2026 · Systems / OS
Flow Arch — Operating System Distribution
An Arch Linux distribution built around enforced focus — compositor-level control, not another browser extension.
700+ Downloads · SourceForge Rising Star Award
The problem
Every focus tool I'd used ran inside the environment it was supposed to be protecting you from. A browser extension or menu-bar blocker is one hotkey or pkill away from being disabled, because it lives at the same permission level as the distractions. Real enforcement belongs in the compositor and session manager — where the window manager has already locked the screen before an application gets a say.
The constraint
Strangers install an OS on hardware I've never seen. It has to boot cleanly on Intel, AMD, and NVIDIA, survive Arch's rolling release, and be reproducible enough to build in CI — while the focus machinery itself has to be config-driven (goals, blocklists, themes in one settings JSON), not hard-coded.
What I built
A session_manager.py at the center: it applies per-goal themes and hosts blocklists, closes distracting tabs by matching window titles against a session keyword list (plus a hyprctl socket for instant checks), screen- samples windows with grim for an HSV "visual guard," and enforces Pomodoro breaks by re-locking hyprlock when you unlock early. An optional shutdown_script throws a feedback prompt into ~/session_logs.jsonl and then powers the machine off at deadline. Around it: a full archiso build with a Calamares shellprocess finalizer that enables sddm and NetworkManager and installs the theme. The result is a distribution-level focus suite in a lean 380 MB idle session.
The outcome
700+ downloads, a SourceForge Rising Star Award for community adoption, and a working answer to "enforce focus where it can't be clicked away."