Water Reminder Lite
A small, offline VS Code extension that reminds you to take a water break.
It uses plain JavaScript, native VS Code notifications, a status-bar control
and one scheduled timer. The theme-aware Hydration Buddy is rendered in a
sandboxed Explorer webview. There are no runtime dependencies, accounts,
network requests, telemetry or build steps.
Features
- Animated water glass with a live countdown in the Explorer sidebar
- Native VS Code notifications with drink, snooze, and pause actions
- Adjustable 1–240 minute reminder interval
- Pause state remembered locally between sessions
- Offline operation with no accounts, telemetry, or runtime dependencies
- Theme-aware UI and reduced-motion accessibility support
Install and use
Install Water Reminder Lite from the VS Code Marketplace, or install a
downloaded VSIX manually:
- Download the latest
water-reminder-lite-*.vsix.
- Open VS Code and press Ctrl+Shift+P (macOS: Cmd+Shift+P).
- Run Extensions: Install from VSIX... and choose the downloaded file.
- If VS Code asks, reload the window. Water appears on the right of the status bar.
- Run Water Reminder: Test Reminder Now to see the notification immediately.
Automatic reminders start after 30 minutes. The animated Hydration Buddy
appears in the Explorer sidebar beside your files, with quick buttons to record
a drink, snooze, pause, or start. You can drag its title to place the view above
or below the file tree. Click Water in the status bar for the full controls,
or search for Water Reminder in the Command Palette.
The notification says:
Time for a water break. Take a few sips.
Its buttons are I drank water, Remind me in 5 minutes, and Pause reminders.
Change the interval
Run Water Reminder: Change Interval and enter a whole number from 1 to 240.
Alternatively, search for Water Reminder Lite in Settings, or add this to
your user settings.json:
"waterReminderLite.intervalMinutes": 30
Changing the interval restarts an active timer. It leaves a paused timer paused.
I Drank Water (Restart Timer) starts a fresh normal interval, including when
you use it while reminders are paused. Remind Me in 5 Minutes also resumes
reminders if they were paused.
Reminder behavior
- Reminders run only while desktop VS Code is open. They are notifications
inside VS Code, not phone alarms or operating-system background notifications.
- If VS Code is in the background when a reminder is due, it waits until that
window receives focus. Missed intervals do not create a backlog.
- Only one notification can be pending per window. Click a button or dismiss
the notification to begin the next interval. If the toast has disappeared,
find the reminder in VS Code's notification center, using its bell icon.
- Pause is remembered locally for the next activation in the same VS Code
profile. Reloading while enabled starts a fresh interval; elapsed time is
not carried over from a closed window.
- Each VS Code window has its own timer. Live pause and snooze actions apply
to that window. Switching among several overdue windows can show one reminder
in each. There is no cross-window coordinator.
- Test Reminder Now does not enable a paused schedule. While enabled,
the next interval begins when the test notification is answered or dismissed.
- If you use a command to change the schedule while an old notification remains
open, the old notification's buttons cannot overwrite your newer choice.
- VS Code's Do Not Disturb mode can suppress reminder toasts.
Open and edit the source
- Clone https://github.com/virkayadejitendra/water-reminder-lite.
- In VS Code, open the cloned water-reminder-lite folder itself.
- Press F5, then choose Run Water Reminder if prompted. This opens an
Extension Development Host window with the extension loaded.
- In that new window, run Water Reminder: Test Reminder Now.
- Edit the source, then reload the development window to see your changes.
No npm install or compilation is needed to run the extension. To avoid
confusing two versions, disable an installed copy of this extension in the
development window before testing your source copy if necessary.
| File |
Purpose |
package.json |
VS Code metadata, commands and the interval setting |
extension.js |
Connects commands, notifications, settings and the status bar |
src/reminder.js |
Handles timer, focus, snooze and pause behavior |
src/hydrationView.js |
Renders the animated Explorer sidebar view and its quick actions |
test/reminder.test.js |
Tests timing and notification interactions without waiting in real time |
test/extension.test.js |
Checks command registration, settings and persistence with a VS Code API stub |
.vscode/launch.json |
Makes F5 launch the development window |
The timer uses JavaScript's setTimeout, broadly similar to scheduling a
one-shot timer in C#. VS Code's context.subscriptions disposes the timer and
event handlers when the extension shuts down.
Test and package your changes
With Node.js 22 or newer installed, run these commands from the project folder:
npm test
npm run package
The packaging command downloads Microsoft's @vscode/vsce tool if necessary;
that development tool is not included in the installed extension.
The resulting .vsix can be installed using the instructions above.
Marketplace publisher: JitendraVirkayade. No Marketplace account is needed
to use a local VSIX. Minimum supported desktop VS Code version: 1.85.
Verification
See VALIDATION.md in the source archive for the completed automated checks
and the desktop smoke-check steps. This project was prepared in an environment
without a desktop VS Code installation; native UI behavior has not been
verified there.
References
MIT licensed.
