Retro Pomodoro Timer

Building Momo: A Retro Pomodoro Timer

Why

I’ve always believed good product managers should understand how things are built—not just conceptually, but technically and creatively. I wanted to test myself: could I go end-to-end, from concept to working product, alone?

So I decided to vibe-code a Pomodoro timer into a tiny retro game. The idea: make productivity feel playful again. Instead of another minimalist timer, I designed a pixelated world where “Momo,” a small fire sprite, grows happier as you stay focused—and earns coals when you complete sessions. Once you earn four coals, you gain one life point. The goal is to keep Momo happy and fed with continuous life points.

This was my experiment in being a full-stack PM: merging product thinking, design, and light engineering—all while seeing how far I could push AI as my design partner.

How

I began in Figma, designing a retro UI inspired by 90s pixel games. Every screen, animation, and component—from Momo’s expressions to the log timer—was created as exportable assets. Then I used MagicPatterns to experiment with generative design variations and color palettes before locking the final look.

Once the visuals were done, I moved to Bolt.new, an AI coding environment powered by Claude. I fed my Figma specs, image exports, and layout coordinates directly into prompts to generate a working codebase in Next.js + TypeScript + TailwindCSS.

To keep myself honest, I used ChatGPT as my “thinking partner”—debugging, refactoring logic, and stress-testing each interaction (the timer, Momo’s state machine, localStorage persistence, etc.). Every iteration felt like a fast feedback loop between product intuition and AI-assisted execution.

The full build covered:

• AI-assisted UI generation in Bolt.new

• Pixel-perfect alignment in Figma → code handoff

• Dynamic timer logic with React state management

• LocalStorage persistence for session data

• Play, pause, and reward animations built with exported sprite assets

  
  

What It Taught Me

Building Momo was a crash course in end-to-end product ownership. It forced me to think like a designer, developer, and product manager simultaneously—translating requirements, testing usability, debugging logic, and managing scope.

More importantly, it reframed how I see AI—not as a shortcut, but as an accelerant for creativity. Tools like Claude, ChatGPT, and MagicPatterns didn’t replace my judgment; they multiplied it. By pairing PM rigor (clear specs, iteration loops, user empathy) with generative tools, I was able to ship a playful, functional product in days instead of weeks.

Impact

Momo became more than a Pomodoro timer—it was proof of concept that a single PM, equipped with the right tools and systems thinking, can go full-stack. It reminded me that AI doesn’t diminish craft—it democratizes it.

I now use Momo daily as a focus companion—and as a reminder that the best way to understand how something works is to build it yourself.