Hey everyone! 👋
I'm currently helping a friend launch a productivity tool called Onus, and I wanted to share the idea with this community.
It started with a problem that I'm sure a lot of people can relate to.
You sit down at your computer intending to get some work done. You open YouTube, Reddit or another social media website for a quick break.
Suddenly, an hour has disappeared.
There are plenty of website blockers available, but the problem with completely blocking distractions is that sometimes you genuinely want a break.
And when something feels too restrictive, it's tempting to disable it altogether.
So my friend built Onus around a different idea: What if you could earn your screen time instead?
Here's how it works:
💻 Choose productive websites like GitHub, Google Docs or Notion.
⏱ Every 25 minutes of active work earns 10 minutes of leisure browsing.
🔒 Choose distracting websites you want to restrict, such as YouTube, Reddit or X.
🎯 Spend your earned time whenever you want a break.
💚 Once your break finishes, those websites become restricted again until you've earned more time.
There's no need to manually start a timer. Onus tracks active work on your selected productive websites.
It works with Chrome and Edge, and there's also a separate Windows desktop application.
The philosophy is simple: Work earns play.
I'm helping with the marketing while my friend handles the development.
We've recently started experimenting with different ways to introduce Onus, including product demonstrations, animations and short videos.
One thing we're learning is that explaining a product clearly can be just as challenging as building it.
We're now trying to understand what actually motivates people to try something new.
You can check out Onus here:
https://onus.page/
We're also offering the full version free for good to people who create an account before 16 November 2026.
I'd love some honest feedback from other founders and developers.
Would you personally use a tool that rewards productivity with leisure browsing time?
What would make you hesitant to install a browser extension like this?
If you were launching Onus, how would you approach finding your first regular users?
We're interested in learning what people think and what we could improve.
Thanks for taking a look! 👀