macOS MENU BAR APP

Deep work is crimson. Shallow work is blue.

RedBlocks is a menu bar app for planning and tracking deep work, as blocks on your timeline.

Download for macOS FREE · macOS 14+ · APPLE SILICON & INTEL
01

Plan the day

Click and drag on the timeline to rough out the day: blocks snap to 15 minutes and never overlap; a dragged block jumps over its neighbors and lands in free space. Crimson for the work that needs your whole brain, blue for the rest. New blocks start as a draft; Save makes them real.

9 AM
:15
:30
:45
10
New block 15 m30 m45 m1 h
New block 1 h
Save
DRAG TO CREATE · SNAPS TO 15 M · SAVE
02

Make it repeat

The editor’s S–S toggles make a block repeat weekly: a copy is stamped onto the timeline each matching day, wearing on its corner tab. Editing a repeating block changes the whole series going forward, and series can never collide.

SMTWTFS
S–S TOGGLES · REPEATS WEEKLY · STAMPED ↻ EACH MATCHING DAY
03

Keep a backlog

Not ready to give something a time? Plan a block: a title and a color, no slot. It waits in a slim Planned tray under the header, and one click drops it into the next free slot as a draft. Pin a block you repeat and it stays in the backlog, ready to schedule again.

Outline chapter 4
Expense report
Ship the parser 1 h 30 m
Outline chapter 4 45 m
Outline chapter 4 45 m
NO TIME YET · CLICK → NEXT FREE SLOT · PINNED ROWS STAY
04

Dive

Five minutes out, a card under the menu bar reminds you of the upcoming Deep Work. Then a sonar ping marks the start and brown noise settles in underneath (generated in-app, no audio files). If a notification banner lands mid-dive, RedBlocks answers it with how much dive time is left. No notification permissions asked, ever.

10:10 AM11:03 AM
Deep Work in 5 mShip the parser · 10:15 – 11:45
MessagesSam: lunch tomorrow?
Stay focused42 m of dive time left
REMINDED 5 M OUT · BANNERS ANSWERED MID-DIVE
05

Surface

A chime marks the end (glass on the way up) and the block confirms the moment it does: a ✓ appears and it joins the day’s permanent record. It can’t be edited or cleared away.

Write chapter 3 16 m left1 h 30 m
CONFIRMED THE MOMENT IT ENDS · JOINS THE PERMANENT RECORD

The icon is the answer.

One glance at the menu bar: what should I be doing right now?

DEEP WORK · NOW
SHALLOW WORK · NOW
NOTHING SCHEDULED
IF BLOCKS EVER OVERLAP IN SPIRIT, DEEP WORK WINS.

The quiet details.

CHIMES

Sonar on the way down, glass on the way up. Back-to-back blocks play only the dive tone. One toggle to mute.

BROWN NOISE

Soft and procedural, running for exactly the length of the dive. Pick the sound, set the volume live, or turn it off.

FOCUS NUDGES

Banners during deep work are answered with a quiet “Stay focused” card. It watches for the banner window itself. No permissions.

5-MINUTE WARNING

“Deep Work in 5 m,” with the block’s title and slot: time to wrap up and get ready. Moving a block re-arms it.

REPEAT ↻

Day toggles stamp a block onto the week, each copy marked ↻. Edits change the series going forward; series can’t collide.

YOUR DATA STAYS HOME

Nothing sent to our servers related to your data/blocks.

FREE · NO ACCOUNT · NO CLOUD

Dive in.

Download RedBlocks for macOS REDBLOCKS.APP · macOS 14+ · APPLE SILICON & INTEL

One .app, straight from this page. Drag it to Applications, add it to Login Items, done.