Time tracking · checked 2026-10-19

Can I vibecode Harvest?

YES· one-shottable

One freelancer's Harvest is a timer, a few tables for clients, projects and tasks, a timesheet grid, reports and a PDF invoice. That is squarely what an agent builds in one session on SQLite, with no outside service in the loop. Gaps are on the edges: card payments on invoices, accounting sync, native apps and the phone, and a PDF invoice you should check against your country's rules before sending it to a client.

$11/moprice per seat

$132you'd save a year

one sittingbuild time

—people replaced it

Before you start

What you need on hand.

DifficultyBeginner · No setup beyond your agent.

TimeOne to two hours for the first version

Claude Code, Codex or CursorAny of them can run the prompt.
Node.js 22better-sqlite3 compiles a native module, so build tools must be installed.
Your Harvest exportsThe all-time CSV, plus the invoice PDFs zip and the invoice report for your records.
SMTP credentialsOptional: without them you can still send the PDF from your own mail app.

Before you buildHarvest Free covers one seat and two projects with invoicing. If you have two active clients or fewer, you may not need to pay.

1. Install one agent: Claude Code, Codex, Cursor.
2. Make an empty folder and open it in the agent.
3. Paste the prompt below, press enter, and answer its questions as it builds.

The prompt

Build me a local time tracker and invoicer to replace Harvest. Requirements:

- Node.js 22 + TypeScript: a Fastify API and a React UI built with Vite. `npm start` serves
http://localhost:4830; the UI also works in a phone browser on my home network.
- Storage: better-sqlite3 in ./data/harvest.db: clients (name, address, currency, tax id,
payment terms), projects (client, billing method: hourly, fixed fee or non-billable, hourly
rate, budget in hours or money), tasks, time entries (project, task, date, minutes, notes,
invoice id), expenses (amount, category, billable, receipt in ./data/receipts/) and invoices
with line items, numbered YYYY-NNN, status draft / sent / paid / void.
- Timer: one running timer stored on the server so it survives a reload, manual entry, and a
week timesheet grid (rows project and task, columns days) with inline editing. Entries on an
invoice are locked.
- Invoices: build one from a client's unbilled entries and expenses in a date range, grouped
by project or task, with an optional rounding up to 15 minutes, one or two tax rates and a
discount. Render the PDF with `pdfkit` (A4 or Letter) using my business details from config.
Mark paid with a date and method; send by email through nodemailer SMTP with the PDF attached.
- Reports: hours and billable amount by client, project, task and month; budget left per
project; unpaid and overdue invoices. Every report exports CSV.
- Import and backup: import Harvest's "Export all time" CSV, mapping columns by header and
printing a summary before writing; copy the database to ./data/backups/ nightly and keep 14.
- Single user. No accounts, no telemetry, local-first. The only outbound calls are SMTP.
- Out of scope: online card payments, QuickBooks or Xero sync, several users and approvals,
estimates, native apps, resource planning.
- README: the .env keys, where PDFs are stored, and a note to check invoice numbering and tax
wording against local rules, since this is not tax advice.

Opens your agent with the prompt filled in, you press enter. Or copy it and paste it into an empty folder.

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Then keep going

Next prompts, same folder.

The first prompt builds the core. Run these one at a time in the same folder to grow it into your own Harvest.

Extend the time tracker in this folder with a fuller Harvest importer. Requirements:

- A command `track import-harvest <file.csv>` for the "Export all time" CSV: create missing
  clients, projects and tasks from the Client, Project and Task columns, then the entries.
- Print counts of new clients, projects, tasks and entries, plus rows skipped, before writing;
  support --dry-run.
- Running the same file twice must not duplicate entries: hash each row.
- Mark imported entries that Harvest had already invoiced as billed, without inventing invoices.
- Update the README with the export steps.

Add recurring invoices to the time tracker in this folder. Requirements:

- A schedule per client: monthly on day N, with fixed line items; the app creates a draft on
  the day and emails me a reminder instead of sending anything to the client.
- A list of schedules with the next run date and a pause toggle.
- Draft numbers continue the YYYY-NNN sequence and never skip or repeat.
- Skip a run and say why in the log if the client has an unpaid invoice older than 30 days.
- Update the README.

Add reminders to the time tracker in this folder. Requirements:

- A setting for reminder days and a time (default Friday 16:00); if logged hours in the week
  are under a target set in .env, send an email through SMTP with the missing days listed.
- Never remind during a day marked as time off in the UI.
- One reminder per day at most, and a log of what was sent.
- Update the README.

What you lose

Online payment of invoices by card, Stripe or PayPal
QuickBooks, Xero and the other connected apps
Team features: timesheet approvals, capacity and utilization reports
Native Mac and iOS apps and a desktop timer
Years of history in a system your accountant already knows

Why people still pay

Freelancers and small agencies pay for time tracking that ends in an invoice and a payment, with their hours, rates and invoices in one place that an accountant can read. Harvest's free plan covers one person with two projects, so paying starts with a second seat, a third project or a QuickBooks or Xero connection.

Moatswitching costs integrations execution polish

Do the math

Harvest or your own copy?

Seats

Over

Your usage

Count my time3h ×$/h

Harvest, 1 yr$132

Your own copy, 1 yr$5running + build session

You keep$127pays for itself in the first month

Estimate · Runs on your own machine; SMTP at one person's volume fits free tiers. The build is token usage on your agent plan.

Leaving Harvest

Take your data, then cancel.

1 · Take your data out of Harvest

1As an Administrator, open Settings > Import/Export and click Export all time: a CSV of all company time data, downloaded at once or emailed when ready.
2On the same page, Export all invoices and Export all estimates give zip files of PDFs; Harvest emails you when they are ready.
3Anyone can export the time they can see from Reports > Time (Excel or CSV) or Reports > New report > Detailed time (Excel, CSV or PDF).
4Expenses: Reports > New report > Detailed expense exports Excel, CSV or PDF; the PDF includes receipt images. Invoice and payments-received reports are under Invoices > Report.

2 · Cancel Harvest

1Use a web browser: cancelling isn't available in the mobile or desktop apps.
2As the Account Owner, open Settings > Billing, click Manage in Your subscription, then choose Cancel plan and I still want to cancel.
3Review the details, answer the questions and click Schedule cancellation: the account stays active until the period ends, then closes.
4To close at once instead, use Settings > Billing > Manage > Close account permanently > Close my account immediately.

Download the invoice and payments-received reports before the plan ends: they need an Administrator and can't be run after the plan lapses.
An account that is not reactivated within six months is permanently deleted with its data.
Cancelling stops the next renewal and doesn't refund the current term; ask billing for a goodwill refund if you were charged on a renewal you didn't intend.
A connected Forecast account stays connected for six months and is billed separately.
Only the Account Owner can close the account; any Administrator can schedule or withdraw a cancellation.

Checked 2026-10-19 against Harvest's docs: 1, 2, 3

The escape hatch

Don't feel like building it? These are already free.

KimaiOpen sourceAGPL-3.0 time tracker for freelancers and teams with customers, projects, activities, reports and invoice templates; runs in Docker.★ 5.1k · active Oct 2026 · docker to self-host
WebVisit ↗solidtimeOpen sourceAGPL-3.0 time tracking with projects, clients and reports, a desktop timer and a self-hosting guide; also offered as a hosted service.★ 9.0k · active Oct 2026 · docker to self-host
Web, mac, Windows, LinuxVisit ↗TimeTaggerOpen sourceGPL-3.0 tag-based time tracker with a plain interface and reports; invoicing is left to other tools.★ 1.8k · active Sep 2026 · docker to self-host
WebVisit ↗

All 4 free alternatives to Harvest ›

The numbers

Harvest pricing

Plan	Monthly	Annual, per month	What you get
Free	$0	$0	1 seat, 2 projects, time and fixed-fee projects, time and expense tracking, invoicing, estimates, basic reporting, up to 4 custom reports, 50+ integrations.
Teams	$11	$9	Unlimited seats and projects, billable and cost rates, team reporting on capacity, utilization and workload, project and people CSV import, QuickBooks, Xero and Stripe integrations, scheduled phone support.
Enterprise	$17.50	$14	Everything in Teams plus unlimited custom reports, profitability reporting, timesheet approval, activity log, SAML SSO, custom CSV exports, required notes on entries.
Enterprise Plus	custom	—	Everything in Enterprise plus custom integrations, a dedicated customer success manager, assisted data migration, white labelling and product customization.

Free tier: One seat and two projects; no team seats and no QuickBooks, Xero or Stripe connections.
Billing: Monthly or annual per seat; annual is 20% cheaper and billed up front. At the end of a trial an account that doesn't upgrade is deactivated and its data is kept. Cancelling stops the next renewal and doesn't refund the current term; goodwill refunds are decided case by case.
Hidden costs: Forecast, Harvest's resource planning tool, is a separate subscription billed on its own; cancelling Harvest doesn't cancel it. Enterprise Plus extras are priced by quote.
Source: www.getharvest.com

Also on the list

Toggl Track$12/mo · Time trackingKINDA

Invoice Ninja$14/mo · Finance & accountingYES

HoneyBook$36/mo · CRMKINDA

Questions

Harvest, briefly

Not answered here? Tell us and we'll add it.

Ask a question ›

Free gives one seat and two projects with time tracking, invoicing, expense tracking and the Mac and iOS apps.

Yes. An AI coding agent such as Claude Code, Codex or Cursor can build a usable personal version in one session with the prompt on this page, running on your own machine.

About $11 a month on the Teams plan per seat, $132 a year (checked 2026-10-19).

Online payment of invoices by card, Stripe or PayPal; QuickBooks, Xero and the other connected apps; Team features: timesheet approvals, capacity and utilization reports; Native Mac and iOS apps and a desktop timer; Years of history in a system your accountant already knows. If any of those matter to you, keep paying.