I Built an App That Watches Me Work (Insane Focus)
Riley Brown rebuilds Bluey, his open-source iOS and Mac companion app, into a focus friend that uses OpenAI's decisions API to check his screen every 30 seconds and nudge him when he drifts off task.
The gist
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Bluey runs on a spare iPhone below the computer, pairs with a Mac app by QR code, follows the mouse, and points at things on screen.
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Brown explains the decisions API returns no text, only a predicate probability, a choice from your options, or a score on your scale, with free output.
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Every 30 seconds the Mac sends a screenshot plus task context, and the API labels him on task, off task, or uncertain.
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Brown says 100 screenshot checks cost a cent, so eight hours of checks every 30 seconds comes to about 9 to 10 cents.
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His nudge rule waits for confident off-task checks spanning at least 2 minutes, or 3 to 4 minutes at 50 to 80% certainty, plus cooldowns.
Riley Brown uses it
"What's really cool about the decisions API is it's incredibly cheap. You can see that 100 screenshot checks is a cent. Eight hours every 30 seconds is 9 cents. So that means eight hours of focus costs about 10 cents, which is pretty cool."
▶ Play at 8:20What they recommend · 1 pick
OpenAI Decisions API
AI tools
"What's really cool about the decisions API is it's incredibly cheap. You can see that 100 screenshot checks is a cent. Eight hours every 30 seconds is 9 cents. So that means eig..."
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Bluey
· "Last week, I vibe coded Bluey, an iOS app that connects to my computer, follows my mouse, and acts as a..."
1:47
OpenAI Realtime API
· "The way Bluey is controlling my desktop computer is it's using a different OpenAI API, which is called..."
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