nothing to fall behind on.
A note on light. LIGHTNING produces a brief flash across the whole screen, and several other cues change the brightness of the display. If you are sensitive to flashing light, or have a condition affected by it, turn LIGHTNING off. Every cue can be switched off individually, and the effect strength can be lowered.
Questions, problems, or ideas — write to support@nowthy.com. Please include your macOS version and which cue was involved.