Ortus

The most hardcore focus app for makers. A Mac menu-bar app that blocks distractions so you can do deep work.

Website · Install · How it works · Development

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What is Ortus?

Ortus lives in your Mac menu bar and blocks your biggest distraction while you do deep work. When focus mode starts (manually or on a schedule), Ortus terminates Slack and keeps it terminated: reopen it and Ortus closes it again. When your session ends, Slack comes back on its own.

There is no "End Focus" button to talk yourself into. Quitting Ortus mid-session is blocked too. The only escape hatch is a hidden emergency end, rate-limited to once per week.

An optional AI chat (powered by your own Claude) lets you check what is happening in Slack without opening it, so you stay heads-down.

Willpower runs out. A locked session doesn't. Ortus holds the line so you can stay in the work.

Install

One-line install (recommended)

curl -fsSL https://ortus.up.railway.app/install.sh | bash

This downloads the latest release into /Applications and launches it. Because it installs via the terminal (not a browser download), macOS does not quarantine the app, so Gatekeeper does not block it. Requires macOS 14 or later.

Download manually

Grab the latest Ortus-macOS.zip from the Releases page, unzip it, and move Ortus.app to /Applications.

Build from source

git clone https://github.com/scandolo/Ortus.git
cd Ortus
./build.sh        # kills running instances, builds, and creates Ortus.app
open Ortus.app

Requires macOS 14+ and the Swift 6 toolchain (Xcode).

AI chat (optional)

To enable the AI Slack assistant, add a Claude API key and connect Slack via OAuth in Settings. Credentials are stored in the macOS Keychain.

How it works

1. When focus activates, Ortus terminates all Slack processes.
2. It watches for app launches and closes Slack again if it tries to start.
3. An NSApplicationDelegate intercepts Cmd+Q and termination requests so you cannot quit your way out.
4. When focus ends (or the scheduled window passes), monitoring stops and Slack relaunches on its own.

Privacy

Your Slack token and Claude API key are stored in the macOS Keychain and are only ever sent to Slack and Anthropic respectively. Ortus sends anonymous, aggregate usage events (via PostHog) to help improve the app. There are no accounts.

Development

Ortus is a SwiftUI macOS menu-bar app built with Swift Package Manager. It runs as a MenuBarExtra with .window style (a popover panel) and no dock icon (LSUIElement = true).

Project structure

Ortus/
├── Package.swift              # SPM config, macOS 14+, single executable target
├── build.sh                   # Build script: kills instances, builds, bundles Ortus.app
├── landing/                   # The marketing site (ortus.up.railway.app), served by Caddy
└── Ortus/
    ├── OrtusApp.swift         # @main entry, MenuBarExtra scene, quit-blocking AppDelegate
    ├── Models/                # ChatMessage, FocusSchedule + ScheduleStore, Slack API types
    ├── Services/
    │   ├── FocusManager.swift # Core logic: focus state, Slack kill/monitor, schedules, emergency end
    │   ├── ClaudeService.swift# Claude API client with an agentic tool-use loop
    │   ├── SlackService.swift # Slack Web API client
    │   ├── SlackOAuthService.swift # OAuth flow via a loopback HTTP server
    │   ├── KeychainService.swift   # macOS Keychain wrapper for secrets
    │   └── Analytics.swift    # Thin PostHog wrapper (anonymous usage events)
    ├── Views/
    │   ├── OrtusTheme.swift   # Design system: sunrise-amber accent, glass materials, tokens
    │   ├── ContentView.swift  # Tab container (Focus, Schedule, Chat, Settings)
    │   ├── FocusView.swift    # Timer, start button, grace period (no end button)
    │   ├── ScheduleView.swift # Recurring schedules with inline editing
    │   ├── ChatView.swift     # AI chat with Claude
    │   └── SettingsView.swift # API keys, Slack OAuth, preferences, emergency end
    └── Tools/
        └── SlackTools.swift   # Tool definitions for Claude's tool-use

Key design decisions

• No End Focus button. An easy escape defeats the purpose. Emergency end lives in Settings and is gated to once per calendar week. Developer mode (tap the version label 7 times) adds a dev-only end button.
• Inline editing in ScheduleView. .sheet() spawns a new NSWindow, which makes the MenuBarExtra panel lose key-window status and dismiss. Schedules are edited in place with state variables instead.
• Quit blocking via AppDelegate. applicationShouldTerminate returns .terminateCancel while focus is active, blocking Cmd+Q, Dock quit, and programmatic termination.
• Glass material design. Cards and the status ring use .ultraThinMaterial with continuous (supercircle) corner radii, adapting to light and dark mode.

Dependencies

PostHog for anonymous usage analytics. Everything else is Apple frameworks only (AppKit, Security, Network, UserNotifications, ServiceManagement).

License

MIT. Free and open source.

_{Carpe lucem.}