A Sprint is a short, focused countdown. Pick a length, hit start, and write until it ends. When it does, Deckle tells you exactly how many words you wrote in that window, not just that time passed. It's a separate system from your daily or weekly goal, though both track toward the same underlying stats.
What You Can Do
- Start a 15, 25, or 45-minute sprint from the Stats panel.
- See a small floating countdown card while a sprint is running, with pause, resume, and reset controls, without needing to reopen Stats.
- Get a completion summary showing your word count for that sprint, with the option to immediately start another one at the same length.
- Keep writing across multiple documents during a sprint. It tracks time and words at the project level, not per-document.
How to Start a Sprint
- Open Stats and go to the Today tab.
- Below your goal progress, find the Writing sprint row.
- Pick a length (15, 25, or 45 minutes) and click Start.
- A floating card appears showing the countdown. Pause, resume, or reset it any time from the card itself, without going back to Stats.
What Happens When a Sprint Ends
A modal reports how many words you wrote during the sprint, alongside its length, and offers two options: start another sprint at the same length immediately, or dismiss it and get back to writing. A chime plays at the moment it ends, so you don't need to be watching the countdown.
A Couple of Things Worth Knowing
💡 A sprint runs on wall-clock time, like a standard Pomodoro timer, and does not pause when you stop typing. This is different from Deckle's passive daily/weekly minutes goal, which only counts time while you're actively typing and auto-pauses after 90 seconds of inactivity. A sprint you start and then step away from will still run out and complete on schedule.
💡 Only one sprint runs at a time, and the floating card stays visible (fading slightly when you're not actively typing) for as long as it's running or paused. Reopening Stats isn't required to control it.
💡 The word count in the completion summary is specific to that sprint. It's the difference between your project's word count when you started and when it ended, so it reflects net words added during the sprint, not total activity.
FAQ
Does a writing sprint pause if I stop typing for a while?
No. A sprint runs on wall-clock time once started, the same way a standard Pomodoro timer does, and only stops if you explicitly pause it. This is unlike Deckle's passive minutes-based goal tracking, which does auto-pause after a period of inactivity.
What sprint lengths can I choose from?
15, 25, or 45 minutes.
Can I keep writing in a different document during a sprint?
Yes. A sprint tracks your project's overall word count, not a single document, so switching documents mid-sprint doesn't interrupt it.
What happens right when a sprint finishes?
A chime plays and a summary appears showing how many words you wrote, with a one-click option to start another sprint at the same length.