arbtt

Overview

arbtt is an automatic, rule-based time tracker implemented in Haskell. The name stands for "automatic rule-based time tracker." It runs silently in the background, recording what windows are open on your desktop, their titles, and which one is active.

How It Works

The core component (arbtt-capture) silently captures data about what you are doing, completely autonomously with no interaction required, and continuously stores this information in a log file.

arbtt comes with a built-in command-line statistics generator (arbtt-stats) that uses simple but powerful customizable rules to sift through the raw data and reveal patterns and relevant information.

Features

• Automatic Capture: Records window information every minute without user interaction
• Rule-Based Categorization: The mapping from raw window titles to sensible "tags" is done by a configuration file with a powerful syntax
• Retrospective Analysis: Since the rules are applied when evaluating your data, not when recording it, you can add more tags and forgotten special cases later
• Privacy-Focused: The log file is stored locally on your machine
• Command-Line Interface: Statistics and reports generated via command-line tools
• Customizable Rules: Rules specified in a simple text-based format in a file called "categorize.cfg"

Privacy Considerations

The log file might contain very sensitive private data, so users should understand the consequences of a full-time logger and take appropriate security measures.

Resources

• Repository: GitHub at https://github.com/nomeata/arbtt/issues
• Package: Available on Hackage at https://hackage.haskell.org/package/arbtt
• Mailing list: arbtt@lists.nomeata.de

Pricing

Free and open-source software.

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