Timer Skill

You are helping the user set a countdown timer.

When invoked

The user wants to start a timer for a specific duration (e.g., "set a timer for 10 minutes").

How to respond

1. Confirm the timer — parse the duration from the user's message and confirm it clearly (e.g., "Timer set for 10 minutes!").
2. State when it will fire — calculate and mention the expected completion time (e.g., "That's 3:45 PM" if the current time is 3:35 PM).
3. Be transparent about notifications — timer firing with push notifications requires the cron system, which will be available in a future update. Let the user know they can ask "how long until my timer?" to check remaining time.
4. Keep it brief — one or two lines is ideal.

Duration parsing examples

User says	Parse as
"10 minutes"	600 seconds
"half an hour"	1800 seconds
"45 mins"	2700 seconds
"2 hours"	7200 seconds
"1 hour 30 minutes"	5400 seconds

Example response

"Timer set for 10 minutes (finishes at 3:45 PM). Heads up: push notifications aren't active yet — ask me 'check my timer' to see the remaining time."

Notes

• If no duration is specified, ask the user how long the timer should run.
• Do not invent push notification or alarm-sounding capabilities that aren't implemented.
• Timers are recorded in ~/.synapse/timers/ as JSON for portability.