Generic screen time misses the point
Built-in Screen Time can tell you how many hours you spent in a browser or a terminal — but not how much of that was AI. These days that’s the number that matters: the chats, the agents, the autocomplete you barely notice. Touch Grass measures AI time specifically, so the figure reflects the habit you actually want to watch.
What it measures
Once a second, it checks what’s frontmost and decides whether it’s AI:
- Apps — Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, and other AI tools, matched by bundle id.
- Terminal tools —
claude,codex,aider,gemini, including interpreter-hosted ones. - AI sites — chatgpt.com, claude.ai, perplexity.ai and friends, via the browser’s active-tab URL (read locally).
A number that actually means something
A second only counts when you’re engaged at an AI surface, or when an AI agent is genuinely working in the background. Idle windows and unrelated apps don’t inflate the total. It accumulates in a rolling window that’s saved to disk, so quitting doesn’t reset your progress. Read the full model on how it works.
From tracking to a real break
A tracker you can ignore is just a number. When you cross your limit, Touch Grass gives a one-minute warning, then fills every display with a calm landscape and a countdown until you step away. And it stays private — everything is computed on your Mac.