🤖 automate your deepwork

the idea

I like things to be frictionless. Instead of manually setting up Cold Turkey blocks and timers every time I want to focus, I created a single terminal command that does everything at once.

Type deepwork in your terminal and it handles the rest.

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how it works

1. Input — you answer three quick questions: how long, and which categories to block
2. Confirmation — the system shows your selections with a 10-second countdown to cancel
3. Execution — ASCII art displays with a countdown timer, and blocks automatically unlock when the timer completes

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requirements

• Cold Turkey Pro — website blocking application (getcoldturkey.com)
• Arttime — ASCII art timer for the terminal
• Terminal (macOS)

Install arttime via Homebrew:

brew install arttime

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setup instructions

step 1 — install cold turkey pro and arttime

Make sure both applications are installed and working. Cold Turkey Pro (paid version) is required for the command-line lock feature.

step 2 — open your shell config

Open terminal and edit your shell configuration:

nano ~/.zshrc

step 3 — configure your blocklists

In Cold Turkey Pro, create blocklists with these names (or customize to your preference):

• finance — stocks, crypto, financial news
• google, amazon — shopping and browsing distractions
• silence — messaging apps (Slack, Discord, etc.)

step 4 — paste the bash function

Add this function to your .zshrc:

deepwork() {
  read "hours? > how long? (in hours): "
  read "google_amazon? > block google/amazon? (y/n): "
  read "stocks? > block stocks? (y/n): "
  read "messages? > block messages? (y/n): "

  minutes=$((hours * 60))
  blocker="/Applications/Cold Turkey Blocker.app/Contents/MacOS/Cold Turkey Blocker"

  to_block=()
  [[ "$stocks" == "y" ]] && to_block+=("finance")
  [[ "$google_amazon" == "y" ]] && to_block+=("google, amazon")
  [[ "$messages" == "y" ]] && to_block+=("silence")

  echo ""
  echo "blocking ${to_block[*]} for $hours hours."
  echo "press any key to cancel..."

  for i in {10..1}; do
    echo -n "$i... "
    read -t 1 -n 1 key && { echo "cancelled."; return; }
  done

  echo ""

  [[ "$stocks" == "y" ]] && "$blocker" -start "finance" -lock "$minutes"
  [[ "$google_amazon" == "y" ]] && "$blocker" -start "google, amazon" -lock "$minutes"
  [[ "$messages" == "y" ]] && "$blocker" -start "silence" -lock "$minutes"

  ~/.local/bin/arttime --nolearn -a butterfly -t "deep work time – blocking distractions" -g "${hours}h"
}

Customize the blocklist names (finance, google, amazon, silence) to match whatever you named your Cold Turkey blocklists in step 3.

step 5 — save and reload

Save and exit the editor (Ctrl+X, Y, Enter), then reload your shell:

source ~/.zshrc

step 6 — run it

Start a deep work session:

deepwork

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future enhancement

Add a soundtrack that plays automatically when you start a session — lo-fi beats, brown noise, or whatever helps you focus.