Hyperfocus is a free, goals-first planner for macOS. It helps you choose the few outcomes that matter most, plan weeks and days around them, and make consistent progress by doing focused work
It feels so good to be back on Product Hunt after almost 10 years!
Today I’m launching Hyperfocus – a free, goals-first planner for Mac.
I’ve spent the last several years coaching focus to product people in tech, and I’ve always felt that task managers got productivity wrong.
Why? First, they're really good at capturing and organizing tasks, but they start from an inbox – teaching you to react instead of deciding what actually matters. Second, most planners don’t really have an opinion on how you should work, so many people end up with a long list of todos that makes them feel busy without making them productive.
Hyperfocus takes a different approach. First, it starts from goals – you decide what matters most in the next few months, then plan your weeks and days around them.
Second, it’s built on a simple belief: focusing on a few clear goals is better than checking off a long list of todos. So as you write, it gives you feedback on your goals and plans, and then helps to make them clear and realistic.
So what’s inside?
One workspace that connects long-term goals to weeks and days
Hyperfocus is still early, and any feedback would be really helpful! If the problem and the promise resonate – I’d love for you to try Hyperfocus and tell me what you think. Does it fit into your workflow? What is missing? How does it make you feel?
@yashekbote thank you so much, it means a lot! on one hand i felt that there were already so many amazing todos on the market (shoutout to Things3!), that i had nothing to add. on the other hand – for the last few years i always tried to work backwards – starting from a goal, and then figuring out what i should do to achieve it. and it felt to me like a superior approach, and i was really confused why there was no tool on the market that worked that way without being over-complicated.
@jacqueline_v_twillie same! making something like planning, prioritization, and focus a habit gives just enough structure to feel confident for the rest of the day
@stepcha_cherkasov thank you so much! Yep, I took a lot of inspiration from Notion in how you type/interact with tasks. I really wanted to make planning frictionless, so it does not feel like work about work. You just simply type whatever you want to achieve without navigating between different UIs, press tab when you want to make subtasks, and that's it.
Report
Maker
@stepcha_cherkasov Yep, that was what I really liked about the app when Dmitri showed it to me! I just loved how plain and simple it is.
@yelyzaveta_kibets yesss! we actually have real-time feedback on your plans, catching overplanning, unclear goals, and missing breakdowns. Think like Grammarly, but for goals and plans. And if you need help fixing any of those – AI skills guide you step by step to make goals realistic and clear.
@doganakbulut that's a good question! right now we don't have much (except integration with OpenRouter, if you want to pay for AI as you go), but that's the direction i'm actively looking into. Bringing MCPs to connect Hyperfocus with Codex and Claude is definitely at the top of the list right now
Congrats on the launch! This is one of those problems I’ve been trying to solve for years. Tried everything from Todoist/Things 3 to Sunsama and Claude/ChatGPT.
Been using Hyperfocus for a bit now and it looks really promising so far!
@samarsky thanks a lot! that was exactly my path – I tried almost everything on the market and either tools were too complicated and felt like work about work, or they just lacked the goals-first framing! would love to know what you think
Congrats @dmtsepelev ! the Agent is something that I missed in the previous version so now I am excited to get to my hyperfocus track - I need this much as never before
@artem_cherepanov thanks a lot for your support! yep, the app has changed a lot since you last tried it; would love to know what you think about the new release!
Report
Maker
@artem_cherepanov yeah, and the biggest difference is – instead of just doing the work for you, the agent acts like a coach that helps you plan, prioritize, and break things down, so you always stay in control instead of producing some slop that you don’t trust. we believe that deciding what matters is actually the most important thing that a human can do, and we don’t want to fully delegate it to the AI.
Hyperfocus
Hey everyone, Dmitri is here!
It feels so good to be back on Product Hunt after almost 10 years!
Today I’m launching Hyperfocus – a free, goals-first planner for Mac.
I’ve spent the last several years coaching focus to product people in tech, and I’ve always felt that task managers got productivity wrong.
Why? First, they're really good at capturing and organizing tasks, but they start from an inbox – teaching you to react instead of deciding what actually matters. Second, most planners don’t really have an opinion on how you should work, so many people end up with a long list of todos that makes them feel busy without making them productive.
Hyperfocus takes a different approach. First, it starts from goals – you decide what matters most in the next few months, then plan your weeks and days around them.
Second, it’s built on a simple belief: focusing on a few clear goals is better than checking off a long list of todos. So as you write, it gives you feedback on your goals and plans, and then helps to make them clear and realistic.
So what’s inside?
One workspace that connects long-term goals to weeks and days
Grammarly-like feedback on your goals and plans
AI for planning, prioritization, and goal setting
Long-term, weekly, and daily planning rituals
Focus sessions
Local first, small, fast.
The app is free. Download it for Mac: https://hyperfocus.in
Hyperfocus is still early, and any feedback would be really helpful! If the problem and the promise resonate – I’d love for you to try Hyperfocus and tell me what you think. Does it fit into your workflow? What is missing? How does it make you feel?
That feedback would help a lot! Let's focus 🚀
Trace
@dmtsepelev Congrats on the launch. I just gave it a try and look forward to using it!!! 🚀
Hyperfocus
@stepcha_cherkasov thank you so much for your support! if you give it a try – let me know what you think!
@stepcha_cherkasov many thanks! it means soo much)
@dmtsepelev Nice launch congrats🙌
Hyperfocus
@priya_kushwaha1 thank you!
@dmtsepelev @priya_kushwaha1 Really appreciate your support
@dmtsepelev Amazing Launch Dmitrii!
What made you pick "goals-first" as the wedge, instead of just building a better todo list?
Hyperfocus
@yashekbote thank you so much, it means a lot! on one hand i felt that there were already so many amazing todos on the market (shoutout to Things3!), that i had nothing to add. on the other hand – for the last few years i always tried to work backwards – starting from a goal, and then figuring out what i should do to achieve it. and it felt to me like a superior approach, and i was really confused why there was no tool on the market that worked that way without being over-complicated.
@dmtsepelev @yashekbote Thanks for your support!
@dmtsepelev Love this idea, I'm a huge fan of healthy habit loops.
Hyperfocus
@jacqueline_v_twillie same! making something like planning, prioritization, and focus a habit gives just enough structure to feel confident for the rest of the day
Trace
Congrats on the launch! Remind me a lot of Notion visually. Is there a reason why did you go with pages-like design instead of classic tasks lists?
Hyperfocus
@stepcha_cherkasov thank you so much! Yep, I took a lot of inspiration from Notion in how you type/interact with tasks. I really wanted to make planning frictionless, so it does not feel like work about work. You just simply type whatever you want to achieve without navigating between different UIs, press tab when you want to make subtasks, and that's it.
@stepcha_cherkasov Yep, that was what I really liked about the app when Dmitri showed it to me! I just loved how plain and simple it is.
Softorino 💻📲
My week usually fills with tasks that have nothing to do with the goal I wrote down. Does it push back when the day drifts off the goal?
Hyperfocus
@yelyzaveta_kibets yesss! we actually have real-time feedback on your plans, catching overplanning, unclear goals, and missing breakdowns. Think like Grammarly, but for goals and plans. And if you need help fixing any of those – AI skills guide you step by step to make goals realistic and clear.
Softorino 💻📲
@dmtsepelev Real-time flags on overplanning is the part I'd use. That's my exact failure mode most weeks.
Hyperfocus
@yelyzaveta_kibets I can definitely relate to that! if you give it a try – let me know what you think
@yelyzaveta_kibets thanks for your support! hope Dmitrii answered your question)
Softorino 💻📲
@senkina He did, twice actually. The overplanning flag is the part I want to try, so I will report back once I have run a week on it.
Love it. One function that would be nice is an export (or tell me where you store the data on my Mac :)) so I can sync my daily tasks to Todoist.
Hyperfocus
@jay_janarthanan1 thanks a lot, really appreciate it! mcp is definitely on my roadmap to create / fetch tasks from other apps;
for now everything is stored in an SQLite database: ~/Library/Application\ Support/com.hyperfocus.desktop/
i think you can pretty easily ask AI to write a script that will export tasks from the DB once in a while (or on a schedule you want)
What kind of Integrations do you have?
Hyperfocus
@doganakbulut that's a good question! right now we don't have much (except integration with OpenRouter, if you want to pay for AI as you go), but that's the direction i'm actively looking into. Bringing MCPs to connect Hyperfocus with Codex and Claude is definitely at the top of the list right now
Letterly
Congrats on the launch! This is one of those problems I’ve been trying to solve for years. Tried everything from Todoist/Things 3 to Sunsama and Claude/ChatGPT.
Been using Hyperfocus for a bit now and it looks really promising so far!
Hyperfocus
@samarsky thanks a lot! that was exactly my path – I tried almost everything on the market and either tools were too complicated and felt like work about work, or they just lacked the goals-first framing! would love to know what you think
@samarsky Can relate! Appreciate your support!
Congrats @dmtsepelev ! the Agent is something that I missed in the previous version so now I am excited to get to my hyperfocus track - I need this much as never before
Hyperfocus
@artem_cherepanov thanks a lot for your support! yep, the app has changed a lot since you last tried it; would love to know what you think about the new release!
@artem_cherepanov yeah, and the biggest difference is – instead of just doing the work for you, the agent acts like a coach that helps you plan, prioritize, and break things down, so you always stay in control instead of producing some slop that you don’t trust. we believe that deciding what matters is actually the most important thing that a human can do, and we don’t want to fully delegate it to the AI.