NotchBlock

Turn the Mac hardware notch into a time-blocking gateway.

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NotchBlock is a minimalist, enforced time-blocking scheduler for macOS. It transforms the hardware notch into an invisible interaction point, and uses an unmissable full-screen overlay to interrupt you when a task ends — keeping you focused by force.

🎯 Hover over the notch → see today's schedule → full-screen reminder at task end → must confirm completion

✨ Features

Feature	Description
🔲 Notch Hover Panel	Hover over the notch for 0.5s — your schedule slides out gracefully
🛡️ Fullscreen Aware	Auto-pauses notch detection during video, gaming, and presentations
⚡ Hard Interrupt Overlay	Full-screen dimming overlay at task end — blocks all other interaction
⏱️ 5‑Minute Timeout	Unacknowledged blocks are auto-marked "missed" with a system notification
📋 Daily Scheduler	Minimal timeline list with automatic time‑conflict detection
🔄 History Correction	Manually adjust task status for accurate time‑tracking review
🚀 Launch at Login	One‑click toggle from the menu bar; runs quietly in the background
💾 Local Storage	All data stored locally — no network, fully private

📥 Installation

Download the latest NotchBlock-*.dmg from Releases.

3‑Step Setup

After opening the DMG, follow the on‑window instructions:

1. Drag to Applications — drop NotchBlock.app into your Applications folder
2. Double‑click FixQuarantine.command — removes the quarantine attribute and launches the app (first launch requires right‑click → Open)
3. Done — the menu bar icon appears; you're ready to go

💡 Why step 2? NotchBlock is not notarized by Apple (requires a $99/yr developer account). macOS quarantines downloaded apps. FixQuarantine.command runs xattr -cr /Applications/NotchBlock.app to clear this flag.

After first launch, grant these permissions:

Permission	Purpose	Settings Path
Accessibility	Detecting fullscreen apps	System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility
Notifications	Task timeout alerts	System Settings → Notifications → NotchBlock

Manual Install

# If the DMG script won't run, do it manually:
xattr -cr /Applications/NotchBlock.app
open /Applications/NotchBlock.app

🏗️ Architecture

macOS 14.0+ · Swift 6.1 · SwiftUI + AppKit

Key APIs:

• NSTrackingArea — notch‑region mouse tracking
• NSPanel + .nonactivatingPanel — dropdown panel (doesn't steal focus)
• CGShieldingWindowLevel() + .fullScreenAuxiliary — overlay that punches through
• CGWindowList — fullscreen state detection
• SMAppService — login item registration
• UserNotifications — timeout banner alerts
• UserDefaults / ISO 8601 JSON — local persistence

Project structure:

NotchBlock/
├── Models/           TimeBlock · BlockStatus
├── Managers/         TimeBlockStore · NotchTracker · NotchPanelController
│                     OverlayWindowController · BlockScheduler
├── Views/            MainSchedulerView · TimeBlockRowView · AddEditBlockView
│                     NotchPanelView · OverlayView
└── Utilities/        DateExtensions · LaunchManager

⌨️ Shortcuts

Shortcut	Action
⌘O	Open scheduler panel
⌘Q	Quit NotchBlock

📝 Development

# Regenerate the Xcode project after adding/removing .swift files
python3 generate_xcode_project.py

# CLI build
xcodebuild -project NotchBlock.xcodeproj -scheme NotchBlock -configuration Release build

# Create DMG
./scripts/build-dmg.sh

📄 License

MIT License

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_{Built with ❤️ for focused work · macOS Apple Silicon}