Stop Sharing Your Work Hours with Cloud Companies. Track your time privately, on your machine, forever.
TimeTrackly is a personal time tracker that runs entirely on your computer - no sign-ups, no data collection, zero cloud dependencies. Just you, your time, and a beautifully simple interface. Your data never leaves your machine.
Clean, Material Design-inspired interface with collapsible sections
Existing time trackers require:
- ❌ Creating an account and remembering another password
- ❌ Uploading your work data to someone else's servers
- ❌ Trusting a third party with your productivity patterns
- ❌ Dealing with ads, paywalls, or "freemium" upsells
TimeTrackly gives you:
- ✅ 100% Privacy - Your data stays on your computer, always
- ✅ No Setup Friction - Start tracking in 30 seconds (literally)
- ✅ Always Available - Works offline; no internet required
- ✅ You Own Your Data - Human-readable JSON files; export anytime
- ✅ Zero Dependencies - Just Node.js, nothing else (smaller attack surface, no supply chain risk)
- Hierarchical Tracking: Collapse unrelated projects to stay focused. Tasks automatically group by project name.
- Never Lose Your Work: With automatic session persistence, your active timers are safe even if you close your browser or restart your computer.
- 100% Private & Offline: All data is stored locally in human-readable JSON files. No clouds, no sign-ups, no data collection.
- Essential Controls: Everything you need: Start, Pause, Resume, Stop (Save), and Delete (Discard) active tasks.
- Notes & Comments: Click the Notes button on any timer to open a modal where you can add context. Save when done, and notes are included in your data exports.
- Clean, Focused UI: Collapsible sections for starting timers, viewing active work, and exporting data keep your workspace tidy.
- Instant Insights: A dedicated Reports tab provides real-time visualizations, including Project Time Distribution and Daily Time Logged charts.
- Smart Input: Autocomplete suggestions are populated from your recent entries and a simple, user-editable
mtt-suggestions.jsonfile. - Rock-Solid Data Integrity: Prevents concurrent tracking of the same task and uses atomic file writes to protect your data.
- Built-in Health Check: A simple endpoint to verify that the server is running and your data files are healthy.
- Track multiple tasks simultaneously with real-time duration display
- Start, Pause, Resume, Stop (Save), and Delete (Discard) controls for each timer
- Click Notes button to open a modal where you can add context to tasks; notes export with your data
Visualize your time distribution across projects and daily activity
- 👨💻 Freelancers - Track billable hours without syncing to anyone else's server
- 🏢 Privacy-Conscious Teams - Each team member runs locally; you control the data
- 🚀 Developers & Makers - Minimal dependencies, hackable architecture, own-your-data ethos
- 📊 Anyone Who Wants to Own Their Data - No vendor lock-in, data export is one click
Once the server is running, the workflow is simple and intuitive.
- Enter a Task: In the input field, type the task you want to track using the
Project / Taskformat. - Start the Timer: Click the Start button to see a new timer appear under the appropriate project.
- Track Multiple Tasks: Run as many timers as you need concurrently. TimeTrackly will group them by project.
- Stop and Save: When a task is complete, click Stop. The timer is removed from the active list and its data is permanently saved to
mtt-data.json.
- Pause/Resume: Click Pause to take a break. The timer's border will turn orange. Click Resume to pick up where you left off.
- Delete (Discard): Started a timer by mistake? Click Delete to remove it without saving any data.
- Collapse Projects: Keep your view tidy by clicking any project header to collapse or expand its task list.
- View Reports: Click the Reports & Analytics tab to see charts of your historical data.
- Export Data: On the "Time Tracker" tab, click the Export All Data (CSV) button to download a complete record of all completed tasks.
Clear error messages guide you when input is invalid
The application runs locally using a simple Node.js server with zero external dependencies.
| Component | Technology | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Client | HTML5, ES6 Modules, Vanilla JavaScript, Tailwind CSS (CDN), Chart.js (CDN) | Modular UI with 8 ES6 modules for separation of concerns |
| Backend | Node.js (with built-in http, fs.promises, and path modules) |
Local web server with atomic file I/O and health monitoring |
| Data Storage | mtt-data.json & mtt-active-state.json |
JSON-based persistence for historical and in-progress data, respectively |
| Configuration | mtt-suggestions.json |
A user-editable JSON file for populating input suggestions |
| Deployment | Local Machine Execution | Run via npm start or npm run dev |
git clone https://github.com/kanad13/TimeTrackly.git && cd TimeTrackly && npm startThen open http://localhost:13331 in your browser. Done. Your data is saved locally to mtt-data.json.
Requires: Node.js v16+ | For detailed setup and troubleshooting, see docs/setup.md
TimeTrackly is comprehensively tested with unit tests, API tests, and end-to-end UI tests.
npm test # Run all testsFor detailed testing information, test coverage, and how to write tests, see tests/README.md.
For a deep dive into the architecture and design rationale, see docs/architecture.md. For all documentation, see docs/readme.md.