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AI · September 3, 2026

Rubato

When AI thinks, you move — a retro-Mac desk companion

What it does

Rubato is a palm-sized retro-Mac screen that looks after your body while AI works. An open-source plugin streams your AI session state over TLS — prompts and code never leave your computer. Cream while thinking, glacier blue while generating, green when done. Long tasks ease into full-screen micro-breaks — water, eyes, neck, standing desk — with daily quotas and 30-minute spacing. No subscription: USB-C, self-healing OTA firmware. Works with DeepSeek Harness, OpenClaw, Cursor, OpenCode. $59.

Rubato - a palm-sized retro-Macintosh AI desk companion that turns AI wait time into gentle health breaks. Firmware, tools and docs. - lovaxi/Rubato_Device

Rubato is a palm-sized retro-Macintosh screen (ESP8266, 240×240 color display) built for one job: looking after the bodies of programmers and heavy AI users. Long sessions keep you pinned to the chair — dry eyes, a stiff neck, an aching back. Rubato watches your AI coding sessions and turns long waits into real, gentle breaks — water, eye rest, a stretch — on time, every day. The rest of the time it just sits quietly on your desk, never in your way. The six targets are what sitting all day actually costs: dehydration, eye strain, a stiff neck, stagnant circulation. Each activity has a daily quota, and two full-screen breaks stay at least 30 minutes apart. The design is quiet and natural —…from github.com

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