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Routine timer

A timed list of steps that runs itself

Write down the steps of a routine with a time on each one, press start, and let it advance on its own. The current step is big enough to read from across the room, and a chime marks each handover.

Ready

ready

Morning

32:00

4 steps, 32:00 in total

32:00 from first step to last

Steps
4
Total
32:00
Longest
15:00

Routine

example

This is an example to edit or replace. Nothing is saved in this browser until you change something.

Steps

4 of 30
:
:
:
:

Times are minutes and seconds. Edits apply the next time you press Start.

Export and import

The copied text is plain JSON, so you can paste it into a message and someone else can import it here.

How to use it

List the steps in the order you do them and give each one the time it actually takes, not the time you wish it took. Press Start and the timer runs the first step, chimes, and moves to the next without you touching anything. The step you are on is the large text, the one after it sits underneath, and the line under the bar tells you which step you are on and how much of the routine is left.

Putting a visible timer on each step of a morning or a transition is a standard executive-function support, and it is one of the more common recommendations for children and adults with ADHD as well as in general parenting advice for getting out of the door. The reason it helps is not motivation. It moves the work of tracking time out of your head and onto something you can look at, and it makes a vague block like "get ready" into a series of small commitments that each have an end.

Keep the steps short and concrete. "Shower" and "pack bag" work because you can tell at a glance whether you are on schedule. "Get organised" does not, because there is no moment where it is obviously finished. Five to eight steps is usually plenty. If a step regularly overruns, give it more time rather than treating the overrun as a personal failure: a routine that lies about how long things take stops being useful within a week.

The countdown is anchored to the system clock rather than to a ticking counter, so it stays honest if the tab goes to the background or the phone sleeps for a moment. Pausing stores your position and rebuilds the schedule when you resume. Routines are saved in this browser only, so a copy of the text from the export box is the way to move one to another device or hand it to someone else.

Frequently asked questions

What happens when a step ends?

The next step starts immediately, with a two-note chime and a quiet tick on each of the last three seconds before the handover. There is no confirmation step, which is the point: the routine keeps moving whether or not you finished, so an overrun shows up as less time later rather than a stalled timer.

Can I run a routine on my phone while doing something else?

Yes, though keep the tab in the foreground. The schedule stays correct regardless, because it is built from absolute clock times, but browsers suspend audio in a backgrounded tab so the chime can be missed. While a routine is running the page asks to keep the screen awake, which most mobile browsers honour.

Where are my routines stored?

In this browser's local storage, on this device. They are not sent anywhere and they do not follow you to another browser or a private window. Use the copy button to move a routine, and paste the text into the import box on the other device.

How is this different from the interval timer?

The interval timer repeats the same two phases many times, which suits workouts. This one runs a list of different named steps once through, which suits mornings, bedtimes, cleaning sessions and anything else where each stretch of time has its own label.

Related tools

For a single stretch of focused work rather than a sequence, the Pomodoro timer uses the same clock-anchored countdown.