Native macOS · SwiftUI · Zero dependencies

Grow your productivity

Niwa (庭) lives in your menu bar. A focus timer, tasks, notes, and health reminders — all with a leveling system where your plant grows as you do.

Current release v1.4.0

See it in action

Six productivity tools in one compact dropdown. Beautiful in light and dark mode.

Niwa — Menu Bar
Light Mode Level 3 Sprout 17:24 340 / 450 XP Tasks Notes Design new landing page Review pull requests Update documentation 3 reminders
Dark Mode Level 15 Bush 08:12 4200 / 6000 XP Tasks Notes Ship v2.0 release Write API docs Fix auth bug 5 reminders
Focus Timer
Tasks & Notes
Health Reminders
XP & Leveling
17:24 Focus Session +25 XP

Deep Focus Timer

Pick a preset or set a custom duration. Commit to focus, earn 1 XP per minute with a satisfying progress ring.

+1 XP per minute
Design landing page Done Write API documentation Meeting notes — Q1 review...

Tasks & Quick Notes

Capture tasks and notes instantly from your menu bar. Drag, reorder, and complete.

+15 XP per task
L26 Water Stand

Grow & Stay Healthy

Your plant evolves through 8 stages as you level up. Water and standing reminders keep you well.

8 growth stages

Everything in your menu bar

Seven tools that earn you XP. Level up, grow your plant.

Focus Timer

Pick a preset or custom duration with a circular progress ring. Date-based — no drift, survives restarts.

+1 XP per minute

Task Manager

Quick-add, drag-to-reorder, tap to complete. Clean and minimal.

+15 XP per task

Quick Notes

Capture thoughts instantly from the menu bar. Sorted by recency.

+5 XP per note

Calendar Meetings

Today's meetings from your Mac calendar. Rate and review them to earn XP.

+10 XP per review

Weekly Insights

Qualitative summary of your week — tasks, focus time, meetings, and trends at a glance.

Health Reminders

Water and standing reminders with smart scheduling — respects work hours and lunch.

+10 XP each

How Reminders Work

Smart health reminders that respect your schedule and reward healthy habits.

1

Configure in Settings

Set your intervals, work hours, and lunch break. Reminders only fire during work hours.

Water every 30 min
Stand every 45 min
Work hours 9 AM — 5 PM
Lunch break 12 — 1 PM
2

macOS Notification

Native notifications with action buttons appear at your set interval.

💧
Niwa
Time for Water
Stay hydrated! Have a glass of water.
Done Snooze 10 min
🧍
Niwa
Time to Stand
Take a break and stand up for a few minutes.
Stand Up Snooze 10 min
3

Track & Earn XP

Actions are tracked in the dropdown. Confirming earns XP and grows your garden.

💧 3 waters +10 XP
🧍 Stand
While standing:
💧 3
🧍 2:34 +10 XP
Actions:
Click water pill → log glass + 10 XP
Click stand → start timer → click to stop
Snooze → delays reminder by 10 min
Smart Scheduling
Reminders automatically pause during lunch and outside work hours. If you snooze and it would fall during lunch, it reschedules to after lunch ends. Next-day reminders start from your work hours beginning.

Watch your garden grow

8 growth stages from seed to ancient tree. Your plant evolves as you level up.

Seed L0 Sprout L1-3 Seedling L4-7 Young Plant L8-12 Bush L13-18 Small Tree L19-25 Full Tree L26-35 Ancient Tree L36+

Get started

Install with Homebrew or download directly. Click any command to copy it, then paste into Terminal.

Homebrew (recommended)

brew install --cask saidjamesphilip/tap/niwa
One command — auto-taps and installs. Update anytime with brew upgrade niwa
Upgrade error? Run: brew uninstall --cask --force niwa && brew install --cask saidjamesphilip/tap/niwa

Quick install via Terminal

curl -sL https://niwa-app.pages.dev/install.sh | bash
Downloads the latest release, installs to Applications, and opens Niwa.

Direct download

Download .zip from GitHub

Unzip, drag Niwa.app to Applications, right-click → Open on first launch.

Version v1.4.0

Requires macOS 15+. No external dependencies.

Your data stays on your Mac

Niwa stores everything locally in SwiftData. No analytics, no accounts, no cloud sync. The only optional network call is a manual "Check for Updates" in Settings.

Works offline
No telemetry
Local SwiftData
No accounts

FAQ

Niwa works fully offline. It stores everything in a local SwiftData database on your Mac. No accounts, no analytics. The only optional network call is a manual "Check for Updates" in Settings, which checks GitHub Releases for newer versions.

You earn XP by completing tasks (+15), finishing focus sessions (+1 per minute), creating notes (+5), and logging health habits like water and standing (+10 each). XP fills a progress bar — when it's full, you level up and your plant grows.

Yes. Open Settings to add, remove, or adjust your Quick Pick presets (up to 5). You can also set a custom duration with the stepper.

Niwa requires macOS 15 (Sequoia) or later. It's built with SwiftUI and SwiftData which require modern system APIs.

Yes — MIT licensed. You can view the source, fork it, and contribute on GitHub.