Posture Police
Transforming posture, enhancing productivity, empowering developers.
🛠 Built With
JavaScript TypeScript MediaPipe Node.js HTML
📚 Table of Contents
🧾 Overview
Posture Police is a lightweight VS Code extension designed to help developers maintain healthy posture during long coding sessions. It uses real-time posture detection powered by MediaPipe and alerts users when slouching is detected.
Key Features
- 🧘 Real-time posture monitoring using your webcam
- 🔔 Customizable alerts (audio or visual)
- 💻 Seamless VS Code integration without interrupting your workflow
- 🎨 User-friendly interface with intuitive controls and settings
- 🔧 Performance optimized and runs entirely on your local device — no data is sent or stored
🚀 Getting Started
Prerequisites
🔧 Installation (for VS Code users)
- Open Visual Studio Code.
- Go to the Extensions Marketplace.
- Search for
Posture Police.
- Click Install.
To run the extension:
- Open the Command Palette (
Ctrl+Shift+P).
- Search for
Posture Police: Start Monitoring Posture.
⚙️ Settings
Posture Police includes a variety of customizable settings for personalized posture detection:
Monitoring Settings
Camera Active: Enables or disables webcam posture monitoring. When active, your webcam is used locally to detect your posture in real time.
Sensitivity: Adjusts how sensitive the posture detection system is.
- Lower values (e.g., 0.85) make the system more tolerant—minor slouching won’t trigger alerts.
- Higher values (e.g., 1.15) make it more strict—even small posture changes will be flagged.
Tune this setting to balance comfort and strictness based on your needs.
Alert Delay: Controls how long poor posture must be sustained before an alert is triggered (1–10 seconds).
- Shorter delays (1–3s) are more responsive but may be triggered by brief movements.
- Longer delays (5–10s) help avoid false alarms caused by quick stretches or shifts.
Volume: Sets the audio volume for alerts, from 0% (mute) to 100% (maximum).
- If you prefer silent operation, set volume to 0% and rely on visual alerts.
Mirror Image: Flips the webcam view horizontally to create a mirrored image.
- This is useful if you’re used to seeing yourself as in a mirror, especially on laptop webcams.
Sound Alerts: Enables or disables audio notifications for poor posture.
- When off, alerts are shown visually only, without sounds.
Head Tilt Detection: When enabled, includes head angle as part of the posture evaluation.
- Tilting your head forward (looking down) or to the side (looking at a second monitor) may trigger alerts.
- Turn this off if you frequently move your head away from the screen or use a multi-monitor setup.
Alert Sounds
Choose from a selection of built-in sound alerts:
- Bell
- Radio
- Sigh
- Siren
- Beep
You can preview each sound using the speaker icon beside each option.
Demo Alert
Test your current alert settings using the Trigger Demo button to simulate a posture alert.
▶️ Usage
Start the extension from the VS Code command palette:
Posture Police: Start Monitoring Posture
Adjust your preferences in the Settings tab for full control over monitoring behavior and alerts.
🧪 Testing
You can test your alert settings directly in the extension UI with the Trigger Demo button. Functional testing is integrated via built-in tools.
👨💻 About Us
Joffre Loor and Matthew Kalender are Computer Science students at Rutgers University. They developed Posture Police as part of a mission to help developers maintain healthier work habits while coding.
If you enjoy the extension, consider supporting us!
