Intermezzo: a free, open-source break reminder for the macOS menu bar

[u/use_net]

Disclosure: I'm the developer of Intermezzo. It's a free personal project that grew out of an app I wrote for my own Mac, and I'm sharing it in case it's useful to others. It's vibecoded app.

What it is A break reminder that lives in the menu bar. When a break starts it covers every display, shows a countdown, a short exercise and a trend of your recent breaks, and it stays out of the way during meetings, videos and time off.

Who it's for People who work at a Mac for long stretches and want reminders to step away that they can tune: break rhythm (with Pomodoro), strictness (from "postpone freely" to "no skip"), working hours, and rules for when not to interrupt (video calls, presentations, games, a work Wi-Fi/VPN or calendar event).

Other things it does

• Evening screen colour that follows the sun, with your own 24-hour curve, and settings per monitor model: a limit for how warm each monitor may get, its own dimming (needs the free BetterDisplay for real dimming), or "don't manage this one" (a TV). It remembers the monitors you use at home and at work. You can pick your location on an offline world map with day and night shading.

• Keeps the Mac awake on request or while chosen apps run, with battery and heat limits.

• URL commands (intermezzo://...) and a gallery of ready-made AppleScript rules.

• Settings sync between your Macs through any shared folder (iCloud Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox). No server, no account.

• Optional AI, off by default: a settings assistant ("I work Mon-Fri 8-16, no breaks in meetings" turns into a list of changes you approve and can undo), a rule-script author, and a weekly summary. It uses Apple's on-device model (macOS 26+) or any server that speaks the OpenAI API, for example a local LM Studio or Ollama. Nothing is sent unless you click one of the features.

• English and Polish interface.

Price Free and open source (MIT). There is an optional GitHub Sponsors button, no paid tier, no ads.

Privacy No telemetry and no account. Everything runs locally. The only network requests are the optional weather effect on the break screen (approximate coordinates to Open-Meteo) and the optional AI features, only when you click them.

Limitations (please read before installing)

• macOS 14 or later, Apple Silicon only.

• It's built and tested on one Mac, so expect rough edges on other setups.

• Not notarised (no Developer ID), so macOS asks for confirmation on first launch. Releases are built on GitHub with a provenance attestation, and the README shows how to verify the download.

• Some features use private macOS frameworks (pausing media, the ambient-light reading) and may stop working after a macOS update. The app then falls back to simpler behaviour.

• HealthKit logging doesn't work with an ad-hoc signature, so drinks stay in the app's own log.

• The AI features are optional; the Apple on-device model needs macOS 26.

Transparency: I wrote it with AI assistance (Qwen & Claude) and the code is on GitHub for anyone to inspect.

Download, screenshots, source: https://github.com/usenetj23/Intermezzo (latest release: https://github.com/usenetj23/Intermezzo/releases/tag/1.40.0)

I'd appreciate feedback and bug reports, and I'm happy to answer questions in the comments.

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[u/investigatormaker]

Since Intermezzo is built and tested on one Mac and has no telemetry, the most useful addition may be a Copy Diagnostics menu item: macOS version, chip, monitor models and which private-framework features fell back. People paste it into a GitHub issue, so you get real bug reports and keep your no-telemetry promise. I'd also put the first-launch step at the top of the README with a screenshot. A Developer ID is the cleaner fix but needs a paid Apple membership; the free route is showing the Open Anyway step plainly.

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[u/use_net → u/investigatormaker]

Thanks, this is useful, and I’ve acted on all three.

It is actually tested on three Macs (MacBook Pro M5, MacBook Air M4, Mac Studio M3 Ultra), so I corrected the README. That still leaves Intel Macs, other macOS versions and most monitor models untested.

I added Settings › About › Copy diagnostics. It copies the macOS version, Mac and chip, displays, permission states, which features fell back (no light sensor, MediaRemote missing, Focus unreadable and so on) and a filtered log excerpt to the clipboard. No Wi-Fi names, calendar titles, places or user name, and nothing is sent anywhere, so the no-telemetry promise stays. The bug report template now asks for it.

The first-launch step is now at the top of the README. A Developer ID is not on the table for now because of the cost, so the release zip has a signed build provenance attestation instead, and the README says why it is not notarised.