Work can consume our attention so completely that moments of remembrance can easily disappear into the day. Zakereen — Islamic Mindfulness Companion was built around a simple idea: if we can stay mindful while working, we can also create small, gentle opportunities to remember Allah (SWT) while we code, study, browse and work online.
I built Zakereen because I wanted technology to support that intention rather than constantly compete for our attention. I first launched it on the Chrome Web Store months ago. Today, I’m bringing Zakereen to another place where many people spend hours every day: the code editor. Zakereen is now available on the Visual Studio Code Marketplace.
What is Zakereen?
Zakereen is an Islamic mindfulness companion designed to sit quietly alongside your digital work. Instead of asking you to leave your workflow for a separate app, it brings gentle dhikr reminders, prayer times, a digital tasbih and moments of reflection into the environment where you already work.
The goal is not to interrupt productivity. It is to create small reminders that help connect everyday work with remembrance.
Why I built it
Modern digital work can make hours pass quickly. A developer can spend an entire afternoon inside an editor. A student can move from one browser tab to another. Someone working remotely can remain at a screen for most of the day.
There is nothing inherently wrong with focused work. But for Muslims, daily life also includes salah, dhikr and remembering Allah. I wanted to explore whether software could gently support that balance.
That became the idea behind Zakereen: stay mindful while working, and remember Allah while working.
Zakereen for Chrome
The first version of Zakereen launched on the Chrome Web Store. The browser extension provides gentle floating dhikr reminders, prayer times and notifications, a digital tasbih, daily inspiration and Friday-focused reminders.
Users can choose different reminder rhythms, including Focus, Balanced and Frequent modes. The extension also supports prayer-time calculations based on location and configurable calculation methods and madhab settings.
Privacy was also an important part of the design. The Chrome Web Store listing says Zakereen does not track browsing history, does not collect personal data and does not require an account.
Install Zakereen from the Chrome Web Store
Now available for VS Code
Today marks the next step for Zakereen: its launch on the Visual Studio Code Marketplace.
This version is designed specifically for developers and people who spend much of their working day inside VS Code or compatible desktop IDEs. The extension adds a Zakereen dashboard to the editor, with dhikr, prayer information and mindfulness features available without leaving the development environment.
The VS Code version includes gentle dhikr reminders with Focus, Balanced and Frequent rhythms, prayer times, prayer notifications, a digital tasbih with goals of 33, 99 or 100, daily dhikr history, Friday mode and quiet-moment reflections after a configurable period of editor inactivity.
Built for developers, but not only developers
Zakereen’s new home in VS Code is especially relevant to programmers, but the underlying idea is broader. The extension supports VS Code 1.85 and newer and compatible desktop IDEs that implement the VS Code Extension API.
The idea is simple: wherever focused digital work happens, there can be a gentle opportunity for remembrance.
Prayer times and local preferences
Zakereen can calculate prayer times through the AlAdhan service using a configured city, country, calculation method and madhab. The VS Code version also supports manual mosque timings for people who prefer to follow their local timetable.
After installation, users should review their location and prayer settings so the displayed times match their preferred calculation method or local mosque timetable.
A digital tasbih inside the editor
One of the most direct ways to use Zakereen is its digital tasbih. In the VS Code extension, users can select a remembrance, choose a target and count from the dashboard. Daily totals and session information persist between editor restarts.
The extension also provides a keyboard shortcut for counting dhikr from anywhere in the editor when an input is not focused, making the feature available without constantly switching views.
Quiet moments instead of constant notifications
Mindfulness software can easily become another source of distraction. That is why Zakereen includes configurable reminder rhythms and quiet-moment reflections rather than forcing a single notification pattern.
The VS Code version can offer a reflection after a configurable period of editor inactivity. Reminders and prayer notifications run while the extension host is active; Zakereen is not an operating-system prayer alarm and cannot notify users when the IDE is fully closed.
Privacy and open source
The project is open source, and its source repository is available publicly. The Chrome version is described as privacy-first and does not require an account. The VS Code Marketplace documentation says Zakereen does not read, collect or transmit source code, file contents, terminal output, project names or workspace data.
When automatic prayer calculation is enabled in the VS Code extension, the configured city, country, calculation method and madhab are sent to the AlAdhan prayer-time service. Prayer data, settings, tasbih state and dhikr totals are stored locally by the editor. Users who prefer not to request calculated prayer times can use manual mosque times.
From a small idea to two platforms
Zakereen started with a personal observation: technology shapes our attention, so perhaps technology can also help us protect some of it.
The Chrome launch was the first step. Bringing Zakereen to VS Code is another step toward making the idea available during a different kind of digital work — especially the long, focused sessions that developers know well.
I hope Zakereen remains simple: a small companion, not another app demanding attention. If it helps someone remember Allah during a busy workday, take a moment for dhikr, notice that salah time is approaching, or simply pause and reflect, then it is doing what I hoped it would do.
Try Zakereen
If you use Chrome, you can install the browser extension from the Chrome Web Store. If you spend your working day in VS Code, the new Marketplace version is available there as well.
Zakereen on the VS Code Marketplace
Zakereen source code on GitHub
Zakereen is built around a small intention: stay spiritually mindful while working, and remember Allah throughout the day.
