A cute VS Code extension that reminds you to take regular breaks, protect your eyes, and stay healthy while coding!
Features
⏰ Scheduled reminders — supports a fixed interval or a cron expression
🪟 Active window only — reminders appear only in the focused VS Code window; background windows skip reminders without starting a break countdown. When no VS Code window is focused, reminders are skipped.
🖼️ Image & video panel — opens a full-screen panel with your images or MP4 videos, played randomly or sequentially
⏱️ Status-bar countdown — shows a break countdown after each reminder, then flashes when it ends
🔔 Notification popup — bottom-right toast notification that closes automatically after 5 seconds and can be toggled independently
🌐 Bilingual UI — auto-detects VS Code display language (English / Chinese), or set it manually
Commands
Command
Description
Motivator: ▶ Start Reminder
Start the reminder service
Motivator: ⏹ Stop Reminder
Stop the reminder service
Motivator: 🌸 Show Now
Trigger a reminder immediately (also starts the countdown)
Motivator: ⚙ Open Settings
Open extension settings
You can also click the clock icon in the status bar to trigger a reminder instantly.
Settings
Setting
Type
Default
Description
motivator.language
string
"auto"
UI language: auto, zh, or en
motivator.enabled
boolean
true
Auto-start reminders when VS Code launches
motivator.scheduleType
string
"interval"
Schedule mode: interval or cron
motivator.intervalMinutes
number
60
Reminder interval in minutes (used when scheduleType is interval)
motivator.cronExpression
string
"0 * * * *"
Cron expression (used when scheduleType is cron)
motivator.breakDurationMinutes
number
5
Break countdown duration in minutes (5–60)
motivator.imageOrder
string
"random"
Image order: random or sequential
motivator.imagesPath
string
""
Absolute path to a custom images folder; leave empty to use the built-in images/ folder
motivator.customMessages
array
[]
Custom reminder messages; leave empty to use built-in messages
motivator.showNotification
boolean
true
Show a notification popup in the bottom-right corner; it closes automatically after 5 seconds
motivator.showWebview
boolean
true
Open the image panel
Cron Expression Examples
Every hour on the hour: 0 * * * *
Every 30 minutes: */30 * * * *
Weekdays 9 AM – 6 PM, hourly: 0 9-18 * * 1-5
Every day at 3 PM: 0 15 * * *
Custom Images
Place images or videos (.png .jpg .jpeg .gif .webp .svg .bmp .jxl .mp4) in the images/ folder inside the extension directory, or
Set motivator.imagesPath in settings to point to your own images folder.
JPEG XL (.jxl, case-insensitive) images are decoded locally with a bundled WebAssembly decoder, with no network access required. The reminder panel displays a still image; animated JPEG XL playback is not supported.
Development
npm install
npm run compile
Then press F5 in VS Code to launch the Extension Development Host.
