safe-eyes-cli

About

safe-eyes-cli enforces regular, mandatory breaks from computer work to prevent eye strain and promote well-being.

It has one unique feature that other programs lack:

• automatically pausing during calls

Motivation: Be simpler (fewer dependencies) than original SafeEyes and pause during calls.

Dependencies

• yad - show break dialog
• paplay (pulseaudio) - play sound at the end of break
• pactl (pulseaudio) - detect when microphone is used

Installation

1. Clone repo
2. Add alias safe-eyes to shell config
3. Add autostart entry
4. Configure (needs app restart): safe-eyes config
5. Start: safe-eyes start

Fedora KDE

git clone https://github.com/RG9/safe-eyes-cli.git && \
echo 'alias safe-eyes='$(pwd)'/safe-eyes-cli/safe-eyes.sh' >> ~/.zshrc; source ~/.zshrc && \
mkdir -p ~/.config/autostart && \
sed "s|#MY_PATH#|$(pwd)|g" safe-eyes-cli/installation/safe-eyes-cli.desktop > ~/.config/autostart/safe-eyes-cli.desktop

Usage

Install and forget.

The program is designed to automatically start on boot and pause when necessary.

However, in certain situations, the following features may be useful:

• print usage: safe-eyes --help

• start and debug: safe-eyes start --debug

• stop: safe-eyes stop

Features

• break dialog/notification that enforces rest, i.e. fullscreen mode, no "skip" button, prevents minimizing ( currently only x11 is supported). Unfortunately can be closed with Alt+F4 shortcut (disable this shortcut if needed).
• break is postponed if screen was locked (also works after hibernation)
• break session is AUTOMATICALLY skipped during calls when webcam or microphone is in use
• OS can be locked during break session (use shortcut Win+L)
• audible beep sound signaling the end of a break
• customizable work and break session durations
• a separate configuration file to facilitate easy script updates in the future

Nice to have and ideas (not implemented)

• get rid of x11 workaround preventing skipping break
• show status? (when will be the next break - is it actually needed?)
• skipping break on calls: push small notification on skipped break?
• "lock screen" button on break dialog?
• optional "skip" button? (let user decide)

Alternatives

• https://github.com/slgobinath/SafeEyes

  • + many settings and extra plugins
  • - however requires some extra dependencies on Fedora and I haven't figured out yet how to run it in toolbox container

• https://github.com/hovancik/stretchly

  • + distributed as a Flatpack
  • - why it starts so many processes in background?