2025 · Systems / OS
Flow Arch — Operating System Distribution
An Arch Linux distribution built around enforced focus — compositor-level control, not another browser extension.
700+ Installs · 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 has to sit lower down — in the compositor and session manager, where the window manager has already locked the screen before an application gets a say.
The constraint
Building an OS distribution has a constraint most side projects don't: strangers install it on bare-metal hardware I've never seen. It has to boot cleanly across Intel, AMD, and NVIDIA setups without breaking on Arch rolling-release updates.
What I built
Configured a Hyprland Wayland session from scratch with custom keybindings, window rules, and idle handlers. Engineered QML intention prompts and enforced Pomodoro lockout screens driven by background Python daemons over UNIX domain sockets. Packaged the entire system with automated ArchISO build scripts and custom Calamares installer modules.
The outcome
700+ public installs, ~380 MB idle RAM footprint, and SourceForge's Rising Star Award for rapid community adoption. The key lesson: enforcement only works when it lives below the thing being enforced.