Best way to design habit triggers for dev tools?
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Building a background desktop or terminal companion sounds cool, but balancing daily usage with zero distraction is really tricky.
If the tool runs completely silent in the background based on git commits, people just forget it exists. But if you force developers to manually log sessions or click buttons, it turns into an annoying chore that gets closed during deep focus.
What's the best strategy to keep users engaged with ambient dev tools without breaking their actual focus?
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What works for me is the opposite of a habit trigger. The terminal I use most stays quiet while the agents work, and only pings me when one of them stops and actually needs an answer from me. So I'm not asked to log anything or click anything.