Focus Totem — Devlog #1
I started building Focus Totem, a little Pomodoro/study-timer macropad. The idea is a small desk totem you twist to set your focus minutes, press the knob to start, and it counts down on a tiny OLED while two LEDs breathe amber → green → red so you can feel the time going from the corner of your eye. I built it because I doomscroll the second studying gets boring, so I wanted a physical thing sat on my desk that I have to deliberately start. I’ve set up the whole skeleton from scratch: the KiCad schematic fully wired (13 symbols), a rough PCB with all the parts placed, and a QMK keyboard folder that compiles. Pinout’s locked in and the schematic and firmware agree pad-for-pad: three keys on D0–D2, the encoder on D3/D6/D7, the OLED over I²C on D4/D5, and the SK6812 data line on D10. I wanted the whole thing wired and testable before I touch routing, so that if something breaks later I know it’s the layout and not the connections. Ran the first round of checks though and the PCB threw up a fair few errors when I opened. Nothing fatal, looks like footprint and outline gremlins from the skeleton stage. Next up: sorting those errors, routing the board, drawing the Edge.Cuts outline, and building the actual Pomodoro state machine with the OLED countdown and the LED breathing.