Timefred -- A time tracker for optimizing deep focus.
Timefred is a CLI app that strives to be the Alfred to your Batman.
Basic usage:
$ tf on 'unit tests'
$ tf stop
It also understands "natural language" commands, like:
$ tf on 'unit tests' 30m ago
Fancy report generation:
$ tf report
Sync with 3rd-party services:
$ tf sync
Timefred supports a wide range of functionality, including Jira integration, data aggregation, and daemon mode.
Assumptions
====
- No-one wants to do any time tracking.
- Your boss wants you to do all the time tracking.
You're Batman.
Like the comic book character, Timefred works by minimizing the user's interaction with it, while
maximizing distraction-free work, and taking care of all the tedious details.
It does this by {describe 'oh-crap I forgot to toggle my timer'}, zero learning curve, "smart" behavior
(doesn't need to be told to do things) like "on" automatically stops the previous timer etc.
Usage
=====
Here's the minimal usage style:
$ tf on 'unit tests'
Start working on 'unit tests'.
$ tf status
You have been working on 'unit tests' for less than a minute.
$ tf stop
Stopped working on 'unit tests'.
$ tf report
Thursday April 05 2021
...
on and stop can take arguments for:
- time (format described further down)
- tag
- note
Example:
$ tf on research 2 hours ago
Started working on research at 2:40 PM.
$ tf s
You have been working on research for about 2 hours (since 2:40 PM).
$ tf stop 30 minutes ago
Stopped working on research at 2:10 PM.
Also illustrating in the previous example is short aliases of all commands,
their first letter. Like, s for status, o for on,
f for stop, etc.
Put brief notes on what you've been doing:
$ tf note waiting for Napoleon to take over the world
$ tf n another simple note for demo purposes
Tag your activities for fun and profit:
$ tf tag imp
Get a log of all activities with the log (or l) command:
$ tf log
Command reference

Run tf -h (or --help or help or just h) to get a short command summary of commands.

on

• Short: o
• Syntax: tf (o|on) <name> [<time>...]

Start tracking time for the project/activity given by <name>. For example:

tf on conquest

tells tf to start tracking for the activity conquest now. You can optionally specify a relative time in the past like so:

tf on conquest 10mins ago

The format of the time is detailed further below.

stop -------

• Short: f
• Syntax: tf (f|stop) [<time>...]

End tracking for the current activity now. Just like with on command above, you can give an optional time to the past. Example:

tf stop 10mins ago

tells Timefred that you finished working on the current activity at, well, 10 minutes ago.

status

• Short: s
• Syntax: tf (s|status)

Gives short human-readable message on the current status, i.e., whether anything is being tracked currently or not. Example:

$ tf on conqering-the-world
Start working on conqering-the-world.
$ tf status
You have been working on `conqering-the-world` for less than a minute.

tag

• Short: t
• Syntax: tf (t|tag) <tag>...

This command adds the given tags to the current activity. Tags are not currently used within the Timefred time tracker, but they will be saved in the JSON data file. You may use them for whatever purposes you like.

For example, if you have a script to generate a HTML report from your Timefred data, you could tag some activities with a tag like red or important so that activity will appear in red in the final HTML report.

Use it like:

tf tag red for-joe

adds the tags red and for-joe to the current activitiy. You can specify any number of tags.

Tags are currently for your purpose. Use them as you see fit.

note

• Short: n
• Syntax: tf (n|note) <note-text>...

This command adds a note on the current activity. Again, like tags, this has no significance with the time tracking aspect of Timefred. This is for your own recording purposes and for the scripts your write to process your Timefred data.

Use it like:

tf note Discuss this with the other team.

adds the note Discuss this with the other team. to the current activity.

log

• Short: l1
• Syntax: tf (l|log) [today]

Gives a table like representation of all activities and total time spent on each of them.

Time format

Currently only the following are recognized. If there is something that is not handled, but should be, please open an issue about it or a pull request (function in question is parse_time)

• n seconds ago can be written as:

  • n seconds ago
  • n second ago
  • n secs ago
  • n sec ago
  • n s ago
  • a in place of n in all above cases, to mean 1 second.
  • E.g., 10s ago, a sec ago 25 seconds ago, 25seconds ago.

• n minutes ago can be written as:

  • n minutes ago
  • n minute ago
  • n mins ago
  • n min ago
  • a in place of n in all above cases, to mean 1 minute.
  • E.g., 5mins ago, a minute ago, 10 minutes ago.

• n hours ago can be written as:

  • n hours ago
  • n hour ago
  • n hrs ago
  • n hr ago
  • a or an in place of n in all above cases, to mean 1 hour.
  • E.g., an hour ago, an hr ago, 2hrs ago.

Where n is an arbitrary number and any number of spaces between n and the time unit are allowed (including zero spaces).

Inspiration / Alternatives ===== While building Timefred, I kept Watson in mind for its impressive functionality, and ti for its simplicity.

Watson was awkward to use, and ti lacked some features. I wanted something simpler, and more enjoyable to use, that would just let me do my work and not have to worry about the time tracking.

Status

The project is in beta. If you find any bug or have any feedback, please do open a GitHub issue.

Installation ======

License

MIT License

Content snippets =============== # You don't have to do anything - Why does timeBro save so much time? Because you can completely forget time tracking and do it retrospectively in a relaxed manner. For example just before the end of the working day. Or at the end of the week. - Instead of constantly having to reflect and interrupt during the day, you make time entries only once using the memory aid - efficiently and in one go. - There are good reasons why many users prefer to estimate their times at the end of the day rather than using stopwatches. Nobody wants to be constantly interrupted by time tracking, because it costs time and focus. - Thanks to timeBro, these interruptions of the workflow are eliminated - and even the headache of making estimates.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/5c/Alfred_Pennyworth_%28Alex_Ross%29.jpg