Time App Tracker

Description

This program allows to save the time spent on the pc and the desired applications in a database.

Prerequisite

• cron (Verify that the service is installed and enabled)
• rust (install: curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh)
• sqlite

Installation

Installation of the application. Use the same command to update.

cargo install time_app_tracker

Setting the timer.

bash -c 'TEMP_CRON_FILE=$(mktemp)
crontab -l > "$TEMP_CRON_FILE"
echo "* * * * * $HOME/.cargo/bin/time_app_tracker --update" >> "$TEMP_CRON_FILE"
crontab "$TEMP_CRON_FILE"
rm "$TEMP_CRON_FILE"'

Usage

Help

time_app_tracker --help

Output of help

Usage: time_app_tracker [-v] [--state <state>] [--storage <storage>] [-s] [--add-notif <add-notif>] [--notif-time <notif-time>] [--del-notif <del-notif>] [--print-notif] [-u] [--add <add>] [--del <del>] [-q <query>] [--date <date>] [-n <number>] [-r]

CLI to track usage times for pc and applications

Options:
  -v, --version     to get the current version number
  --state           param: <[on|off|switch]>. set counter status, Use one of the
                    following options
  --storage         param: <digit>. change the size of the storage
  -s, --settings    get the settings of this application
  --add-notif       param: <app_name>. enables notification mode for an
                    application
  --notif-time      param: <time>. indicates the time in minutes before a
                    notification is sent
  --del-notif       param: <app_name>. removes notification functionality for an
                    application
  --print-notif     displays the list of notifications
  -u, --update      launch update
  --add             param: <app_name>. add a application
  --del             param: <app_name>. delete a application
  -q, --query       to retrieve data either for a day's info with [daydata] or
                    an application's info with [app-<name>]
  --date            param: <date>. select the date of the retrieved data, foramt
                    : YYYY-mm-dd. you can also use keywords such as yesterday,
                    last_week or a day of the week (monday…).
  -n, --number      param: <digit>. select the number of day of the retrieved
                    data
  -r, --reverse     inverts the result for an application
  -h, --help, help  display usage information

Example of interface

The data of the day

Command

time_app_tracker -q daydata

Output

	Application time for 2025-03-04 :
pc : 7h56
alacritty : 4h33
nvim : 4h29
librewolf : 3h35

Last Tuesday's data

Command

time_app_tracker -q daydata --date tue

Output

	Application time for 2025-02-25 :
pc : 11h26
librewolf : 8h26
alacritty : 7h49
nvim : 4h38

Data for neovim over 3 days

Command

time_app_tracker -q app-nvim -n 3

Output

	Time for nvim :
2025-03-04 : 4h34
2025-03-03 : 6h22
2025-03-02 : 0m

	Stats of time for nvim :
Max : 6h22
Min : 0m
Sum : 10h56
Mean: 3h38

Get info on last week's pc use

Command

time_app_tracker -q app-pc --date last_week

Output

	Time for pc :
2025-03-02 : 0m
2025-03-01 : 0m
2025-02-28 : 3h01
2025-02-27 : 10h
2025-02-26 : 8h40
2025-02-25 : 11h26
2025-02-24 : 7h37

	Stats of time for pc :
Max : 11h26
Min : 0m
Sum : 40h44
Mean: 5h49

Add a notification for the pc screen time after 3 hours and list the activated notifications

Command

time_app_tracker --add-notif pc --notif-time 180 --print-notif

Output

	List of notifications :
pc => 3h

Limitation

As the timer works with the cron service that is activated every minute, there is a margin of error of one minute each time an application is closed.