A gamified productivity system that makes time visible, immediate, and impossible to ignore.
People with ADHD suffer from time blindness—an inability to accurately perceive how much time has passed or remains. Scientific literature on executive functioning refers to this as steep temporal discounting: an ADHD brain struggles to value rewards in the distant future.
Real-world impact:
- A project due in 2 weeks feels the same as one due in 2 years
- It "doesn't exist" until it's due tomorrow
- This causes massive panic, burnout, and failure cycles
Instead of a traditional 30-day calendar grid, HopperFocus visualizes time as a shrinking horizontal progress bar.
How it works:
- You input the Final Deadline for your massive project
- The UI renders a horizontal timeline from Today to Deadline
- As time passes, the "Today" marker physically moves closer to the end
- The remaining time bar changes color (green → yellow → red) based on urgency
The Hackathon Flex:
This converts abstract time into undeniable visual reality. Your ADHD brain can no longer pretend the deadline doesn't exist—it's shrinking in front of your eyes.
AI breaks down your syllabus/assignment, but you have the final say.
How it works:
- Paste your massive assignment (essay, coding project, etc.)
- Gemini AI breaks it into micro-tasks with suggested:
- Title
- Timer duration
- Mana Stake (how much you risk)
- Mana Bounty (how much you win)
- Before accepting, you can customize everything:
- Edit the task title (e.g., "Read Chapter 1" → "Skim Chapter 1 for keywords")
- Adjust the timer (5 min → 10 min)
- Assign a specific due date on your Time Turner timeline
- Crank up the stake if you're distracted (risk 50 Mana instead of 10)
The Hackathon Flex:
You're not just a passive recipient of AI suggestions—you manufacture your own adrenaline by manually increasing stakes when you need more focus.
When you accept a contract, the app enters full-screen immersive mode.
How it works:
- The rest of the interface disappears completely
- A massive visual timer fills the screen:
- Shrinking magical aura that gets smaller as time runs out
- Draining hourglass particles falling down
- Color shifts from calm blue → urgent red
- Stakes and bounty are displayed prominently
- Only 2 buttons exist: "Task Complete" and "Forfeit"
The Hackathon Flex:
Traditional number countdowns don't work for ADHD. HopperFocus uses visceral visual feedback (shrinking aura, color changes, falling particles) to make time passage physically undeniable.
Why standard to-do lists fail for ADHD:
- No immediate consequences → brain doesn't prioritize
- Future rewards feel abstract → temporal discounting wins
Why HopperFocus works:
- Loss Aversion: Humans fear losing what they already have more than they desire gains. Staking Mana triggers this primitive survival instinct.
- Immediate Consequences: Unlike real deadlines (days away), HopperFocus's 5-15 minute timers create instant accountability.
- Visual Time Perception: The shrinking timeline and visual timers bypass time blindness by making abstract time spatially concrete.
- FastAPI - High-performance async API
- MongoDB - Mana ledger (balance, wins, losses, quests completed)
- Google Gemini 2.5 Flash - AI task breakdown with JSON output
- Motor - Async MongoDB driver
- React + TypeScript - Component-based architecture
- Vite - Lightning-fast dev server
- Tailwind CSS - Utility-first styling with custom magical theme
- Axios - HTTP client for backend communication
- ElevenLabs API - Voice narration for task guidance
1. Click "Activate Timeline"
2. Input your project's actual due date
3. Watch the Time Turner render your shrinking runway
1. Paste your syllabus/assignment text
2. AI breaks it into micro-tasks (5-15 min each)
3. Review the suggested contracts
1. Click any task to open the Contract Customizer
2. Edit title, timer, stake, bounty
3. Assign it to a specific date on your timeline
4. Accept when ready
1. Full-screen visual timer activates
2. Everything else disappears
3. Complete before timer hits zero
4. Claim bounty or lose stake
1. Watch your timeline shrink daily
2. Complete contracts assigned to "today"
3. Build momentum with small wins
4. Earn Mana and confidence
- ✅ Time Turner Timeline (horizontal visual progress bar)
- ✅ AI-powered task breakdown (Gemini 2.5 Flash)
- ✅ Contract Customizer (edit title, timer, stake, bounty, due date)
- ✅ Hyper-Focus Mode (full-screen visual timer)
- ✅ Mana Ledger (stakes, bounties, balance tracking)
- ✅ Loss Aversion Mechanics (real stakes at risk)
- ✅ Visual Timer Feedback (shrinking aura, color changes)
- ✅ ElevenLabs Voice Narration (Harry Potter themed)
- Python 3.10+
- Node.js 18+
- MongoDB running on
localhost:27017 - Google Gemini API key
cd hopperfocus/backend
pip install -r requirements.txt
# Create .env file
echo "GEMINI_API_KEY=your_api_key_here" > .env
# Start server
python main.py
# Or: uvicorn main:app --host 127.0.0.1 --port 8004 --reloadBackend runs on: http://127.0.0.1:8004
cd hopperfocus/frontend
npm install
npm run devFrontend runs on: http://localhost:5175
# Comprehensive backend tests (10 tests)
python hopperfocus/backend/comprehensive_test.py
# End-to-end integration test
python hopperfocus/backend/test_e2e.py
# AI-only test
python hopperfocus/backend/test_gemini_direct.pyExpected Results:
- 9/10 backend tests pass
- E2E test completes full user flow
- AI generates 15-50 tasks per assignment
❌ "Write 10-page paper" - due in 2 weeks
└─ Feels abstract, no urgency
└─ You check it tomorrow, then tomorrow, then tomorrow
└─ Panic on night before deadline
❌ Future reward (good grade) doesn't motivate today
❌ No immediate consequences for not starting
❌ Time passage is invisible
✅ Visual timeline shows 14 days → shrinking to 13, 12, 11...
└─ Time is now SPATIAL and SHRINKING
✅ Assignment broken into 20 micro-tasks
- "Read 3 research papers (10 min)" - Due: Today, Stake: 10 Mana
- "Outline introduction (5 min)" - Due: Tomorrow, Stake: 15 Mana
- "Write paragraph 1 (10 min)" - Due: Day 3, Stake: 10 Mana
└─ Each task has IMMEDIATE consequences (10-15 min)
└─ Loss aversion kicks in (Mana at risk RIGHT NOW)
└─ Visual timer makes time passage UNDENIABLE
✅ You complete 2-3 contracts per day
✅ Mana balance grows
✅ Project gets done with zero panic
NOT another Pomodoro app:
- Pomodoro = generic 25-minute timer (no stakes, no customization)
- HopperFocus = customizable contracts with real loss aversion
NOT another AI task planner:
- Generic planners = AI dictates, you obey
- HopperFocus = AI suggests, you customize stakes/timers/dates
NOT another calendar app:
- Calendars = static 30-day grids (abstract boxes)
- HopperFocus = dynamic shrinking timeline (visual urgency)
The Unique Combination:
- AI-powered breakdown (scalable)
- User customization (agency + manufactured adrenaline)
- Visual time representation (combats time blindness)
- Loss aversion mechanics (immediate consequences)
- Hyper-focus immersion (eliminates distractions)
- Best Diversity & Inclusion - Solves ADHD executive dysfunction through neurological accessibility
- Best UI/UX - Time Turner + Hyper-Focus Mode with immersive visual feedback
- Best AI/ML Immersion - Gemini-powered adaptive task breakdown
- Best Use of Gemini API - Structured JSON output for micro-task generation
- Time Turner Timeline
- Contract Customizer
- Hyper-Focus Mode
- Mana Ledger
- Buddy system (wager with friends)
- Leaderboards (most contracts completed)
- Contract sharing (trade custom missions)
- Personalized difficulty adjustment
- Pattern recognition (when you fail most often)
- Adaptive stake suggestions
- Voice personality selection
HopperFocus is built for the ADHD community. Contributions welcome!
Areas to improve:
- UI/UX refinements for visual timers
- More visual timer styles (hourglass, candle, etc.)
- Mobile app version (React Native)
- Browser extension (inject timers into any tab)
MIT License - Built at WICSHackathon 2026
- ADHD Research: Dr. Russell Barkley's work on executive dysfunction
- Behavioral Economics: Kahneman & Tversky's loss aversion research
- AI Partner: Google Gemini 2.5 Flash API
- ADHD Community: For validating that time blindness is real and brutal
Make time visible. Beat time blindness. Conquer ADHD. ⏰✨