Time tracking · checked 2026-10-19

Can I vibecode RescueTime?

YES· one-shottable

RescueTime notes which app and site is in front and for how long, then sorts the minutes into categories with a productivity score. A small daemon that samples the active window every few seconds, notices idle time and writes spans to SQLite does that in one sitting for one operating system, with a page of charts and a rules file for categories. What you give up is the same tracking on your phone and a second computer, website blocking during Focus Sessions, and per-site detail unless you add a browser extension. If you would rather not build it, ActivityWatch already tracks for free.

$9/moprice

$108you'd save a year

one sittingbuild time

—people replaced it

Before you start

What you need on hand.

DifficultyIntermediate · Some system setup or keys.

Time2 to 3 hours, one sitting

Claude Code, Codex or CursorAny of them can run the prompt.
A MacThe prompt builds the macOS provider first; a Windows one is an untested second implementation.
Python 3.12Use a virtual environment; pyobjc and rumps are the macOS-only dependencies.
Accessibility permissionSystem Settings > Privacy & Security; without it you get app names but not window titles.

Before you buildCheck RescueTime Lite first: it tracks automatically and shows the last two weeks with one goal. If you only want to see where the day goes, it may be enough. ActivityWatch tracks locally for free.

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 personal computer-time tracker to replace RescueTime. Requirements:

- Python 3.12: a tracker daemon and a FastAPI + HTMX dashboard on http://localhost:4760, driven by
a Typer CLI: `timetrack run` starts the daemon, `timetrack serve` the dashboard.
- Tracker: every 5 seconds record the frontmost app, its window title and whether the machine is
idle (no input for 120 seconds, configurable). On macOS use `pyobjc`: NSWorkspace for the app,
Quartz for idle time, the Accessibility API for the title. Put it behind a WindowProvider
interface and add a Windows implementation (`pywin32`, `psutil`) as the second one.
- Storage: sqlite3 in ./data/time.db. Merge raw samples into spans (app, title, start, end). A
categories.yaml of ordered rules (match on app, title regex or URL host) gives each span a
category and a productivity score from -2 to +2; `timetrack recategorize` reapplies it to history.
- Browser URLs: a Manifest V3 extension posts the active tab's host to the daemon on
localhost:4761 with a token from .env. With no extension connected, fall back to the window title.
- Dashboard: day, week and month views with time per category, a productivity pulse from 0 to 100
(time-weighted average of the scores), top 10 apps and sites, an hourly timeline and a list of
uncategorised items with a one-click form that appends a rule to categories.yaml.
- Goals: goals.yaml with limits such as "Social under 90 minutes a day" or "Work at least 4
hours"; send a macOS notification (`osascript`) when a limit is crossed.
- Focus: `timetrack focus 50m` shows a countdown in the menu bar (`rumps`) and tags the spans in
that window so the dashboard can total focus hours. It blocks nothing.
- Export: CSV of spans and of daily totals, and JSON for any date range.
- Single user. No accounts, no telemetry, local-first, no outbound calls. Window titles can hold
private text, so create the database with chmod 600.
- Out of scope: website and app blocking, phone tracking, multi-device sync, teams, screenshots.
- README: a launchd plist that starts the daemon at login and where to grant Accessibility
permission in System Settings. Say plainly that the Windows provider is untested if you're on a Mac.

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 RescueTime.

Add a weekly report to the tracker in this folder. Requirements:

- A command `timetrack report` that builds last week's totals per category and per day, the
  productivity pulse and how it moved against the previous week, plus the five apps that grew most.
- Send it as an HTML email through SMTP (`smtplib`; SMTP_HOST, SMTP_USER, SMTP_PASSWORD and
  REPORT_TO in .env), with a small inline bar chart rendered by `matplotlib` as a PNG attachment.
- A launchd plist and a cron line in the README to send it Monday at 08:00.
- Update the README.

Add website blocking to the tracker in this folder. Requirements:

- `timetrack focus 50m --block` adds the hosts listed in blocklist.yaml to /etc/hosts for the
  duration, pointing them at 127.0.0.1, through a small root helper started with `sudo`.
- Always remove the entries when the session ends, on Ctrl-C and on the next start of the
  daemon if the helper was killed; mark the entries with a comment so only ours are touched.
- Show the blocked sites and the time left in the menu bar, and count blocked attempts if the
  helper can see them.
- Update the README with the sudo step and a warning that browsers with DNS over HTTPS can bypass this.

Add offline time from a calendar to the tracker in this folder. Requirements:

- Read events from one CalDAV calendar (`caldav`; CALDAV_URL, CALDAV_USER and
  CALDAV_PASSWORD in .env) for the last 7 days every hour.
- Turn each event that overlaps idle time into an "Offline: <title>" span with category Meetings,
  and ignore events marked free or declined.
- Show offline spans in the timeline with a different colour; never double-count time with an active span.
- Update the README.

Add a RescueTime importer to the tracker in this folder. Requirements:

- A command `timetrack import-rescuetime --key KEY --from YYYY-MM-DD` that calls RescueTime's
  Analytic Data API (`/anapi/data`: activity-level rows at hourly resolution, as CSV; take the
  parameter names from the API reference at rescuetime.com/developers) in one-week windows until
  today, with a one-second pause between calls and a retry on errors.
- Map each row (activity, category, productivity) to a span flagged source="rescuetime"; keep
  RescueTime's category names as tags and map productivity -2..2 straight across.
- Make a second run a no-op and show the dashboard with imported data in a lighter colour.
- Update the README with where to create an API key.

What you lose

The same tracking on your phone and on every computer you use
Website and app blocking during Focus Sessions
Searchable reports and alerts that nag you when you slip
Years of history if you export nothing before cancelling
Timesheets and team dashboards on the higher plans

Why people still pay

People pay because tracking works only when you never have to start it: it runs from login, the data covers every device, and the weekly summary arrives whether or not you remember to look. Blocking and alerts turn the report into a nudge. A homemade tracker that quietly stops after an update teaches you nothing about the week it missed.

Moatexecution polish switching costs

Do the math

RescueTime or your own copy?

Over

Your usage

Count my time3h ×$/h

RescueTime, 1 yr$108

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

You keep$103pays for itself in the first month

Estimate · Runs on your machine with no outside calls, so there is no running cost. The build is token usage on your agent plan.

Leaving RescueTime

Take your data, then cancel.

1 · Take your data out of RescueTime

1Create an API key in your RescueTime account's API settings.
2Call the Analytic Data endpoint (/anapi/data): choose a date range, group by app, category, productivity level or document, pick a resolution from minute to month, and ask for JSON or CSV.
3Loop it over weeks or months to pull the whole history; the Highlights and Focus Session feeds sit next to it in the same API.
4The help pages we read describe no one-click download of the full history, so a script over the API is the route.

2 · Cancel RescueTime

1Open the menu under your name and click Account Settings.
2Choose Billing on the left.
3Click Cancel your subscription.
4Uninstalling the app does not cancel the subscription. If you bought through the Apple App Store, cancel there as well.

Premium access runs to the end of the billing cycle, then the account reverts to the free Lite plan, which shows only two weeks of data. Export before the plan ends.
Delete your account is a separate option on the Billing page. It removes the history, so export first.
Prorated refunds for partial billing periods are not typically offered; billing errors go to support.
A failed payment that isn't fixed can also drop the account to Lite.

Checked 2026-10-19 against RescueTime's docs: 1, 2, 3, 4

The escape hatch

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

ActivityWatchOpen sourceMPL-2.0 automated time tracker that records app, window and idle time locally and lets you control the data; extensible with watchers for browsers and editors.★ 19k · active Oct 2026 · one-click install
Windows, macOS, LinuxVisit ↗DayflowOpen sourceMIT Mac app that turns screen activity into a timeline of what you did; local-first and able to run with local AI.★ 7.3k · active Oct 2026 · one-click install
macOSVisit ↗TocklerOpen sourceGPL-2.0 desktop app that tracks active windows and idle state, with a timeline and daily, weekly and monthly statistics.★ 1.1k · active Apr 2026 · one-click install
Windows, macOS, LinuxVisit ↗

All 5 free alternatives to RescueTime ›

The numbers

RescueTime pricing

Plan	Monthly	Annual, per month	What you get
Lite	$0	$0	Activity reports and weekly summaries for the past two weeks, 1 goal; no alerts, Focus Sessions, offline time tracking or iOS app.
Solo	$9	$7	Automatic tracking on web, mobile and desktop, idle detection, Focus Sessions with distraction blocking, offline activity, goals and alerts, daily highlights, searchable reports and unlimited report history.
Solo+	$15	$12	Everything in Solo plus timesheets.
Team	$12/user	$10/user	The Solo feature set for a team.
Team+	$18/user	$16/user	Team plus timesheets.

Free tier: Two weeks of data, one goal, and no alerts, Focus Sessions, offline time or iOS app.
Billing: Monthly or annual (Solo is $84 a year). All paid plans have a 14-day free trial and no charge until it ends. Visa, MasterCard, American Express or PayPal only; invoices only for teams of 100 or more. No sales tax or VAT is added. Prorated refunds for partial periods are not usually given.
Hidden costs: Timesheets need Solo+ at $15 monthly. Lite shows only the past two weeks, so a long view of your habits means paying. A subscription bought through the Apple App Store has to be cancelled with Apple.
Source: www.rescuetime.com

Also on the list

Toggl Track$12/mo · Time trackingKINDA

Harvest$11/mo · Time trackingYES

Hubstaff$7/mo · Time trackingKINDA

Questions

RescueTime, briefly

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

Ask a question ›

Lite is free and keeps two weeks of data with one goal, no alerts, no Focus Sessions and no iOS app.

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 $9 a month on the Solo plan, $108 a year (checked 2026-10-19).

The same tracking on your phone and on every computer you use; Website and app blocking during Focus Sessions; Searchable reports and alerts that nag you when you slip; Years of history if you export nothing before cancelling; Timesheets and team dashboards on the higher plans. If any of those matter to you, keep paying.