CodeKitHubWhat Is This Tool?
Egg doneness when boiling is primarily a function of time (assuming a consistent starting point, like eggs added to already-boiling water) — a shorter boil leaves the yolk runny (soft-boiled), a medium boil leaves it partially set (medium/jammy), and a longer boil fully sets both white and yolk (hard-boiled). The exact timing that produces each result varies somewhat with egg size and altitude, but 6, 8, and 12 minutes from boiling water are commonly cited starting points for soft, medium, and hard-boiled respectively.
This tool is a basic countdown timer under the hood — it counts down from a set number of minutes to zero and plays an audible tone through your browser's Web Audio API when it reaches zero — with the three common egg-boiling durations pre-loaded as one-click buttons so you don't have to remember or type them each time, plus a custom minutes field for any other use.
Because it's just a browser-based countdown, it works for anything else you'd use a basic kitchen timer for too — pasta, tea steeping, a workout interval, or any other task with a fixed duration.
Why Use It?
- It's a rushed weekday morning, the water's already boiling, and you can't remember if it was 6 or 7 minutes for soft-boiled — tap the preset instead of googling it again.
- You're cooking multiple things at once and the eggs are the one part you'll actually forget if you don't hear a beep — start the timer, walk away to plate the toast, and let the alert pull your attention back.
- You like your yolk a specific way that's not quite "medium" — start from the 8-minute preset, note whether you wanted it a bit firmer or runnier, and dial in a custom time (say, 7:30) for next time.
- You're timing something else entirely — pasta, steeped tea, a plank hold — and don't want to dig up a separate app just for a basic countdown with an alert at the end.
- You want the timer to keep counting and alert you even if you switch tabs to check something else, without installing anything or creating an account.
How to Use
- Click a preset — Soft-boiled (6 min), Medium-boiled (8 min), or Hard-boiled (12 min) — or enter a custom number of minutes.
- Click "Start" to begin the countdown.
- Click "Pause" to pause it, or "Reset" to return to the selected duration.
- When the timer reaches zero, a tone plays and the display shows a "Time's up!" message.
Example
Input
Preset: Medium-boiled (8 minutes)Output
Countdown from 08:00 to 00:00, then an audible tone8 minutes from boiling water is a commonly cited starting point for a medium-boiled egg with a partially set, jammy yolk — actual results vary somewhat with egg size and your stovetop, so treat presets as a starting point rather than an exact guarantee.
Egg doneness by boiling time
These are commonly cited starting points for eggs added to already-boiling water — adjust to taste based on your own results.
| Doneness | Typical time | Yolk texture |
|---|---|---|
| Soft-boiled | 6 minutes | Runny yolk, set white |
| Medium-boiled | 8 minutes | Partially set, jammy yolk |
| Hard-boiled | 12 minutes | Fully set yolk throughout |
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For other time-related tools, try these.
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Adjusting the presets for your own kitchen
The 6/8/12-minute presets are a solid starting point, but stovetops, pot sizes, and egg sizes vary enough that your ideal time might land a bit off from any of them. A few adjustments to keep in mind the first few times you use it:
- Extra-large or jumbo eggs generally need 30-60 seconds longer than the presets, which are calibrated for medium-to-large eggs.
- Cooking more than 4-6 eggs at once can drop the water temperature enough to need a slightly longer time, since more cold eggs pull more heat out of the pot.
- At higher altitudes, water boils at a lower temperature, so eggs generally need a minute or two longer than these sea-level-oriented presets.
- Once you find your ideal custom time for your kitchen, it's worth writing it down somewhere (a sticky note by the stove works) since the tool doesn't remember your last custom entry between visits.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do the preset times start from when the water begins boiling, or from when I add the eggs to cold water?
These presets are calibrated for eggs added to already-boiling water, which is the more common and more consistent method for controlling doneness precisely. If you start with cold water and bring it to a boil with the eggs already in, the effective cooking time — and therefore the ideal preset — will be different.
Why do my eggs come out differently than expected at the same preset?
Egg size, how many eggs are in the pot, your altitude, and your stove's actual boil temperature all affect the result slightly. Use the presets as a reliable starting point, then adjust the custom minutes up or down by 30-60 seconds next time based on how your eggs actually turned out.
Can I use this timer for something other than eggs?
Yes — it's a general-purpose countdown timer under the hood, so the custom minutes field works for anything with a fixed duration: pasta, steeping tea, a workout interval, or any other simple countdown.
Will the alert sound if I switch to another browser tab?
Yes, as long as the tab remains open (even in the background), the countdown continues and the audible tone will play through your browser when it reaches zero.
Is anything about my timer sent to a server?
No. The countdown and the alert sound are handled entirely by JavaScript and the Web Audio API in your browser tab. Nothing is uploaded or tracked.
How precise is the countdown — could it drift by several seconds over a long timer?
The timer is driven by your browser's clock and is accurate to within a second for typical use. It's precise enough for cooking purposes, though browser tab throttling on some devices can occasionally introduce a small delay if the tab is backgrounded for a very long time.
Do I need to keep the browser tab open and active the whole time?
The tab needs to stay open, but it doesn't need to be the active tab — you can switch to something else and the countdown keeps running in the background, with the alert still playing when it reaches zero.
Can I set a timer longer than 12 minutes, like for a very hard-boiled or jumbo egg?
Yes — the presets cover the three common durations, but the custom minutes field accepts any duration you need, so you're not limited to 6, 8, or 12 minutes.
What happens if I accidentally close the tab while the timer is running?
The countdown stops immediately and there's no way to recover it — you'll need to reopen the page and restart the timer from the beginning.
Does the alert sound work if my device is on silent or the volume is muted?
No — the alert is a standard audio tone played through your browser, so it follows your device's volume and mute settings just like any other sound on the page.