Haichao Li

Anchor - Deep work, supervised by AI - An AI proctor for deep work.

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Anchor is a focus app for macOS that catches your attention drift and intervenes. Instead of a blunt blocklist, it behaves like a human proctor. It understands what's on your screen, catches you the moment you drift, and pulls you back — with a focus score, voice nudges, and pets you can earn or lose.

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Haichao Li
Maker
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Nowadays, our attention is under constant attack. Between social media, notifications, endless tabs, and AI-powered content feeds, staying focused feels harder than ever. I found myself sitting in front of my computer for hours, technically "working," yet constantly drifting away into reels, tiktok, youtube shorts, away from what I actually intended to do. The problem is that most productivity tools only understand what apps you are using, not what you're actually doing. Website blockers can stop you from opening YouTube, but it cannot tell whether you're watching a lecture video or scrolling through meanless content. That's why I built Anchor. Anchor is an AI focus companion that helps you stay aligned with the work you intended to do, with just one click to start a session. It periodically checks whether your current activity still matches that goal and gently nudges you back when your attention drifts. You will be graded on your performance throughout the session, and based on the score you can get or lose a small pet. I also wanted privacy to be a first-class feature. Anchor runs entirely on local AI models, so your screenshots and activity data never leave your device. My goal wasn't to build a stricter blocker. It was to build something that helps people maintain deep focus in a world increasingly designed to fragment it. I'd love to hear your thoughts, feedback, and feature ideas. Thanks for checking out Anchor! 🚀