Frequently Asked Questions

RAYGUN OS is a cognitive operating system for experiment-driven minds. It's a framework for working with how your brain actually functions rather than forcing productivity systems that fight against your nature.

Built on neuroscience research, it treats mental frames as experiments rather than fixed truths, giving you choice at the moment between stimulus and response—the frame-selection point.

It's not a productivity system. It's permission to work how your brain already wants to work, backed by science.

Read the full framework →

RAYGUN is for people whose brains run on fascination rather than discipline.

If you've tried GTD, Pomodoro, and other productivity systems only to feel like you're fighting yourself, RAYGUN offers a different approach.

It's particularly resonant for:

• People with ADHD or ADHD-like traits
• Creatives who can't force inspiration
• Builders and tinkerers who learn by doing
• Anyone who's most productive when experimenting rather than executing rigid plans
• People experiencing burnout from forcing productivity

See examples across domains →

RAYGUN works by making visible the gap between stimulus and response—what we call the frame-selection point.

The core loop:

1. Notice the constraint (what you're facing)
2. Touch the gap (pause, breathe, drop the story)
3. Ask: "What frame makes engaging with this most alive?"
4. Run the experiment (try the frame, see what happens)
5. Update based on results

Instead of forcing yourself to do things, you treat every situation as an experiment. The question shifts from "how do I make myself do this?" to "what's the most interesting way to engage with this?"

Try it yourself in 5 minutes →

GTD (Getting Things Done) is about external organization—capturing everything, processing it into lists, and executing from context-based task lists.

RAYGUN is about internal orientation—how you relate to whatever you're facing, regardless of how it's organized.

Key differences:

• GTD assumes you'll execute if you organize right. RAYGUN addresses why execution feels hard in the first place.
• GTD is task-management. RAYGUN is cognitive architecture.
• GTD works great for some brains. RAYGUN is for brains that resist GTD's structure.

They're not mutually exclusive—you can use GTD for organization and RAYGUN for engagement.

Pomodoro uses time-boxing—work for 25 minutes, break for 5, repeat.

RAYGUN doesn't impose artificial structure. It works with your natural attention cycles rather than forcing arbitrary intervals.

The problem with Pomodoro for some brains: it interrupts flow states. When you're deeply engaged, the timer breaks the spell. RAYGUN lets you ride fascination as long as it lasts.

Pomodoro can be useful when depleted (it's a constraint that reduces decision fatigue). But it's a tool, not an operating system.

Mindfulness is a component of RAYGUN, not the whole thing.

Mindfulness typically means non-judgmental awareness of the present moment.

RAYGUN uses that awareness (meta-perception) as the foundation, then adds:

• The frame-selection point (where you choose how to engage)
• Frame pragmatism (choosing frames based on what makes things alive)
• Experiment mode (treating everything as data)
• A complete architecture for cognitive flexibility

Mindfulness helps you notice. RAYGUN gives you something to do with what you notice.

No. The difference is measurable.

Procrastination:

• Avoiding work through distraction
• Depletes energy
• Creates anxiety and guilt
• Produces nothing

Experiment mode:

• Engaging with work differently
• Generates energy
• Creates curiosity and data
• Produces results (even if different than expected)

RAYGUN isn't permission to avoid hard things. It's a different relationship with hard things that makes them tractable.

No. RAYGUN works for any task by changing how you frame it, not by changing the task.

The core insight: fascination is a choice—a frame for engaging with reality—not a property of the task itself.

Examples:

• Boring admin work → experiment in efficiency ("How fast can I actually do this?")
• Difficult conversation → experiment in understanding ("What's really going on here?")
• Tedious debugging → puzzle to solve ("What's this system trying to tell me?")

The constraint doesn't change. Your relationship to it does.

See examples across 7 domains →

RAYGUN was developed by someone whose brain runs on fascination rather than discipline—which describes many people with ADHD.

Rather than fighting hyperfocus and distractibility, RAYGUN works with these traits:

• Hyperfocus isn't a bug—it's fascination doing its job. RAYGUN helps you access it intentionally.
• Distractibility often signals you're in grind mode, not experiment mode. The frame-selection point helps you catch this.
• Novelty-seeking is exactly what experiment mode leverages.

Many people with ADHD find RAYGUN describes how they already work at their best—and gives them language for it.

Start here: Try RAYGUN - a 5-minute interactive experiment that walks you through the core loop.

Then explore:

• The Framework - the complete 18,000-word architecture
• Examples - RAYGUN applied across 7 domains
• The Science - research backing

If you get stuck: Troubleshooting helps diagnose what's happening.

The core loop can be understood in 5 minutes.

But understanding isn't the same as embodiment. The framework describes a skill—cognitive flexibility at the frame-selection point—that develops over time with practice.

Most people report:

• Day 1: "Oh, I see what this is pointing at"
• Week 1: Catching the frame-selection point sometimes
• Month 1: New default starting to form

There's no finish line. It's an ongoing experiment.

If you try RAYGUN and it doesn't click immediately, that's normal and useful data.

The Troubleshooting page helps diagnose what might be happening:

• Depletion: You're too exhausted for meta-awareness right now
• Technique: The loop isn't landing (something's off in the steps)
• Habit: Old patterns persist despite new understanding
• Understanding: Intellectual knowledge hasn't become embodied yet

RAYGUN itself is an experiment. If it's not working, that's data—not failure.

Yes. RAYGUN OS is completely free and open source.

The full 18,000-word framework, interactive experiment, science backing, examples, and all resources are freely available under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0.

There's nothing to buy. Share it, adapt it, build on it.

View on GitHub →

Yes. RAYGUN is grounded in neuroscience and cognitive psychology research.

Key research areas:

• Perception-action loop: How attention modulates sensory processing (PROVEN)
• Meta-awareness: Monitoring your own cognitive processes (SUPPORTED)
• Cognitive flexibility: Switching between frames adaptively (PROVEN)
• Frame-selection point: The gap between stimulus and response (PROVEN)
• Fascination and dopamine: Curiosity-driven learning (SUPPORTED)

The framework is transparent about what's proven, what's supported, and what's a logical extension.

See the full research backing →

RAYGUN emerged from 45 years of experiments by someone whose brain never worked with traditional productivity systems.

The framework crystallized during a health crisis in 2020—when the creator discovered that experiment mode (vs. grind mode) literally reduced physical symptoms triggered by stress.

It's not theoretical. It's been battle-tested as a survival mechanism.

Read the full origin story →