Skip to content

Sand Timer 1.6.0

Choose a tag to compare

View all tags
@and and released this 24 Sep 12:39
· 24 commits to main since this release
v1.6.0
abf6b54

A realistic sand timer that sits on your Mac's desktop, above your other windows.

What's new in 1.6.0

  • Ask Claude about your time. The app now ships a small MCP server, so Claude can read the record and answer questions about it — "how much did I focus this week?", "which days do I get deep work done?", "put September's hours in my invoice". Point Claude at it once:

    claude mcp add sand-timer -- /Applications/SandTimer.app/Contents/MacOS/sand-timer-mcp

    It reads what the Statistics window shows, plus what the timer is doing at this moment. It makes no network calls and nothing is uploaded; nothing runs until Claude asks it something.

  • Claude can work the timer, once you allow it. "Start a 20 minute timer", "pause it", "how long is left?" — after you turn on Control from Claude & Shortcuts in the right-click menu, which is off to begin with. With it on, the timer also answers sandtimer:// links, so Shortcuts, a script, or open sandtimer://start?minutes=25 in a terminal can start, pause, resume and restart it.

  • It stays on every desktop. A window that joins every Space should stay on all of them, but macOS can quietly lose its place on one: the timer would ride in on the switch animation, vanish a moment later, and go on running unseen. It now asks for its place again each time you change desktop.

What was new in 1.5

  • Statistics. Statistics… in the right-click menu shows how long the sand has run and how many timers ran all the way out, by day, week, month or year, as a chart you can hover over to read any span off.
  • Export to CSV. Export… in that window saves the whole record, grouped the way you are looking at it, as sand_timer_report_YYYYMMDDHHMM.csv.
  • It tells you when there's a new version, once a day, and says which version you are running. Check for Updates turns that off, and with it off the app makes no network calls at all.
  • The falling sand starts silent — Sand Sounds begins at Off — and is heard whether or not the timer is on screen once you turn it up.
  • More to hand in the menu bar: pause, resume, restart and the sound settings, with the timer hidden away up there.
  • A shorter menu: sand colour, base style and size gathered under Appearance.

Earlier updates

  • 1.4.1: a soft chime each minute (off by default), and the sound settings grouped together.
  • 1.4.0: tilt it by hand, lift a toppled timer back up, and pick it up by the top.
  • 1.3.1: a natural shadow.
  • 1.3.0: Float Anywhere, and smooth tipping over and standing up.
  • 1.2.0: gravity affects the flow (drop it and the stream stops mid-air), about 40% less CPU, and natural-looking sand.
  • 1.1.1: a smooth, steady sand stream.
  • 1.1.0: 6- and 12-minute timers for 0.1- and 0.2-hour billing blocks.
  • 1.0.3: new installs start on the 25-minute 🍅 Pomodoro setting.
  • 1.0.2: Support Sand Timer… in the right-click menu; open source under the MIT License.

Download

SandTimer-1.6.0.dmg below. Open it and drag Sand Timer into Applications. Works on macOS 13 Ventura or later, on Apple Silicon and Intel Macs. Signed and notarized, so it opens without a security warning.

Using it

  • Click to start. Click again to pause (it tips onto its side) and again to resume.
  • Drag it anywhere; let go and it drops to the bottom of the screen.
  • Push the top sideways to tilt it, lift a toppled timer back up by its top, or pull the top upward to pick it up.
  • Right-click for durations (1–60 minutes, including a 25-minute 🍅 Pomodoro), Appearance (sand colors, base style, size), sounds, Minute Chimes, Start at Login, Float Anywhere, Hide to Menu Bar, Statistics and Control from Claude & Shortcuts.
  • Hidden in the menu bar, the time left shows beside the hourglass, with pause, resume, restart, the sound settings and Statistics in its menu.

What's inside

  • Sand that behaves like sand: a crater that deepens on top, a pile that builds at the bottom, a stream that loosens as it falls, and a neck sized to the duration.
  • Flip, drop, shake, tilt and knock it over, and the sand responds.
  • Remaining time on a display in the base that switches over when you flip it.
  • Sounds made to match: sand pouring onto glass, then onto sand, shaking, landing, a chime when time is up, and optional minute chimes.
  • Hide it to the menu bar with the time left, pause, resume and restart.
  • A day-by-day record of the time you ran, with daily, weekly, monthly and yearly views, a CSV export, and an MCP server Claude can read it through.

SHA-256: 1c3eb0752469fed9db0650f493875c7001d7766ca2c377d6fd6bf5e9d0a6c90f

Assets 3
Loading