FocusForge

Inspiration

We built FocusForge to answer a simple question: “What am I really doing with my time?” Inspired by time-audit methods like Alex Hormozi’s productivity challenge, we wanted to develop a tool that instead of just tracking time, it helps people reflect on how they used it. FocusForge is designed to make your time visible, your habits honest, and your improvement intentional.

What it does

FocusForge is a dynamic Chrome extension that helps you stay focused and self-aware throughout any custom-length session. Here's how it works:

Start a Session: Choose any timer interval between 1 minute to 1 hour Log Every Block: At the end of each timer interval, a popup asks: “What did you do?” and your response is stored instantly. End Your Session: When you decide you're done, click End Session. After that, you'll be shown:

A Final Report of every single entry you logged A follow-up Reflection screen with deeper questions like:

What went well? What could’ve gone better? Why did challenges happen?

Get AI Feedback: Your answers are sent to an AI model (via Gemini API), which generates a concise summary of what you did well and where you can improve next time!

How we built it

Chrome Extension Uses background scripts and alarms to trigger interval prompts Popup and reflection UIs built in HTML, JS, and CSS

Dynamic Timer Logic Users can set any interval from 1 to 60 minutes

Session Report & Reflection Aggregates each interval’s "What did you do?" answer into a list Custom-styled reflection card asks follow-up questions to dive deeper into accountability and productivity

AI Integration Uses the Gemini API to generate helpful post-session advice

Challenges we ran into

We started with little to no experience building Chrome extensions, so we had to quickly learn how background scripts, popups, messaging, and storage all work together. Balancing interruptiveness vs. usefulness — finding the right UX for popup prompts without annoying the user Managing timing and persistence across background popups and multiple tabs Styling reflection UIs to match our Figma vision using clean, CSS overrides Crafting AI prompts that yield genuinely helpful productivity feedback

Accomplishments that we're proud of

A fully functional productivity loop: log → review → reflect → improve A polished Final Report view that gives users an honest snapshot of how they used their session Clean UX and CSS styling with a sleek and consistent theme Leveraging the Gemini API in our reflection questions Integration with AI for personalized advice at the end of each session (stretch feature)

What we learned

Chrome extension development Designing accountability tools that are fast, friendly, and frictionless Using CSS variables and theming for consistent visual branding Prompt engineering for AI productivity coaching

What's next for FocusForge

Session History Dashboard: View past sessions, export CSV, track patterns over time Custom Prompts: Let users change the reflection questions and character limits Cloud Sync & Mobile Review: Access your session history anywhere Team Mode: Share sessions with study groups, coaches, or accountability partners

FocusForge turns every work session into a mirror. See where your time goes. Reflect on what you did. And get better, one interval at a time