TimerC

The countdown timer Linux deserves.

TimerC is a fast, native timer for X11, written in pure C. No GTK, no Qt, no Electron — a ~190 KB binary with procedural audio, themes, sleep mode and local insights.

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mkalmousli/timerc/main/install.sh | sh
DownloadView on GitHub
TimerC fullscreen countdown showing 24:57

See it in action

Two commands

timerc — blocking

Runs in the foreground and returns when the timer ends. Perfect for scripts: timerc 5m && notify-send done

timerc-bg — background

Same program, detached from the terminal. Start it and keep working.

timerc-uninstall — remove

Cleanly removes TimerC from any install prefix. Add --purge to delete your data too.

timerc 25m deep work     # 25 minutes, task name
timerc u16:30 meeting    # count down to 16:30
timerc fp1h              # fullscreen + pausable
timerc a10s              # fullscreen alert at the end
timerc d30m              # shut down when done
timerc /8h               # sleep mode

Features

Native & tiny

Pure C on Xlib/Xft with SQLite. Starts instantly.

Smart input

25m, 1h30m, 1:30:00, u15:30 — with live preview as you type.

Procedural audio

Cues and a ramping alarm synthesised in code. No sound files, any of ALSA/PulseAudio/PipeWire.

Sleep mode

Rain and drone ambience that fades in, sustains and wakes you gently.

Insights (terminal)

Run timerc insights for daily and weekly stats, hourly heatmap and event log — all stored locally.

Settings (terminal)

Run timerc config for a TUI over every option, or script it with config set.

12 dark themes

Midnight, Dracula, Nord, Gruvbox, Cyber and more. Press Tab or click a dot on the input page; --theme NAME from the shell.

Focus lock

Optionally disconnect USB keyboard/mouse until time is up, with a safety watchdog.

Every distro

One-command installer for apt, dnf, pacman, zypper, apk and xbps.

Screenshots

Setup screen with live parsing
Setup with live parsing
timerc about in the terminal
timerc about
timerc config test screen
Test screen
timerc config terminal UI
timerc config
Mini countdown window
Mini timer

timerc insights terminal UI
timerc insights

Fullscreen Time's Up alert
Fullscreen alert

FAQ

How do I uninstall it?

Run timerc-uninstall (add --purge to delete settings and history too). For the .deb: sudo apt remove timerc.

How do I install it?

Run the one-line installer above. It supports apt, dnf, pacman, zypper, apk and xbps; prebuilt tarballs and .deb packages exist for x86_64, i686, aarch64 and armv7.

timerc vs timerc-bg?

timerc blocks until the timer ends (scriptable); timerc-bg detaches into the background.

Wayland?

TimerC is an X11 app and runs through XWayland.

Where is my data?

Locally in ~/.config/timerc. Nothing leaves your machine. timerc-uninstall --purge deletes it.

Build from source

git clone https://github.com/mkalmousli/timerc && cd timerc
make && make install     # installs to ~/.local

Uninstall

One command removes the binaries, man pages, desktop entry and icon. Your settings and history are kept unless you ask otherwise.

timerc-uninstall            # lists what it removes, asks to confirm
timerc-uninstall --purge    # also delete ~/.config/timerc (settings, history)
timerc-uninstall -n         # dry run; -y skips the prompt