Why I used Google Sheets as a Database for my Open-Source Pomodoro Tool

Source: Dev.to

Most productivity apps are “data silos.” You spend hundreds of hours feeding them your focus data, only to find it locked behind a proprietary cloud, a subscription paywall, or a clunky CSV export.

As an engineer—with a career spanning from NASA to leadership at Red Hat—I’ve used the Pomodoro technique for over 20 years. I’ve tried every app under the sun, but I always returned to the same realization: the audit is more important than the timer. I didn’t want a “streak” or a badge; I wanted high‑fidelity data that I could analyze to find where my mental energy was leaking. So, I built Acquacotta.

The Architecture: Why Google Sheets?

Data Sovereignty and Composability

By logging sessions directly to a spreadsheet you own, the data is immediately composable. You don’t have to wait for a developer to build a new reporting feature. You can:

• Run Pivot Tables to see “Deep Work” vs. “Admin” time.
• Use native Google Sheets AI to find trends in your focus.
• Pipe the data into a Looker Studio dashboard or an LLM for a career audit.

Offline‑First with SQLite

A productivity tool is useless if it lags. Acquacotta uses a local SQLite cache. When you finish a session, it logs locally first, ensuring the UI is lightning‑fast and works offline. The sync to Google Sheets happens in the background, handling API latency without interrupting your flow.

Beyond the Alarm: The “Power User” Features

Acoustic Focus

An optional “tick‑tock” sound inspired by the iconic 60 Minutes stopwatch acts as a Pavlovian trigger—when the ticking starts, the brain knows it’s time for deep work.

Hardware Hybrid Mode

If you prefer physical timers (e.g., Hexagon timers), Acquacotta has a dedicated mode to instantly log those manual sessions, keeping your digital audit log as the single source of truth.

Burnout Prevention

The app tracks “Daily Minute Goals” to help you find the “Goldilocks zone”—working enough to feel accomplished without slipping into the “heroics‑to‑burnout” cycle.

Purely Open Source (FOSS)

Acquacotta is fully open source. Feedback and contributions are welcome.

Getting Started

• GitHub repository:
• Hosted version:

Let’s stop renting our productivity data and start owning it.