Tools that keep the peace instead of breaking it.
Good software doesn’t nag. That’s the whole idea.
I’m Dan, and I build small apps in Auckland that don’t ask for your attention.
Four rules for every tool.
- 01
Small
Does a few things well, then stops.
Your day lives in one file on your own PC, and it works without the internet.
- 02
Quiet
Speaks only when you ask it to.
It only reminds you about the blocks you’ve set, and nothing else.
- 03
Private
Nothing leaves your computer unless you switch it on.
No cookies, no tracking. If you turn on sync, your data is locked with your password before it leaves.
- 04
Careful
Every detail passes through one person.
I read email and reply myself. I’m also Shoji’s first user, so if something’s annoying, I notice it first.
A planner, a blocker, a timer and a tracker. One calm window.
Shoji is a day planner for Windows, with Mac, Android and iPhone coming, built for people who want to keep the peace without letting a million things get in the way.
Planning your day, the focus timer, the journal and this week’s Insights are free. Pro adds the parts that guard your focus, count your hours and turn them into an invoice.
- Price
- Shoji is free to start. Pro is coming soon, at US$8.99 a month.
- Refunds
- Get a full refund within 14 days of any payment.
- Privacy
- No cookies and no tracking. Your data stays in one file on your computer.
- Seller
- Dan Bierre, trading as Soft Light Software, New Zealand.
- Free
Lay the day out in slots.
Shoji nudges you before the next one. Tick them off as you go, and move or skip the ones that slip.
- Pro
It doesn’t just remind you. It closes them.
When a focus round starts, Shoji closes the apps on your block list, and closes them again if they’re reopened. The sites on your list stay blocked until you stop the timer, breaks included. The apps you work in stay open.
- Pro
Every round lands on the invoice.
A round counts toward the slot or tracker item it’s for. At the end of the week, use Send to client: a spreadsheet, a table, or an invoice at your tracker’s rate, with your currency and tax.
- Free
Close the day in a line or two.
One question, a few words in the journal, and you’re done.
- Free
See how the week went.
This week’s Insights are free. The weekly, monthly and year reviews, with your history, are part of Pro.
Software should feel like a quiet room.
Today’s world is overwhelmingly distracting, and it isn’t an accident. Technology, money and human psychology have lined up to capture your attention and sell it.
Social media, apps and news sites are built around algorithms and reward loops: likes, notifications, endless feeds. Each one is designed to give you a small hit and keep you scrolling.
Even when you sit down to work, it breaks you into pieces. A notification, an email, another app, and you’ve switched tasks again. Every switch drops the thread, and deep thinking gets harder each time.
I struggled to focus too. I wanted tools that help you get something done and then get out of the way. That’s why everything I make keeps your data on your own computer, has no tracking, and only speaks when you’ve asked it to. Small software, made carefully, by one person.
A question, a bug, a refund, or just a hello. I'll write back.
- Dan Bierre, trading as Soft Light Software, New Zealand.
- Full refund within 14 days of any payment.