Timetrap
Timetrap is a simple command line time tracker written in ruby. It provides an easy to use command line interface for tracking what you spend your time on.
Getting Started
To install:
$ gem install timetrapThis will place a t executable in your path.
Basic Usage
$ # get help
$ t --helpTimetrap maintains a list of timesheets.
$ # create the "coding" timesheet
$ t sheet coding
Switching to sheet codingAll commands can be abbreviated.
$ # same as "t sheet coding"
$ t s coding
Switching to sheet codingEach timesheet contains entries. Each entry has a start and end time, and a note associated with it. An entry without an end time set is considered to be running.
You check in to the current sheet with the in command.
$ # check in with "document timetrap" note
$ t in document timetrap
Checked into sheet "coding".Commands like display and now will show you the running entry.
$ t display
Timesheet: coding
Day Start End Duration Notes
Sun Nov 28, 2010 12:26:10 - 0:00:03 document timetrap
0:00:03 Total 0:00:03
$ t now
*coding: 0:01:02 (document timetrap)If you make a mistake use the edit command.
$ # edit the running entry's note
$ t edit writing readme
editing entry #42You check out with the out command.
$ t out
Checked out of sheet "coding"Natural Language Times
Commands such as in, out, edit, and display have flags that accept times as arguments. Any time you pass Timetrap a time it will try to parse it as a natural language time.
This is very handy if you start working and forget to start Timetrap. You can check in 5 minutes ago using in‘s --at flag.
$ t in --at "5 minutes ago"Command line flags also have short versions.
$ # equivilent to the command above
$ t i -a "5 minutes ago"You can consult the Chronic gem (http://chronic.rubyforge.org/) for a full list of parsable time formats, but all of these should work.
$ t out --at "in 30 minutes"
$ t edit --start "last monday at 10:30am"
$ t edit --end "tomorrow at noon"
$ t display --start "10am" --end "2pm"
$ t i -a "2010-11-29 12:30:00"Output Formats
Timetrap supports several output formats. The default is a plain text format.
$ t display
Timesheet: coding
Day Start End Duration Notes
Mon Apr 13, 2009 15:46:51 - 17:03:50 1:16:59 improved display functionality
17:25:59 - 17:26:02 0:00:03
18:38:07 - 18:38:52 0:00:45 working on list
22:37:38 - 23:38:43 1:01:05 work on kill
2:18:52
Tue Apr 14, 2009 00:41:16 - 01:40:19 0:59:03 gem packaging
10:20:00 - 10:48:10 0:28:10 working on readme
1:27:13 Total 3:46:05You can also output csv for easy import into a spreadsheet.
$ t display --format csv
start,end,note,sheet
"2010-08-21 11:19:05","2010-08-21 12:12:04","migrated site","coding"
"2010-08-21 12:44:09","2010-08-21 12:48:46","DNS emails and install email packages","coding"
"2010-08-21 12:49:57","2010-08-21 13:10:12","A records","coding"
"2010-08-21 15:09:37","2010-08-21 16:32:26","setup for wiki","coding"
"2010-08-25 20:42:55","2010-08-25 21:41:49","rewrote index","coding"
"2010-08-29 15:44:39","2010-08-29 16:21:53","recaptcha","coding"
"2010-08-29 21:15:58","2010-08-29 21:30:31","backups","coding"
"2010-08-29 21:40:56","2010-08-29 22:32:26","backups","coding"Or to ical format for import into a calendar program (remember commands can be abbreviated).
$ t d -f ical > MyTimeSheet.icsCommands
archive Archives the selected entries (by moving them to a sheet called _[SHEET]) These entries can be seen by running t display _[SHEET]. usage: t archive [--start DATE] [--end DATE] [SHEET]
backend Run an interactive database session on the timetrap database. Requires the sqlite3 command.
usage: t backend
configure Creates a config file at ~/.timetrap.yml or ENV['TIMETRAP_CONFIG_FILE'] if one doesn’t exist. Prints path to config file. Currently allows configuration of path to database file, and the number of seconds used when the --round flag is set (defaults to 15 minutes.)
usage: t configure
display Display a given timesheet. If no timesheet is specified, show the current timesheet. If all is passed as SHEET display all timesheets. Accepts an optional --ids flag which will include the entries’ ids in the output. This is useful when editing an non running entry with edit.
Display is designed to support a variety of export formats that can be specified by passing the --format flag. This currently defaults to text. iCal and csv output are also supported.
Display also allows the use of a --round or -r flag which will round all times in the output. See global options below.
usage: t display [--ids] [--round] [--start DATE] [--end DATE] [--format FMT] [SHEET | all]
edit Inserts a note associated with the an entry in the timesheet, or edits the start or end times. Defaults to the current time although an --id flag can be passed with the entry’s id (see display.)
usage: t edit [--id ID] [--start TIME] [--end TIME] [--append] [NOTES]
in Start the timer for the current timesheet. Must be called before out. Notes may be specified for this period. This is exactly equivalent to t in; t edit NOTES. Accepts an optional –at flag.
usage: t in [--at TIME] [NOTES]
kill Delete a timesheet or an entry. Entry’s are referenced using an --id flag (see display). Sheets are referenced by name.
usage: t kill [--id ID] [TIMESHEET]
list List the available timesheets.
usage: t list
now Print a description of all running entries.
usage: t now
out Stop the timer for the current timesheet. Must be called after in. Accepts an optional –at flag. Accepts an optional TIMESHEET name to check out of a running, non-current sheet.
usage: t out [--at TIME] [TIMESHEET]
sheet Switch to a timesheet creating it if necessary. The default timesheet is called “default”. When no sheet is specified list all existing sheets.
usage: t sheet [TIMESHEET]
week Shortcut for display with start date set to monday of this week
usage: t week [--ids] [--end DATE] [--format FMT] [TIMESHEET | all]
Global Options
rounding passing a --round or -r flag to any command will round entry start and end times to the closest 15 minute increment. This flag only affects the display commands (e.g. display, list, week, etc.) and is non-destructive. The actual start and end time stored by Timetrap are unaffected.
See configure command to change rounding increment from 15 minutes.
non-interactive passing a --yes or -y flag will cause any command that requires confirmation (such as kill) to assume an affirmative response to any prompt. This is useful when timetrap is used in a scripted environment.
Configuration
Configuration of TimeTrap’s behavior can be done through a YAML config file. See t configure for details. Currently supported options are:
round_in_seconds: The duration of time to use for rounding with the -r flag
database_file: The file path of the sqlite database
append_notes_delimiter: delimiter used when appending notes via t edit --append
Special Thanks
The initial version of Timetrap was heavily inspired by Trevor Caira’s Timebook, a small python utility.
Original Timebook available at: http://bitbucket.org/trevor/timebook/src/
Bugs and Feature Requests
Submit to http://github.com/samg/timetrap/issues