ontask
overview
ontask is a chrome extension i built with northwestern ieee for focused studying. it blurs distracting tabs, runs a pomodoro timer, and lets you study with friends so staying on task feels less lonely.
problem
- you open one tab to work and end up on twitter
- most blockers use fixed lists and don't understand what you're actually doing
- phone apps don't help when you're studying in the browser
what makes it different
- uses page content to decide what to blur, not just a blacklist
- built-in pomodoro timer
- lives in chrome where you actually study
- leaderboards and group sessions with friends
social features
- leaderboards with friends
- group study sessions
technical details
- chrome extension frontend: react + typescript (vite)
- background service worker using the chrome alarms api
- backend: express server integrating the google gemini api for classification
- supabase tables: friendships, profiles, study_sessions, study_session_members
- flow: content script extracts metadata → background worker → server classification → blur applied/removed