Alphy
A desk plant that gets me to drink water.
He does it by asking me to water him.
15 seconds of him: slide in, perk up, swing, stretch, pour, thank you, leave
Personal project
2026
Design + build
The problem
Every hydration app is
a notification machine
I know I should drink more water. Knowing was never the problem. The reminders
were. Alarms and notifications demand attention at a moment they choose, not
one I choose, and after a week I dismiss them without reading. I work on this
laptop most of the day; anything that interrupts that gets uninstalled.
The bet
Caring for something
beats being nagged
Watering a plant is a small, pleasant act. Being told to hydrate is a chore. So the
app never mentions me at all. A plant slowly droops, and the deal is that when I
water him, I drink a glass too.
Two assumptions under that: posture can carry the whole message (a drooping
leaf needs no copy), and a boring app I keep running beats a delightful one I quit. Every decision below follows from one hard constraint: it must never interrupt me. No sound, no badges, no popups over my work. Ever.
thriving
content
thirsty
drooping
wilted
sleeping
Six states. Tiers 0 and 1 use zero words: his posture is the reminder.
The solution
Escalate the plant,
never the interface
Alphy isn’t on screen at all while I’m hydrated. When it’s been a while, he slides
down from the top of the screen and simply hangs there, drooping a little more as
time passes. He asks in words exactly once per cycle: one line, six words max.
Then he folds the card away and waits.
0 min
Ambient
Breathing, swaying.
Nothing to read.
55 min
Droop
A leaf lowers. That is the
entire reminder.
sip?
hold me
90 min
Ask
One line, once. Gone in 20
seconds.
2.5 hr
Wilt
He stops asking and just
waits. He can never die.
The interaction
Hold him. That’s it.
There’s no button. Press and hold Alphy himself and a watering can tips in; soil
darkens, leaves lift, a small meter counts the millilitres. A full pour is three seconds
and logs 250 ml. Letting go early gives partial credit: half a hold is half a glass,
never an error. Moving him instead swings him like a real pendulum. Drag, flick,
pull. The hook stays screwed to the ceiling while the cords stretch.
15 seconds of him: slide in, perk up, swing, stretch, pour, thank you, leave
Hover. Two words of instruction, the
only ones in the app
The pour: the can, the arc, the count
Release: spring, overshoot, four words
max
The craft
Details that make him feel alive
He grows. 80% of target makes a good day. Three good days grow a leaf, and
growth never goes backwards: bad days wilt today, they never cost him a stage.
stage 1
day one
stage 3
10 good days
stage 5
50 good days
He speaks like a plant, not a coach. One line at a time, matched to the hour, never
repeated within a week.
still parched
sip?
no rush. mildly desperate.
ahh
much better
half counts
new leaf. yours too.
off duty
He knows when to freeze.
screen share
camera on
fullscreen
→
he holds still
And back from a two-hour meeting: one reminder, never a queue.
Where it is now
Living quietly in my menu bar
He launches at login and stays away until he genuinely needs something. For the
first time, the reminder is something I look forward to touching.
0
notifications,
sounds or badges
3 s
for a full pour,
partial credit
below
6
words max, once
per cycle
24
leaves he can
grow, three good
days at a time
that’s Alphy. he says see you soon.
Alphy
A desk plant that gets me to drink water. He does it by asking me to water him.
15 seconds of him: slide in, perk up, swing, stretch, pour, thank you, leave
Personal project
2026
Design + build
The problem
Every hydration app is a notification machine
I know I should drink more water. Knowing was never the problem. The reminders
were. Alarms and notifications demand attention at a moment they choose, not
one I choose, and after a week I dismiss them without reading. I work on this
laptop most of the day; anything that interrupts that gets uninstalled.
The bet
Caring for something
beats being nagged
Watering a plant is a small, pleasant act. Being told to hydrate is a chore. So the
app never mentions me at all. A plant slowly droops, and the deal is that when I
water him, I drink a glass too.
Two assumptions under that: posture can carry the whole message (a drooping
leaf needs no copy), and a boring app I keep running beats a delightful one I quit. Every decision below follows from one hard constraint: it must never interrupt me. No sound, no badges, no popups over my work. Ever.
thriving
content
thirsty
drooping
wilted
sleeping
Six states. Tiers 0 and 1 use zero words: his posture is the reminder.
The solution
Escalate the plant,
never the interface
Alphy isn’t on screen at all while I’m hydrated. When it’s been a while, he slides
down from the top of the screen and simply hangs there, drooping a little more as
time passes. He asks in words exactly once per cycle: one line, six words max.
Then he folds the card away and waits.
0 min
Ambient
Breathing, swaying.
Nothing to read.
55 min
Droop
A leaf lowers. That is the
entire reminder.
sip?
hold me
90 min
Ask
One line, once. Gone in 20
seconds.
2.5 hr
Wilt
He stops asking and just
waits. He can never die.
The interaction
Hold him. That’s it.
There’s no button. Press and hold Alphy himself and a watering can tips in; soil
darkens, leaves lift, a small meter counts the millilitres. A full pour is three seconds
and logs 250 ml. Letting go early gives partial credit: half a hold is half a glass,
never an error. Moving him instead swings him like a real pendulum. Drag, flick,
pull. The hook stays screwed to the ceiling while the cords stretch.
15 seconds of him: slide in, perk up, swing, stretch, pour, thank you, leave
Hover. Two words of instruction, the
only ones in the app
The pour: the can, the arc, the count
Release: spring, overshoot, four words
max
The craft
Details that make him feel alive
He grows. 80% of target makes a good day. Three good days grow a leaf, and
growth never goes backwards: bad days wilt today, they never cost him a stage.
stage 1
day one
stage 3
10 good days
stage 5
50 good days
He speaks like a plant, not a coach. One line at a time, matched to the hour, never
repeated within a week.
still parched
sip?
no rush. mildly desperate.
ahh
much better
half counts
new leaf. yours too.
off duty
He knows when to freeze.
screen share
camera on
fullscreen
→
he holds still
And back from a two-hour meeting: one reminder, never a queue.
Where it is now
Living quietly in my menu bar
He launches at login and stays away until he genuinely needs something. For the first time, the reminder is something I look forward to touching.
0
notifications,
sounds or badges
3 s
for a full pour,
partial credit
below
6
words max, once
per cycle
24
leaves he can
grow, three good
days at a time
that’s Alphy. he says see you soon.