Pulse for macOS
A silent menu bar app that tracks where your attention goes. Powers Focus Score.
You spend 8 hours at your computer. How much of that was deep work? How much was Slack? You probably have a guess, but Pulse gives you the answer.
Pulse is a lightweight, privacy-focused macOS menu bar app that automatically tracks which applications you use and for how long. It runs silently, uses under 20MB of memory, and syncs hourly to Lifestack. No keystrokes, no screenshots, no browsing history.
What you get in Lifestack
Once connected, Pulse powers three things:
- Focus Score: a daily 0 to 100 metric measuring focus quality based on deep work ratio, app switching, and sustained attention
- Digital Ring: your desktop activity visualized on the Event Horizon clock, colored by app category
- Daily summary cards: Focus Score, Deep Work time, Meeting Time, and Top Apps at a glance
Features
- Automatic tracking: runs silently in your menu bar, no manual input needed
- Window title detection: captures titles for context (which project, not just which app)
- Privacy first: all data stays on your Mac until you choose to sync
- Hourly sync: aggregated app usage sent to Lifestack (app name and seconds per hour)
- Low resource usage: native Swift, under 20MB memory, no Electron, no battery drain
- Open source: fully open on GitHub
Installation
Download and install
Get the latest release from GitHub. Move Pulse to your Applications folder and open it. Grant Accessibility permission when prompted (required for window title detection).
Connect to Lifestack
In Lifestack, go to Settings > Integrations and click Connect Pulse. Copy the API key (shown only once). Open Pulse's settings from the menu bar icon and paste the key.
Start tracking
Pulse begins tracking immediately. Activity data appears on your Timespace dashboard within the hour.
The API key is hashed before storage. If you lose it, generate a new one from Settings (this revokes the previous key).
System requirements
- macOS 13 (Ventura) or later
- Accessibility permission for window title detection
Privacy
- Data stored locally on your Mac until sync
- Only aggregated hourly app usage is sent (app name and seconds)
- No keystrokes, screenshots, file contents, or browsing history captured
- No data sent to third parties
- Delete all local data from Pulse settings at any time
- Open source: verify exactly what it collects