touch grassThe Mac app that sends you outside.
It keeps count of the time you actually spend with AI. Past your limit, every screen turns into a quiet field for a few minutes. Then it gives your Mac back.
Free and open source. macOS 13 or later, Apple Silicon and Intel.
What happens
- It keeps count.
- Time in Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, an AI command line tool, or an AI website goes on the clock. Only while you are actually there. Idle minutes are free.
- It warns you first.
- A minute before a break, a small notice shows up so you can finish your sentence and save your work.
- It takes the screen.
- Every display turns into a slow dawn with a countdown. When the timer runs out, everything comes back exactly as you left it.
Setting up
It takes about ten seconds.
Your name, how long you can go before a break, and how long the break should last. After that it lives in the menu bar. There is no Dock icon and nothing to check on.
let’s set your pace
three quick things, then we touch grass.
what do we call you?
nudge me to touch grass after
…and keep me out for
a gentle heads-up before each break
you can change any of this later in settings.
Settings
Change your mind whenever.
Sliders for the limit, the rolling window, and the break length. Checkboxes for which apps, terminal tools, and websites count as AI. That is the whole settings screen.
settings
tune your pace, targets, and permissions.
you
limits
A few things worth knowing
- Nothing leaves your Mac.
- No account, no analytics, no server. To spot AI websites it reads the address of your browser’s current tab, on your machine, and throws it away.
- Background agents count.
- If Claude or Codex is working away in a terminal while you make coffee, that time still goes on the clock.
- You can always quit.
- A break ends on its own timer. If you truly need out, quit the app. There is no daemon fighting you.
- The source is open.
- MIT licensed on GitHub. Read it, build it yourself, and change the timings if you disagree with them.
Touch Grass is made by one person, in Swift, for a very specific problem. If something breaks, or you want an app added to the list, please open an issue.