I spend a lot of time in front of a computer.
And like probably a lot of developers, when I'm deep into work, I completely forget about everything around me.
Drink water? Forgot.
Take a break? Forgot.
Look away from the screen? Forgot.
Move around for a few minutes? Maybe after another three hours. 😅
Living in the UAE makes this even easier. It's hot outside for a good part of the year, so it's very easy to stay indoors, sit in front of a screen, turn on the AC, and just keep working.
At some point I thought:
Why don't I just build something to remind me?
So I built Kairo.
What is Kairo?
Kairo is a small desktop companion designed to help build healthier computer habits.
The idea is simple:
- 💧 Remind me to drink water
- 👀 Remind me to rest my eyes
- 🚶 Remind me to take breaks
- 🧘 Encourage healthier working habits
- 📊 Keep track of what I've actually been doing
I wanted something that felt less like a notification from an operating system and more like a small companion sitting alongside me while I work.
That's where the animated character comes in.
I wanted it to be private
One thing I didn't want was another productivity application that required an account and sent all my activity to some server.
So I designed Kairo around an offline-first approach.
The core application works locally and stores its data on the machine.
AI is also completely optional.
If you want AI-powered coaching, Kairo can connect to providers such as Ollama or LM Studio, so you can run the AI locally instead of sending your data to a cloud service.
The application should still work perfectly fine without AI.
Why I built it
Honestly, this wasn't originally meant to become a big open-source project.
I built it because I needed it.
I kept noticing the same pattern in my own work:
Start coding → get focused → lose track of time → forget water → forget breaks → realize hours have passed.
If Kairo can interrupt that cycle even a little, then it has already done what I wanted.
A little bit about the engineering
Although the idea is simple, I wanted to use the project to experiment with building a proper desktop application.
Kairo is built with Flutter and is currently focused on macOS.
Some of the things I'm working with include:
- Flutter desktop
- SQLite for local persistence
- Event-driven communication
- Modular packages
- Native desktop integration
- Offline-first architecture
- Optional AI providers
- Local AI through OpenAI-compatible endpoints
One design decision I'm particularly happy with is keeping AI out of the critical reminder path.
The reminder system shouldn't stop working just because an AI provider is unavailable.
AI should enhance the experience, not become a dependency for the basic functionality.
It's still a work in progress
There are plenty of things I want to improve.
I'm still figuring out:
- Better reminder behaviour
- More useful habit insights
- Better AI coaching
- More customization
- Improving the desktop experience
- Supporting more platforms
And this is where I'd really like some feedback.
If you spend most of your day working at a computer:
What would actually help you build healthier working habits?
Not another productivity dashboard.
Not another app asking you to track 20 things.
Just something that quietly helps you remember the basic things we tend to forget when we're focused.
Try Kairo
The project is open source:
GitHub: https://github.com/azadhmhd/kairo
If you find it useful, give it a try.
And if you have ideas, suggestions, or even things you think I've approached badly, I'd love to hear them.
I built Kairo for myself, but maybe it can become something useful for other developers too.
Maybe we can build a healthier workspace together.
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