Altum

README

Altum

A minimalist deep work companion for the terminal. Altum times your focused work sessions, walks you through a short review when you stop, and keeps everything in a local SQLite database so you can see how your deep work adds up over time.

The name comes from the Latin altum — "deep".

How it works

1. altum start opens a full-screen timer. Work until you're done, then press Enter to stop.
2. A four-step review captures the session: the milestone you reached, focus quality (1–5), any interruptions, and a short reflection. Only the milestone is required.
3. The session is saved to a local SQLite database.
4. altum report summarises your recent sessions: total deep work time, average session length, average focus rating, best day, and more.

Install

With Go 1.25+:

go install github.com/F0xhopper/Altum/cmd/altum@latest

Or download a prebuilt binary from the releases page:

# macOS (Apple Silicon shown; use Darwin_x86_64 for Intel)
curl -LO https://github.com/F0xhopper/Altum/releases/latest/download/Altum_Darwin_arm64.tar.gz
tar -xzf Altum_Darwin_arm64.tar.gz
sudo mv altum /usr/local/bin/

Usage

altum            # interactive menu
altum start      # start a deep work session
altum report     # report on the last 7 days
altum report -d 30
altum config set db_path ~/notes/altum.db
altum config get

Example report:

═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
  Deep Work Report: Jul 19, 2026 - Jul 25, 2026
═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════

Total sessions: 9
Total deep work: 11.0 hours (660 minutes)
Average session: 73 minutes
Average rating: 4.0 / 5
Best day: Jul 22 – 2.9 hours (2 sessions)
Longest session: 110 minutes (Jul 22)
Days with deep work: 7 / 7 (100%)

Top performing days:
Jul 22: 2.9h (★★★★☆)
Jul 20: 2.3h (★★★☆☆)
Jul 21: 1.8h (★★☆☆☆)

Keybindings

During a session:

Key	Action
enter / space	Stop the session and begin the review
ctrl+c	Quit without saving

During the review:

Key	Action
enter	Confirm and continue to the next step
tab	Skip an optional step
shift+tab	Go back a step
ctrl+s	Save the session (on the final step)

In the menu: ↑/k and ↓/j to navigate, enter to select, q to quit.

Data and configuration

Sessions are stored in a single SQLite database. By default:

~/.local/share/altum/altum.db   # $XDG_DATA_HOME is respected if set

The location can be overridden with the --db_path flag, or persistently:

altum config set db_path /path/to/altum.db

Configuration lives at ~/.config/altum/config.yaml. A different config file can be passed with --config.

Development

go build -o altum ./cmd/altum
go vet ./...

Built with Bubble Tea, Cobra, and a pure-Go SQLite driver (no CGO required).

License

Apache License 2.0. See LICENSE.