About DopaSprint
DopaSprint is an ADHD-friendly productivity app built around micro-sprints, brain dumps, one daily priority, and burnout-prevention guard rails. It exists because traditional productivity tools were designed for neurotypical brains, with fixed countdown timers, endless todo lists, and shame-based streak notifications that make ADHD paralysis worse, not better.
Built by Keith Li
DopaSprint is built by Keith Li, an ADHD founder who has been teaching at universities since 2014. He built the first version for his own week, because nothing else on the market treated task initiation, working-memory overflow, and time blindness as the real bottleneck.
A decade of university teaching keeps coming back to one move: reducing a fuzzy problem to its smallest useful next step. That is exactly the move an ADHD brain cannot make without external structure. DopaSprint is that reduction, enforced by software: one daily priority, one sprint at a time, one decision on screen. It is a design position, not a limitation.
How this is built
DopaSprint uses AI for three specific jobs: breaking overwhelming tasks into 4-8 startable subtasks, generating a single "just start" nudge when you are stuck, and summarizing your last 14 days of work log into observations about when you actually get things done. We route to a fast, low-latency model appropriate for each job and swap the underlying model as better options ship, so the specific vendor and version can change without notice. AI is used where it removes a specific ADHD friction, not to justify the product's existence.
Articles on this site are written and edited by Keith. Outlines are drafted with AI assistance, then rewritten. Every claim is either sourced to primary literature, quoted from a named tool's own documentation, or clearly labeled as personal experience. Every article carries a visible published and updated date, no fake freshness.
Full editorial and AI policy →Why DopaSprint exists
Most productivity apps assume you can sit down, decide what to do, and sustain attention on it. For ADHD brains, the friction is upstream of all of that, in the deciding, the starting, and the stopping.
DopaSprint compresses the decision surface (one daily priority), removes the countdown pressure (the sprint timer counts up, not down), and installs guard rails so hyperfocus does not turn into burnout. Every design decision follows one rule: reduce decisions, not add features.
Why Traditional Productivity Apps Fail ADHD Brains
Most productivity tools are built for neurotypical brains, they assume you can sustain attention for long periods, make reliable plans, and follow through on sequential steps. For the estimated 366 million adults worldwide with ADHD, these assumptions create a cycle of failure: you adopt a new system, it works for a week, then it becomes another source of guilt.
The core challenges ADHD creates for productivity are well-documented:
- •Task paralysis, knowing what to do but being unable to start, often because the task feels too large or ambiguous
- •Time blindness, difficulty sensing how long tasks take or how much time has passed
- •Decision fatigue, executive function depletion from too many choices about what to do next
- •Hyperfocus burnout, getting locked into one thing for hours, neglecting everything else, then crashing
- •Shame spirals, productivity tools that track "streaks" or show missed deadlines reinforce feelings of inadequacy
DopaSprint addresses each of these directly through its methodology.
The DopaSprint Methodology: Capture → Sort → Sprint → Review
Instead of a complex planning system, DopaSprint uses a four-step loop designed to minimize decisions and maximize momentum. Each step is calibrated to work with ADHD neurology.
Step 1: Brain Dump
Open the app and pour out everything in your head, one thought per line. No categorizing, no prioritizing, no estimating. Just capture. This leverages the ADHD tendency toward spontaneous ideation while removing the executive function burden of organizing on-the-fly.
Why it works: Reduces the task from "plan my entire day" (paralyzing) to "write down what's in my head" (achievable). Externalization of working memory frees cognitive resources.
Step 2: Sort (One at a Time)
Tasks are presented one at a time for categorization into sprint categories: Urgent (🔥), Deadline (⏰), Admin (📋), or Creative (🎨). You only make one decision per screen, "where does this task go?" No multi-column drag-and-drop. No priority matrices.
Why it works: Decision fatigue is the enemy. By constraining each interaction to a single binary choice, sorting becomes achievable even on low-executive-function days. The categories are pre-defined, you don't have to design your own system.
Step 3: Sprint (Micro-Sprints)
Pick a category and start a timed sprint. The timer counts up, not down, because countdown timers create anxiety in ADHD brains. Work through tasks in short bursts. When you complete a task, you get immediate visual feedback (the dopamine hit). When you're done, stop the sprint.
Why it works: ADHD brains respond to novelty and immediate reward. Short sprints create natural transition points (satisfying the need for novelty) while task completion provides micro-rewards. The upward timer removes "running out of time" anxiety while still providing time awareness (addressing time blindness).
How it differs from Pomodoro: Pomodoro uses fixed 25-minute intervals with forced breaks. DopaSprint sprints are variable-length and category-focused, you work as long as your attention holds, then stop naturally. No guilt for short sprints. No forced breaks interrupting flow.
Step 4: Review
At the end of your day, see exactly what you accomplished. Not what you planned, not what you "should" have done, what you actually did. Reflect with a mood check-in and set one priority for tomorrow.
Why it works: ADHD brains often end the day feeling like they accomplished nothing (even when they did plenty). Visible proof of progress combats the "I wasted the whole day" narrative. Setting tomorrow's priority while today's context is fresh reduces morning decision fatigue.
Guard Rails: Structure Without Shame
DopaSprint includes configurable time boundaries, a "guard rail" warning and a "hard stop", that nudge you before burnout. These are not productivity trackers or streak counters. They're protective boundaries.
- Guard rail time, a gentle banner: "Hey, maybe start wrapping up." Dismissible. No judgment.
- Hard stop time, a modal suggesting you stop for the day. Option to move remaining tasks to tomorrow. Designed to prevent hyperfocus burnout.
AI-Powered ADHD Support
DopaSprint uses AI to address specific ADHD challenges, not as a gimmick, but as targeted interventions for known pain points.
AI Task Breakdown
Overwhelming tasks are the #1 cause of ADHD task paralysis. The AI breaks any task into 4-8 actionable subtasks, each estimated at 5-15 minutes. Transforms "Clean the house" into "Pick up items from living room floor (10 min)", specific, small, and startable.
AI "Just Start" Nudges
When you're staring at a task and can't begin, the AI generates a one-sentence micro-nudge, a tiny first action to break the paralysis. Not motivational quotes. Concrete, physical actions: "Open the document and type the first sentence."
AI Pattern Analysis
Reviews your last 14 days of work logs to identify productivity patterns, when you're most productive, which categories get attention, and what might be falling through the cracks. Self-awareness without self-judgment.
The One-Priority System
Every day, you pick one task as your daily priority. Not three. Not five. One. This is the single most important thing you can do today. If you complete it, the day is a success, everything else is bonus.
This directly addresses the ADHD tendency to overcommit and then feel like a failure for not finishing everything. By defining success as one completed priority, you create achievable daily wins that build momentum over time.
What DopaSprint Is Not
- Not a project management tool, no Gantt charts, no team collaboration, no Kanban boards. This is a personal productivity tool for individual ADHD brains.
- Not a Pomodoro timer, no fixed intervals, no forced breaks, no streak tracking. Sprints are flexible and guilt-free.
- Not a habit tracker, no streaks, no daily quotas, no "you missed a day" notifications. Missing a day is fine. Come back when you're ready.
- Not a calendar, DopaSprint doesn't schedule your day. It helps you get things done within whatever time you have right now.
Pricing
Free
$0
- 50 active tasks
- 50 AI credits/month
- 7-day history
- No credit card required
Standard
$4.99/month
- Unlimited tasks
- Unlimited AI
- Full history
Premium
$9.99/month
- Everything in Standard
- Priority support
Frequently asked questions
- Who built DopaSprint?
- DopaSprint was built by Keith Li, an ADHD founder and Vibe Coding pioneer who has taught at universities since 2014. He built the first version for his own week and continues to write, edit, and stand behind every article on this site. See the full bio on the Keith Li author page.
- When was DopaSprint launched?
- DopaSprint’s first production version shipped on February 22, 2026. The app is under active development, with new features and refinements released regularly.
- Is DopaSprint free?
- Yes. The free tier includes up to 50 active tasks, 50 AI credits per month, and 7 days of history. No credit card required. Paid plans start at $4.99/month for unlimited tasks and expanded AI features.
- Is DopaSprint safe to use with my personal data?
- Your tasks and work-log entries are stored in Lovable Cloud (Supabase) with strict Row-Level Security so only you can read your own data. We do not sell data to third parties. AI features require the plaintext of the specific task you send, this is disclosed on the request.
- How is DopaSprint different from Pomodoro apps?
- Pomodoro apps use a fixed 25-minute countdown that pressures you to start and shames you when you can’t. DopaSprint’s timer counts up so you work as long as focus lasts, limits you to one daily priority to remove decision fatigue, and enforces guard rails plus a configurable hard-stop to prevent hyperfocus burnout.
- What languages and platforms does DopaSprint support?
- DopaSprint ships in English, Traditional Chinese (繁體中文), and Simplified Chinese (简体中文). It is a Progressive Web App that runs in Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge, and installs to phone or desktop for an app-like experience.
Also by Keith Li
DopaSprint is part of a portfolio of AI-native products Keith ships as a Vibe Coding pioneer:
Contact
Questions, feedback, or bug reports? Email support and we’ll get back to you.
Email support@dopasprint.comReady to work with your brain?
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