nozwilder/murmur

Murmur is a small Windows desktop app meant to help people who get easily distracted, especially those with attention difficulties like ADHD, stay on track with what they were doing. Instead of blocking apps or shaming you for wandering off, it sits quietly in the corner of your screen and gently reminds you to come back when it notices you have drifted away from your work. The app works through a floating widget where you type in your current task, just so seeing it written down helps you remember what you were doing. You can also mark certain apps as your Focus Zone, meaning the apps you consider work, and if you spend too much time outside of those apps, Murmur will notice. When it wants to bring you back, it uses a soft spoken voice reminder along with a small text bubble near the widget, so the reminder does not depend only on sound. It also checks in if your mouse and keyboard have been idle for a while, and it comes with keyboard shortcuts so you can control it without ever needing to switch windows. The author built Murmur for themselves as someone who deals with inattentive ADHD, and the whole project is designed around the idea of a gentle nudge rather than a strict lock. There are no guilt messages, no streak counters, and no punishment for drifting off. Everything runs entirely on the user's own computer with no internet connection, no accounts, and no data collection. The app only checks which program is currently active on screen, never what is happening inside that program. Right now Murmur is only available for Windows, downloadable as an installer from the project's releases page. Because the developer cannot yet afford a code signing certificate, Windows may show a security warning when installing it, which the README explains how to get past, along with a link to an independent virus scan of the file. Planned future features include a place to jot down random ideas, quicker switching between tasks, and an optional AI powered reminder system using your own API key.