kt - Seriously Simple Time Tracker

The Kimai Timer (kt) is a simple CLI application that helps you track the time you spend on tasks. It allows you to "punch in" and "punch out" of tasks and view a log of how much time you spent on each task each day.

Eventually kt will also support synchronizing with a Kimai server. The synchronization process should feel very similar to Git, with a push/pull model that lets you fetch tasks and current data from the server and push updates based on the local timer event logs.

Installation

cargo install --locked kimai-timer

Quick Start

# Create a couple of task aliases
kt new my-project
kt new my-other-project

# Punch in to a task
kt in my-project

# Automatically punch out of the current task and into another
kt in my-other-project

# Punch out of the current task
kt out

# Punch in to the last task (only if punched out)
kt in

# View a table showing time spent on tasks
kt log        # today
kt log -w     # past week
kt log -p     # past two weeks (typical pay-period)

# View help information for more details
kt help

Tracking Time

kt tracks time using a series of time events. These events are stored in a log and used to calculate the amount of time spent on certain tasks.

Before you can track a task, you must create a task alias using kt new. The alias can later be linked against a specific contract/project stored in Kimai so that kt knows where to push time events to.

Once you have a task alias, you use the kt in and kt out commands to capture when you start and stop working on the task. If you have multiple tasks you are working on, you can also use the kt switch command to switch between the current task and the last one you were working on.

Running kt in with no arguments will start tracking time again for the last task you punched out of.

Viewing Time Logs

Use the kt log command to view a table of how much time you have spent on your tasks. By default the command only shows data for the current day. You can use command options to control how many days are displayed and the format of the output.

Integrating with Kimai

NOTE This feature is a work in progress

Kimai is a powerful open-source time tracking service. It has tons of features and a slick web interface for managing the time spent on tasks.

kt is meant to enhance the Kimai user experience for individuals who find themselves spending most of their day in a terminal (or just like them) and need to keep track of how much time they spend on each task they work.

To use kt with your Kimai server, log in via the web interface and create a user token for your profile. Once you have a token, run kt login and paste the token into the prompt.

You can also manually save the token to a file named token in the kt configuration directory. Directory location is dependent upon your OS but should be in one of the following locations: