Abraxas

Help

Abraxas is an app where you make an egg for each goal that has no deadline, and on a day you move forward, you press and hold that egg to make a crack. Here are answers to common questions.

Making a crack

Why can I make only one crack a day?

There's an old Zen image, pecking together (啐啄同時): the chick pecks from inside and the hen pecks the same spot from outside, and only then does the shell open. If the hen pecks when the chick isn't pecking, she hurts the chick.

In Abraxas, the peck from inside is a real step forward in your life, and holding the egg is your answer to it. That's why one crack a day is enough for an egg.

If you hold an egg that already cracked today, you'll see "Already cracked today", feel two soft knocks from inside, and today's crack will show clearly for a moment. No new crack appears, and nothing scolds you. The once-a-day limit is per egg, so you can still crack the other eggs in your nest that day.

When does the day change?

At 4 a.m. A crack you make late at night, after midnight, still counts for that day. Abraxas follows your iPhone's clock and time zone, so if you travel to another time zone, it follows the local clock there.

I made a crack by mistake.

Right after a crack, "Undo" appears for a moment next to "It cracked" under the egg. Tap it and the crack you just made disappears, so you can crack again that day. The final crack can't be undone, because the egg opens right after it.

Holding the egg feels too long.

In Settings, under "When you hold the egg", turn on "Short hold" and a brief press is enough to make a crack. You can also turn off haptics and sound there, separately.

Numbers, and when an egg opens

Why are there no numbers?

Once you start counting days or percentages, the days you rest start to look like failures. Goals with no deadline take a long time, and an app that blames you for resting is hard to keep around for long.

So Abraxas doesn't show numbers. How far you've come shows only as cracks on the shell. An egg you haven't looked at in a while never fades, and the days you rest leave no trace anywhere.

When does an egg open?

When enough cracks are in, the egg knocks three times by itself after the final crack and opens from inside. You don't press anything for the opening.

The number of cracks an egg needs isn't shown either. The size tells you instead: a quail egg is a short story, a hen's egg is about a season, and a goose egg is a long journey. The bigger the egg, the more cracks it takes to open.

After it opens, you can leave a line under "What came out?", or leave it empty. The opened shell rests in Abraxas, and with "Make the next egg here" you can go on to the next egg.

The nest and the drawer

The nest only holds three eggs.

You can keep up to three eggs in the nest. Any more wait in the drawer, and eggs in the drawer can't be cracked.

From the nest to the drawer: tap an egg in the nest to open its screen, then choose "Move to the drawer" from More (…).
From the drawer to the nest: open "Drawer" at the bottom of the nest and swipe an egg left, or tap the egg and choose "Move to the nest". You can move it only when the nest has room.

I'd like to change an egg's color.

Choose "Egg color" from More (…) on the egg's screen. You can pick white, sand, apricot, coral, pink, lavender, sky, mint, sage or ink. Only eggs in the nest or the drawer can change color.

Setting down and deleting

I want to stop an egg or delete it.

Set down: for when it's okay not to go all the way. Choose "Set down" from More (…) on the egg's screen. The egg moves to "Eggs set down" in Abraxas, and the cracks you made stay as they are.
Delete egg: choose "Delete egg" from the same menu. The egg and all its cracks are deleted, and this can't be undone.
For an egg in Abraxas, swipe it left and tap "Delete", or use More (…) on its shell screen.
To delete all your records at once, delete the app.

Backup and export

I want to back up my records or move them to a new iPhone.

Abraxas doesn't upload your records to a server. Backing up and restoring your whole iPhone may bring them along, but a backup file is the surest way.

In Settings, under "Records", tap "Export backup" to create a single JSON file, and keep it somewhere safe, such as the Files app.
On your new iPhone, choose that file with "Import backup" under "Records" in Settings.

Importing replaces your current records with the backup's contents. You'll be asked once more before anything is replaced, but after that it can't be undone. Without a backup file, your records can't be recovered for you.

A backup file holds only your eggs and cracks. Settings like haptics, sound and notifications need to be chosen again on the new iPhone.

I'd like to keep my records as something easy to read.

With "Export as Markdown" in Settings, you get all your records as a single document. This file is for reading only and can't be imported back.

Widgets and shortcuts

How do I use the widgets?

Touch and hold an empty area of your Home Screen, tap "Edit", choose "Add Widget", then look for "Abraxas".

Egg (small): shows one egg and its cracks. Touch and hold the widget and choose "Edit Widget" to pick which egg it shows. If you don't pick one, it shows the first egg in your nest. Tap it to go straight to that egg.
Nest (medium): shows the eggs in your nest and their next steps.
Lock Screen: the Egg widget comes in circular, rectangular and inline shapes.

A widget is a window onto your egg. Cracks can be made only in the app.

Can I open it from Control Center or Siri?

Add "Open the nest" to Control Center to open the app right away. You can also say to Siri, "Open the nest in Abraxas", or use "Open the nest" and "Show an egg" in the Shortcuts app.

Notifications

Will I get notifications?

Not at first. In Settings, under "Weekly look back", turn on "Ask me once a week" and pick a day and time, and once a week you'll be asked, "Did something move this week?" This is the only notification the app ever sends.

If it's on but nothing arrives, check that notifications for Abraxas are allowed in your iPhone's Settings app.

Contact

If you have a question or something isn't working, write to pyospect@gmail.com. Including your iPhone model, iOS version and app version (at the bottom of Settings) makes it quicker to look into.