Life & fun · December 17, 2025
Rekapu – Learn while procrastinating. Answer flashcard to unblock sites
Hi HN! I built Rekapu to learn Polish after moving from Ukraine to Poland. The problem is - I work remotely for US companies in English, and most people around me speak English or I can use self-service checkouts, so there's basically zero pressure to actually learn. But I wanted to improve. Being honest with myself, I had to acknowledge that with my cooked attention span, relying on willpower or strict schedules just wasn't going to work. The insight: My most consistent habit is procrastinating on HN, Twitter, and news sites. It happens automatically every day, regardless of my mood or…
In plain words
Rekapu is a browser extension that blocks access to time-wasting websites unless the user answers a flashcard question first. Designed for language learners with limited willpower for traditional study methods, it leverages procrastination habits by requiring just one flashcard per session before granting site access. The tool pairs learning with the automatic behavior of visiting blocked sites, turning unplanned procrastination into productive study moments with minimal friction.
written from the facts on this page · September 2026
From the sources
In the maker’s words, at launch
Hi HN! I built Rekapu to learn Polish after moving from Ukraine to Poland. The problem is - I work remotely for US companies in English, and most people around me speak English or I can use self-service checkouts, so there's basically zero pressure to actually learn. But I wanted to improve. Being honest with myself, I had to acknowledge that with my cooked attention span, relying on willpower or strict schedules just wasn't going to work. The insight: My most consistent habit is procrastinating on HN, Twitter, and news sites. It happens automatically every day, regardless of my mood or motivation. I don't plan these procrastination sessions - they just happen. So I thought: what if I couple learning with procrastination? Make it as small as possible - just one flashcard per session, get a small dopamine hit, and proceed. How it works: When you visit a blocked site, Rekapu shows you one flashcard. Answer it, get N minutes of access. Repeat. Unlike traditional blockers that redirect you to a new page (losing scroll position and context), Rekapu uses an overlay - after answering, you continue exactly where you left off. And it felt good. Each procrastination session started feeling less guilty because at least I'm learning vocabulary and doing something good for myself every day without relying on willpower or motivation. It just happens natively. And it works so well for me that I keep using it, so I decided to share it. Main features: Spaced repetition (Again/Hard/Good/Easy ratings) Import Anki .apkg decks with media Google TTS support (BYOK) - great for languages Cloze deletion cards Activity streaks & daily goals Everything stored locally (IndexedDB), no servers, no tracking Tech: TypeScript, React + Chakra UI, IndexedDB. Landing built with Astro. Links: Chrome: https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/lbbjjejkepnemhcbhcc... Website: https://rekapu.com/en/ GitHub: https://github.com/k-tkachov/rekapu Free and open-source (GPL-3.0). Would you give it a try or should I just keep it as a personal tool?
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