Gatsby Get Gatsby

For ADHD brains who love cats

Meet Gatsby, the tiny cat who helps you focus.

Gatsby lives on your Mac desktop. Start a short focus session and he curls up for a nap. Finish it and he wakes up, does a happy jump, and earns a treat. That's it. No pressure, no streaks, no guilt.

Download for Mac See how it works

macOS 14 Sonoma or later · No account needed

Gatsby's menu bar panel: an 18:42 focus timer on 'Write the report intro', with Pause, Feed and Stop buttons and a short Today task list.

Features

Built around how ADHD brains actually work

Starting is hard. Noticing time is hard. Staying kind to yourself is hard. Gatsby helps with all three.

Start small

Pick 5, 10, 15, 25 or 45 minutes. “Just ten minutes” is much easier to begin than “an hour of work”, and breaks size themselves to match.

Notice the end

A soft heads-up two minutes before the end, a gentle purr when you're done, and the time left always visible in your menu bar.

Rewards you can feel

Every finished focus earns a treat. Feed Gatsby on your break and watch him tuck in. A small, instant win your brain can count on.

A list that stays short

Jot today's few things, tap ▶ to focus on one, tick it off and Gatsby celebrates. No due dates, no projects, nothing ever “overdue”.

How it works

Three steps. Then do it again.

  1. 1

    Pick one small thing

    Choose a task, or just a length. Gatsby sits with you while you decide.

  2. 2

    Gatsby naps while you focus

    A sleeping cat on your screen is a quiet reminder: we're doing this one thing right now.

  3. 3

    Break, treat, repeat

    He wakes with a happy jump, you earn a treat, and a short break starts on its own. The next round waits for you.

One calm place

Everything you need, nothing you don't

  • Click the menu bar for your timer, today's list and settings.
  • Two-finger click Gatsby for a quick glance and a little encouragement.
  • Drag him anywhere, let him wander, or keep him still.
  • Hide him in one click for meetings and screen sharing. Your timer keeps going.
The quick-glance card shown above Gatsby: an 18:42 focus timer, a quote reading 'Focus like a cat watching a bird.', and Pause, Feed and Stop buttons.

Kind by design

Gatsby will never make you feel bad

A lot of productivity apps quietly run on guilt. We left all of that out on purpose.

  • No streaks to break, ever.
  • Gatsby never gets sad, hungry or sick if you skip a day.
  • Unfinished tasks simply carry over. Nothing turns red.
  • Soft sounds only. No alarms, no sudden noises.
  • A few simple settings, with good defaults.

FAQ

Questions, answered

Which Macs does Gatsby run on?

Any Mac running macOS 14 Sonoma or later, on Apple silicon or Intel.

Do I need an account?

No. Open Gatsby and start. There's nothing to sign up for.

Where are my tasks stored?

Only on your Mac. Gatsby doesn't send your tasks, timers or settings anywhere.

Will the cat get in my way?

He's small and you can drag him anywhere. Turn off wandering to keep him still, or hide him completely with the 👁 button. Your timer keeps running while he's hidden.

Does it drain my battery?

Gatsby is built to be light. He only draws a handful of frames a second, and stops drawing completely whenever he can't be seen.

Is Gatsby only for people with ADHD?

Not at all. It's designed with ADHD in mind, but anyone who likes short focus sessions and a cat for company is welcome.

Why does macOS say it can't verify Gatsby?

During early testing Gatsby isn't registered with Apple's paid developer program yet, so macOS can't confirm who made it and blocks it the first time. It takes about 30 seconds to allow. Here's how, and why.

Ready when you are

Gatsby is in early beta on macOS. Download it, then take 30 seconds for the first-launch steps.

Download Gatsby for Mac

Beta · macOS 14 Sonoma or later · Apple silicon & Intel

Early beta

Opening Gatsby for the first time

The first time you open Gatsby, macOS will stop it. That's expected for now, and it takes about 30 seconds to get past.

macOS 15 Sequoia and later

  1. 1
    Drag Gatsby into Applications, then open it.

    macOS shows a message saying it can't verify Gatsby. Click Done.

  2. 2
    Open System Settings → Privacy & Security.

    Scroll down to the Security section. You'll see a note that Gatsby was blocked. Click Open Anyway.

  3. 3
    Confirm with your Mac password.

    Click Open Anyway once more. Gatsby appears in your menu bar, and from now on it opens normally.

macOS 14 Sonoma

In Applications, right-click (or Control-click) Gatsby, choose Open, then click Open again. The steps above work too.

Comfortable with Terminal?

This removes the “downloaded from the internet” flag so macOS stops blocking Gatsby:

xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Gatsby.app

Installing a new beta version? You may need to do this once more.