Timecards

A local time tracker for working on multiple projects at once. Click Start on a project, work, click Stop. Add comments per time slot. Review your day by date.

Features

• Multiple concurrent timers (one project at a time, or all at once)
• Per-slot comments (set while running, on stop, or edit later)
• Daily project comments — one summary per (project, day) for the official timesheet/Slice-Pie style report
• Daily timesheet: totals by project (with daily comment) + the individual time slots
• Project metadata: color, emoji icon, notes (info shown on the row + the timesheet)
• Archive projects — hide unused projects from the active list/tray; restore or permanently delete from File → Archived projects…
• Hourly rate per project + income estimation — set a rate per project; totals show earned money (day total, totals tree, day report, CSVs all include it). Configurable currency symbol.
• Stats dialog — File → Stats… (or Ctrl+T): hours + earnings broken down by project across Today / This week / This month / All time.
• Export — copy a day's report to clipboard (📋 Copy day / Ctrl+Shift+C) or export day / week to CSV (File → Export day / Export week)
• Reorder projects with ▲ / ▼
• System tray icon (right side of the taskbar): always visible while the app runs. Shows green when any timer is active. Right-click for running timers + quick-stop, Show/Hide window, Quit.
• Close-to-tray: the X button minimizes to the tray instead of quitting. Quit via the tray menu or Ctrl+Q.
• Crash-safe: closing mid-timer leaves the entry open; relaunch and Stop normally
• Local SQLite storage — handles years of records without effort

Download & install

Grab the latest Timecards.exe from the Releases page.

Single file, no installer. Drop it anywhere you have write access (e.g. your Desktop or Documents) and double-click to run.

First-launch warning on Windows 11

Windows SmartScreen / Smart App Control may block the executable with "Windows protected your PC — couldn't verify the publisher." Timecards is an indie release without a code-signing certificate, so Windows doesn't recognize the publisher yet.

To run it anyway:

1. Click More info on the warning dialog.
2. Click Run anyway.

Or, before launching: right-click Timecards.exe → Properties → check Unblock → OK.

Where data lives

By default timecards.db is created next to the executable (or next to timecards.py when running from source). You can point it elsewhere — see Choosing a database location below.

Caveat (default location): if you put Timecards.exe somewhere admin-only like C:\Program Files\..., it won't be able to write the DB there. Either keep the exe under your user profile, or use the menu to put the DB on a writable path.

Choosing a database location

The DB path is resolved in this order:

1. TIMECARDS_DB environment variable (absolute or relative path) — power-user override.
2. The db_path value in the config file.
3. Default: next to the executable / script.

The config file lives at a stable, install-location-independent path:

• Windows: %APPDATA%\Timecards\config.json → C:\Users\<you>\AppData\Roaming\Timecards\config.json
• Linux/macOS: $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/timecards/config.json (default ~/.config/timecards/config.json)

From the app

File → Database location… opens a small dialog showing the current path, the config file path, and a Change… button. When you pick a new path:

• If the chosen file already exists, you're asked to confirm using it. Your current DB is left untouched (use it as a backup).
• If the chosen file doesn't exist yet, you're asked what to do with your current data:
  • Copy — duplicate the current DB to the new location.
  • Move — relocate the current DB to the new location.
  • Start fresh — leave the current DB as a backup and begin with an empty one.

The app then prompts you to relaunch (config + connection changes don't hot-swap).

Manual editing

You can also edit config.json directly:

{
  "db_path": "D:/Dropbox/timecards.db"
}

Forward or back slashes both work on Windows. Restart the app for the change to take effect.

Usage notes

• Database location: File → Database location… to view or change. See Choosing a database location above.
• Add project: top-right + Add project. Opens a dialog for name, icon (emoji), color, hourly rate, and notes.
• Edit project: ⓘ button on the row — change name, icon, color, rate, notes anytime. The same dialog has an Archive project button (left side) — archives instead of deleting, keeping all time entries.
• Reorder: ▲ / ▼ buttons on each row.
• Delete project: ✕ button (confirms — deletes the project and all its time entries). For a non-destructive option, archive instead.
• Restore an archived project: File → Archived projects… → select → Restore. Same dialog has Delete permanently….
• Daily comment per project: double-click any row in the Totals by project table to open a multi-line editor. Saved per (project, day). Use this for your "official" daily report text. A 📝 marker appears once a comment is set; clearing the text removes it.
• Archive or delete a day's row: right-click any row in Totals by project:
  • Archive this row — hides that (project, day) from totals/slots (e.g. after you've submitted it to Slice Pie). Reversible. Auto-stops a running timer for that project to avoid silently accumulating against a hidden total.
  • Delete all entries on this day — permanent: removes every time slot and the daily comment for that (project, day).
  • Toggle Show archived (above the totals table) to reveal archived rows again — they appear grayed with an [ARCHIVED] prefix and can be unarchived from the same right-click menu.
• Start/Stop: click the button. Multiple projects can run simultaneously.
• Comment: type in the row's comment field before Start (stored on the entry) or before Stop (appended on stop).
• Edit a time slot: double-click any row in the Time slots table (bottom). Opens a full editor — change project, date, start time, end time, comment. If the new date is different from the one you're viewing, the timesheet jumps to it. A Delete slot button inside the dialog removes the slot.
• Right-click a time slot for the same actions via a quick menu (Edit slot… / Delete slot).
• Delete a time slot (keyboard): select it in the bottom table and press Delete.
• Editing a running slot: the End time field is disabled (it's still ticking). You can still change the project, start time, or comment. Stop the timer first to set an end time.
• Change date: ◀ / ▶, or type YYYY-MM-DD + Enter, or Today.
• Copy day to clipboard: 📋 Copy day button in the date bar, or Ctrl+Shift+C. Produces a clean plain-text report (project, h:mm, decimal hours, daily comment) — paste straight into Slice Pie, email, Slack, etc. Honors Show archived when deciding what to include.
• Export day / week to CSV: File → Export day to CSV… or File → Export week to CSV…. The week is the ISO week (Mon–Sun) containing the selected date. CSV columns: Date, Project, Hours (h:mm), Hours (decimal), Rate, Earned, Archived, Daily comment. Suitable for Excel, invoicing, or archival.
• Hourly rate: set in the project edit dialog. Used to compute the Earned column on the totals table, the day total, the daily report (clipboard + CSV), and all Stats views. Set to 0 for unpaid projects — they're shown with — instead of money.
• Currency: File → Currency…. Opens a picker with 25 common currencies (USD, EUR, GBP, JPY, CHF, INR, BRL, AED, SGD, etc.) plus a free-text override for anything custom. Default $. Stored in config.json. A live preview shows how amounts will be formatted.
• Add a time slot manually: + Add slot button next to the Time slots header. Useful when you forgot to start the timer. Pick project, date, start/end times (HH:MM 24-hour), and an optional comment. If the slot's date is different from the currently viewed date, the timesheet jumps to that day.
• Stats: File → Stats… or Ctrl+T. Tabbed dialog showing per-project breakdowns and totals for Today, This week (ISO Mon–Sun containing the selected date), This month (calendar month), and All time. Each tab shows Hours, Decimal, Rate, Earned, plus a running total at the bottom with the earned sum highlighted in green.
• System tray (next to the clock):
  • Icon is green when any timer is running, gray when idle.
  • The tray icon itself is the primary color signal: a slate-gray clock when idle, a vivid green clock with a red recording-dot overlay when any timer is running.
  • Right-click → grouped menu with ─ RUNNING ─ (⏹ stop glyph + live elapsed) and ─ start a timer ─ (▶ play glyph) sections. Click any item to toggle. With more than one running, a Stop all running item appears. A Today line shows hours + earnings at a glance.
  • Menu glyphs are monochrome — native Win32 popup menus do not render color emoji, so the icon carries the color cue and the menu glyphs are chosen for shape contrast (▶ vs ⏹).
  • Hover the tray icon for a live tooltip: Timecards — 2 running · today: 4h 23m · €330.00.
  • Right-click → Show window / Hide window / Quit Timecards.
  • Closing the main window with X or clicking minimize (_) hides to the tray — no taskbar button is left behind. Use Ctrl+Q or tray → Quit to actually exit.