-
-
- - "Increase productivity with paws-itive breaks" -
- -+ Tuesday. +
- PauseCat_Installer.msi ·
- —
- · Apache 2.0 · Requires Windows 10/11 + WebView2
-
- "When it's time, PauseCat takes over." -
- - - -- "Dead simple to set up." -
- -Install
-- "One MSI. That's it." -
-
- Download PauseCat_Installer.msi from GitHub Releases.
- The WiX installer checks for the WebView2 runtime and registers
- autostart. Run it, find the cat in your tray.
+ Your last glass of water was at noon.
Configure
-- "Right-click. Settings. Done." -
-- Set work interval (5 min – 4 hours), break duration, break mode - (Soft or Hard), custom messages, and 3D text style. Every setting - live-previews inside the settings window. +
+ Something needs to change.
Work. Break. Repeat.
-- "PauseCat handles the rest." -
-- Interval fires → GDI captures your screen → Rust blurs it → - WebView2 break overlay appears. Lock your screen? Timer pauses. - Playing music? PauseCat pauses it. Sleep? Timer resumes when - you're back. -
+ -
- Everything you'd engineer yourself.
- Already done.
-
+
+
- - "Deep Customization" -
-- Soft or Hard mode. Custom break messages, randomized. 3D text - behind the overlay: rotation X/Y/Z, float/rotate/swing/pulse - animation, opacity, depth, glow. Bubble: size, position, opacity. +
Meet PauseCat.
+
+ An open-source break reminder for Windows.
Quiet, precise,
+ and shaped like a cat.
"GDI Blur Background"
-- Win32 GDI BitBlt screen capture + a pure Rust Gaussian blur. - Instantaneous, zero-flicker. The background you see during a break - is your actual screen, not a screenshot-of-a-screenshot. -
-"WebView2-Accelerated Overlay"
-
- The break bubble runs inside a WebView2 host — the Chromium engine
- powering Edge. Smooth animations, true
- backdrop-filter, hardware-accelerated rendering.
-
"Intelligent Timer Pausing"
-- WTS session events: screen lock → timer pauses. Wake from sleep → - timer resumes. PBT power events for suspend/resume. It never - counts idle time as work time. -
-"SMTC Integration"
-- Windows System Media Transport Controls. Break starts → active - media pauses. Break ends → media resumes. Your Spotify keeps - playing context, not state. -
-"< 1.5 MB Binary"
-
- opt-level = 'z', fat LTO, single codegen unit, UPX
- LZMA compression. The installer is smaller than most browser
- extension icons.
+
+ + Windows 10 / 11 | Apache 2.0 | < 2.5 MB
+ + Download for Windows- "How hard should it push?" -
- -- "Gentle nudge" -
-- The overlay appears with a countdown and a Skip button. You're an - adult — PauseCat reminds, never locks you out. -
-- Default mode. Good for most users. -
-- "Full enforcement" -
-- No Skip button. No dismiss. The countdown runs to zero. You set - the interval — PauseCat holds you to it. -
-- For users who know they'll skip soft breaks every time. -
-
-{
- "behavior": {
- "mode": "Hard",
- "interval": 3600,
- "break": 300
- },
- "overlay": {
- "blur_radius": 45,
- "theme": "Dark"
- }
-}
- - Easily configured via the tray UI. -
+ Built in Rust. + + Under 2.5 MB. + + Always watching. +- "Fully open. Read every line." -
-- Clean Rust architecture: state machine, GDI capture, Gaussian - blur, WebView2 host, WinHTTP update engine — all on GitHub. Fork - it, audit it, improve it. -
- -
+ Hardware-accelerated. Fullscreen.
This is the actual
+ PauseCat experience.
+
- "One file. One click. Running." -
+ + -Download from GitHub Releases
-
- [PauseCat_Installer.msi]
-
Run PauseCat_Installer.msi
-- WiX handles: WebView2 runtime check, autostart registry entry, - file installation. -
-- Find the cat in your system tray -
-- Right-click → Settings to configure your intervals, mode, and - overlay style. +
+ Mirroring %AppData%\PauseCat\config.json
- WebView2 Runtime (auto-installed by WiX)
- ~1.5 MB disk space -
- — · Apache 2.0 -
-- "Built by one. Improved by many." -
- -- - Report a Bug -
-- Open an issue with the Bug Report template. Include your Windows - version and steps to reproduce. -
--
- Use the Feature Request template. Explain the use case, not just - the solution. -
--
- Branch: feature/<desc> or
- fix/<desc>. Conventional commits. Main is
- read-only.
-
Work. Break. Repeat.
++ GDI capture → Rust blur → WebView2 overlay. Timer pauses + automatically on screen lock. +
+
- - "Your next break is overdue." -
-- Free. Open source. Already running on Windows machines that need it. -
+ "Finally, a break app that doesn't feel like malware." ++ Built in Rust. Fully Open. +
+GDI Blur
+
+ Win32 GDI BitBlt capture, blurred via a pure
+ Rust Gaussian implementation. Zero flicker.
+
WebView2 Overlay
++ Hardware accelerated Chromium engine. +
+Intelligent Timer
++ WTS lock → pause. Wake → resume. +
+- — · Apache 2.0 · Windows 10/11 · < - 1.5 MB -
+