Health breaks

Health is Birch’s opt-in answer to “one more agent run and I’ll stand up”: work in configurable intervals (default 50 minutes), then Birch covers its own window with a break screen (default 10 minutes). Nothing else on your machine is touched, and running agents keep working while you don’t.

Turn it on

Open Settings (⌘, / Ctrl+,) → Health and tick Remind me to take breaks (off by default). Then tune:

Setting	Range	Default
Work for	1–240 minutes	50
Then rest for	1–60 minutes	10
Notify me when a break starts	on / off	on

The break-start notification shows a desktop notification and plays the system sound, so a break isn’t missed while Birch is in the background. It deliberately has no click target.

What a break looks like

When the work interval ends, an overlay covers Birch’s window: Time for a break, a mm:ss countdown, and a rotating TRY THIS tip. A Skip break button appears ten seconds in — late enough that it can’t be dismissed reflexively, then it’s one click. Keyboard shortcuts are suspended for the duration.

Agents keep running the whole time — the break blocks you, not your workspaces. Report windows that were already open stay usable.

What is deliberately not blocked

• The rest of your machine: other apps, OS app switching.
• Quitting Birch (⌘Q / Alt+F4) — always the last resort.

Timing rules

• A break that falls due while a dialog is open defers until the dialog closes (capped at a couple of minutes).
• Closing the laptop lid or sleeping through a work interval restarts the work block on resume — you aren’t greeted by an instant break.
• Nothing persists across restarts: a new interval starts when Birch does.