Todoist + Pomodoro Setup: Task Time Blocking Guide
Todoist holds the task and LiquidFocus holds the 25-minute timer: click Connect Todoist, choose Today, Priority, one project, or a filter, then click Start, the 5-minute break staying stopped unless you turn auto-start on. You can also keep the two windows side by side, or use the timer Todoist already ships, which tracks a duration and does not run those breaks.
Two different jobs
Todoist stores projects, labels, due dates, and P1 or P2 marks, and it does not by itself make you spend 25 minutes on the task at the top of Today. The Pomodoro pattern supplies the minutes: 25 on one task, 5 on a break, and a longer break after four blocks, that longer break being 15 minutes in LiquidFocus, Todoist naming the due task and the timer naming the length of the sitting.
The taskbar tour
Separate programs turn the start of a sitting into a tour of the taskbar: open Todoist and pick a task, open the timer and start it, return to the document, then at the bell go back to Todoist to tick the task and back to the timer for the break, each hop a chance to open something else, the three setups below cutting that tour in different places.
Side by side
Two windows
Snap Todoist to one side of the screen and a timer, including any of the Windows timers compared here, to the other side.
Open the Todoist Today view so the tasks that are due are the ones in front of you, rather than the whole backlog; pick one task, the one that has to move today, and leave the others sitting on the list until this block ends; start a 25-minute block on the timer and stay inside that task until the bell, the other window only a reminder of the name; when the timer rings, tick the task in Todoist if the piece is actually done, not merely because the bell sounded; then take the break and come back for the next task the same way, the timer still a separate window from the list.
This needs no extra account connection, and it needs you to tick the task yourself, the two windows still both on screen when the bell rings, the snapped timer not having to be LiquidFocus.
The timer inside Todoist
A duration on the task
As of 2026, Todoist offers a basic timer on the web app and the mobile apps, a timer you start from a task to track how long you have spent, without a 25-minute block, without a 5-minute break, and without a longer break after four blocks, a duration on the task rather than a cycle of bells. If you already pay for Todoist Premium and you only want that duration, it is enough; the breaks still need a timer that has them. The built-in timer is on every platform Todoist supports, the fuller version of that timer sitting behind Premium.
LiquidFocus beside Todoist
One window for the task and the bell
LiquidFocus shows Todoist tasks in the timer window after you connect the account, the defaults a 25-minute block, a 5-minute break, and a 15-minute break after 4 blocks, the break waiting for you unless auto-start is on. When the block ends, you mark the task done if it is done, and that completion syncs back, or you start another block on the same task. The camera check is separate from the sync, looking for a face and staying off until you turn it on. LiquidFocus runs on Windows, installed beside Todoist, and the connection described here works with free Todoist.
Tasks inside the timer
LiquidFocus can show the Todoist tasks you select, run the 25-minute timer, and send a completion back when you mark the task done.
Download Free for WindowsFrom the installer to the bell
1The installer
Download LiquidFocus from the PeakFlow site and run the installer, the app sitting in the system tray until you open it.
2The Todoist connection
On first launch, click Connect Todoist and authorize access, LiquidFocus asking to read and write tasks, which is what lets the list appear and what lets a finished task be marked complete.
3The task slice
Pick the slice of Todoist you want in the queue:
- Today, for tasks due today, the ones with today's date already on them
- Priority, for P1 and P2 tasks only, leaving P3 and P4 off this queue
- Specific Project, for tasks from one project rather than every project you keep
- Filter, for any Todoist filter query you already use on the Todoist side
4The three durations
The work timer starts at 25 minutes, the short break at 5, and the long break at 15 after 4 blocks, those three numbers open to change, the break still waiting unless you turn on the switch that starts breaks by itself.
5The first bell
Pick a task from that list and click Start, then when the 25 minutes end, mark the task done if you want that completion to sync back to Todoist, or start another block on the same task.
A day with both
Morning
Open Todoist and move today's tasks into Today, marking P1 or P2 where you use those marks, without guessing a universal count of blocks per task, the first block being where you learn the size from the bell.
The sitting
Open LiquidFocus and pick the task that has to move, not the smallest one on the list, then click Start and stay out of the inbox and out of chat until the bell, the timer never choosing the task for you.
The bell
When the block ends, the break is yours: mark the task complete if it is done so it leaves LiquidFocus and Todoist, or start another block if it is not, the record of the morning being the blocks you ran rather than ticks on tasks you only opened.
Five minutes away from the screen
The short break is 5 minutes unless you changed it, and you start it yourself unless auto-start is on, then stand up, get water, and look away from the screen, a social feed counting as another task rather than the pause, the Windows timer page being where the 25 and the 5 are set up on the PC.
Camera, separate from sync
The sync shows tasks, the camera doing something else and only after you turn it on: it looks for a face in the frame, it does not follow your eyes, and it does not decide which window is the document. If the face stays out for the seconds you set, the default wait being 5 seconds, the timer records an interruption and pauses, then resumes that pause once the face is back, a pause you started yourself staying paused even when the face returns. Frames are checked on the computer and discarded, with no video stored or sent, the check being Pro and the download including 14 days of Pro.
During a running work block, a helper on 127.0.0.1 tells the PeakFlow browser extension the sites to block, the default list being YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, TikTok, Netflix, Twitter, and X, the block ending with that work block. It is not a block for the whole PC, and it is not an overlay on the Todoist window.
Tiny tasks and labels
Several tiny tasks will wreck the block if each one gets its own countdown, so make one Todoist task that holds them and clear that task inside a single 25-minute block. If you label tasks yourself, point a Todoist filter at that label and choose Filter in LiquidFocus so only those tasks show up. Do not skip the break to push on, because you start the next block tired, and LiquidFocus will not start the break unless you told it to. One block on the task at the top of Today is enough for the first day, further blocks coming once that break is still happening.
Elsewhere
Todoist holds the task name, the due date, and the project. Other Windows apps, including the dimmer and the clipboard list, are on the Windows apps page. Be Focused is a Mac timer. The Windows alternatives page is where to look if that is the program you are leaving.
Pick one task in Today and click Start, those 25 minutes belonging to that task, the break waiting when the bell rings.
Timer beside the list
LiquidFocus connects to Todoist and runs the 25, 5, and 15 minute timers, the core timer requiring no account of its own.
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