You can't just click it away.
On High, the overlay covers every screen until the break is over.
RestGuard
The break reminder you can't ignore.
A free, open-source break reminder for Windows, macOS and Linux that can remind you to rest, or make you.
Free and open source · MIT / Apache-2.0
Why RestGuard
Most break reminders are easy to ignore: a notification pops up, you dismiss it, and "just five more minutes" turns into two hours. Long stretches at a screen are linked to eye strain, dry eyes, neck and back pain, and repetitive strain injury (RSI). Advice like the 20-20-20 rule or a short break every hour only helps if you actually take the break.
RestGuard is for people who know they should rest but keep putting it off:
It knows when not to interrupt.
Postpones, urgent mode and meeting detection keep a break from ruining a call or costing you unsaved work.
You choose how strict it is.
Pick High, Medium or Low, or build your own profile.
Three levels of enforcement
Pick how firm it should be. Enforcement is what sets RestGuard apart from other break reminders.
| High | Medium (default) | Low | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Postpones | 1 | 3 | 3 |
| Urgent mode (shrink overlay) | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Meeting-app detection | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Close / skip this break | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Screen coverage | 100% | 100% | 80% |
| Draggable overlay | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ |
Built to make breaks happen
Breaks that actually happen
A 10-minute break after every 60 minutes of work, on every monitor. Alt+F4 does nothing, and you can't quit from the tray mid-break.
Highly customizable
Start a custom profile from any level and tune postpones, skipping, urgent mode, coverage and dragging. Keep as many as you like.
Stays out of the way
Waits while Zoom, Teams, Webex or Tencent Meeting is in use, and pauses the countdown when you're away from the keyboard.
Never miss the end of a break
A sound plays when the break is over, and ntfy can push it to your phone and smartwatch, so you know when to come back.
Small and fast
Rust + Tauri 2 on the system WebView. Downloads are only about 3–6 MB, dozens of times smaller than Electron-based alternatives, and it barely uses any resources in the background.
Speaks your language
13 UI languages, following the system by default. Switch any time from the tray menu.
How it compares
| RestGuard | Stretchly | Workrave | Safe Eyes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Windows | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ |
| macOS | ✓ | ✓ | ✗ | ✗ |
| Linux | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Download size | ~3–6 MB | Windows 163 MB macOS 187 MB Linux 155 MB |
Windows 61 MB Linux 64 MB |
Linux 0.3 MB |
| Enforcement | 3 levels + custom profiles | Strict mode on/off | Can block input and screen | Can disable the keyboard |
| Holds breaks during meetings | Detects Zoom, Teams, Webex, Tencent Meeting | Follows Do Not Disturb; per-app exclusions | — | — |
| Phone / smartwatch alert when a break ends | ✓ (ntfy) | — | — | — |
| Built with | Rust + Tauri (system WebView) | Electron (bundles Chromium) | C++ | Python + GTK |
| License | MIT / Apache-2.0 | BSD-2-Clause | GPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0 |
— means not built in. Download sizes are of each project's latest GitHub release (Stretchly 1.22.1, Workrave 1.11.5, Safe Eyes 3.5.1): the Windows installer or exe, the macOS download and the Linux .deb. Based on each project's documentation as of November 2026; if something here is wrong, please open an issue.
Install
Package managers keep RestGuard up to date. Direct downloads are portable and don't update on their own.
WinGet
winget install HansTanzi.RestGuardScoop
scoop bucket add hanstanzi https://github.com/HansTanzi/scoop-bucket
scoop install hanstanzi/restguardDirect download
A portable single exe with no installer: put it anywhere and delete it to uninstall. Requires the WebView2 runtime (preinstalled on Windows 11).
Homebrew
brew install --cask hanstanzi/tap/restguardDirect download
Universal build for Apple Silicon and Intel. Unzip and move RestGuard.app to /Applications. The app isn't notarized, so clear the quarantine flag before first launch:
xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/RestGuard.appDebian / Ubuntu (APT repository)
sudo install -d /etc/apt/keyrings
curl -fsSL https://hanstanzi.github.io/apt/hanstanzi.gpg | sudo tee /etc/apt/keyrings/hanstanzi.gpg > /dev/null
echo "deb [signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/hanstanzi.gpg] https://hanstanzi.github.io/apt stable main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/hanstanzi.list
sudo apt update && sudo apt install rest-guardDirect download
sudo dnf install ./RestGuard_*_x86_64.rpm # Fedora
sudo zypper install ./RestGuard_*_x86_64.rpm # openSUSE
sudo pacman -U ./RestGuard_*_x86_64.pkg.tar.zst # Archx86_64 only. The overlay needs X11. Homebrew on Linux is supported too, see the README.
Verify your download
Release files are built by GitHub Actions with a signed build provenance attestation. Check one with the GitHub CLI:
gh attestation verify RestGuard_<version>_x64.exe --repo HansTanzi/RestGuardOr compare against SHA256SUMS.txt from the Release:
sha256sum -c SHA256SUMS.txt --ignore-missing # Linux
shasum -a 256 -c SHA256SUMS.txt --ignore-missing # macOS
Get-FileHash .\RestGuard_*_x64.exe # WindowsFAQ
Can I quit RestGuard?
Between breaks, yes: choose "Quit" in the tray menu. During a break, or while a postponed break is still owed, Quit is disabled.
What if a break comes up during a meeting?
On Medium and Low, the break waits while Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Webex or Tencent Meeting is in the foreground (Windows, macOS; on Windows also while it uses the microphone). If a break has already started, click "I'm in a meeting" to be reminded in 15 minutes. On High, breaks don't wait.
I'm in the middle of something urgent. Will I lose my work?
Postpone the break by 5 minutes (up to 3 times on Medium and Low, once on High), or on Medium and Low use urgent mode to shrink the overlay and save your work while the countdown keeps running.
Does time away from the computer count as work?
No. After 5 minutes without keyboard or mouse input the work countdown pauses, and being away as long as a break counts as a full break.
macOS says the app can't be opened.
RestGuard isn't notarized by Apple. Install it with Homebrew, or run xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/RestGuard.app once.
Does it work on Wayland?
Not reliably: Wayland doesn't let apps keep their windows on top, so use an X11 session.
Does it collect any data?
No. There are no accounts, analytics or telemetry. See the privacy policy.
Contributing
Bug reports, ideas, translations and pull requests are all welcome. CONTRIBUTING.md covers the development setup, checks and how to improve a translation; changes in each version are in CHANGELOG.md. Please report security issues privately as described in SECURITY.md.
If RestGuard helps you rest, a ⭐ helps others find it.