Lifeline 1.8 is live in the App Store. Besides the regular bug fixes, two big changes in this release: breaks finally work the way you'd expect them to, and Lifeline now talks to ChatGPT, Claude, and any other AI tool that speaks MCP.

Your AI assistant can now see (and run) your day

Lifeline has always been about awareness, a visual record of how your day is actually going. But until now, that record lived only inside the app. If you wanted to ask, "How much deep work did I do last week?" you had to look at the bars yourself.

Not anymore. Lifeline 1.8 ships with two new ways for external tools to read and control it:

• AppleScript dictionary. Eight commands for starting sessions, taking breaks, starting meetings, and querying status. Works from the Script Editor, Shortcuts, Raycast, Alfred; anything on macOS that speaks AppleScript.
• MCP server (lifeline-mcp). A Model Context Protocol server that exposes your Lifeline data and controls to any AI tool that supports MCP. That includes Claude Desktop, Claude Code, ChatGPT, and a growing list of others.

What this allows you to do:

• Ask Claude summarize my last week and get a real answer based on your actual sessions, not a guess.
• Have ChatGPT start a focus session for you at the end of a planning conversation, without you reaching for the menu bar.
• Build Shortcuts that start a Lifeline session when you open a specific app, or end one when a meeting ends.

Install the MCP server via npm (npx lifeline-mcp) and point your AI tool at it. The repo has setup guides for Claude Desktop, Claude Code, and ChatGPT.

A better break experience

The other half of this release makes some long overdue improvements to breaks.

Configurable break ratios. You're no longer stuck with Lifeline's default rhythm. Pick a preset (Pomodoro 5:1, Deep Rest 3:1) or set your own ratio. Work 45 minutes, break 15? Work 90, break 20? It's your call now.

Debt-based overheat warnings. Previously, Lifeline warned you to take a break when a session got long. That’s fine if you work in single, long sessions. But reality is messy, and the app would previously reset its overheat warning as soon as you started a new session.

The new system tracks break debt across sessions. The warning fires when the debt across sessions gets high, not when one session runs long.

Breaks are actually explained now. We’d often hear “I don’t understand how Lifeline calculates breaks,” or “why can I not take a break at my screen?”

There's now a dedicated Breaks pane in Preferences with a basic explanation of breaks, a link to more information on this blog, and a one-time intro that appears when your first break starts after updating.

How to update

Lifeline 1.8 is free for existing users. Update from the Mac App Store, or grab a fresh copy at the App Store listing. If you want to hook Lifeline up to your AI tools, start with the lifeline-mcp repo.

We'd love to hear how these new features are working for you! Send an email or find us on X and let us know your thoughts, ideas, or any questions.

Try the latest version of Lifeline now from the macOS App Store.