chronometrist/manual.org

#+TITLE: Chronometrist - an extensible time tracker for Emacs
#+SUBTITLE: User Manual
#+HTML_HEAD: <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="style.css" />

[[https://melpa.org/#/chronometrist][file:https://melpa.org/packages/chronometrist-badge.svg]]

A time tracker in Emacs with a nice interface

Largely modelled after the Android application, [[https://github.com/netmackan/ATimeTracker][A Time Tracker]]

* Benefits
1. Extremely simple and efficient to use
2. Displays useful information about your time usage
3. Support for both mouse and keyboard
4. Human errors in tracking are easily fixed by editing a plain text file
5. Hooks to let you perform arbitrary actions when starting/stopping tasks

* Limitations
1. No support (yet) for adding a task without clocking into it.
2. No support for concurrent tasks.

* Comparisons
:PROPERTIES:
:CUSTOM_ID: comparisons
:END:
** timeclock.el
:PROPERTIES:
:CUSTOM_ID: timeclock.el
:END:

Compared to timeclock.el, Chronometrist
+ stores data in an s-expression format rather than a line-based one
+ supports attaching tags and arbitrary key-values to time intervals
+ has commands to shows useful summaries
+ has more hooks

** Org time tracking
:PROPERTIES:
:CUSTOM_ID: org-time-tracking
:END:

Chronometrist and Org time tracking seem to be equivalent in terms of capabilities, approaching the same ends through different means.
+ Chronometrist doesn't have a mode line indicator at the moment. (planned)
+ Chronometrist doesn't have Org's sophisticated querying facilities. (an SQLite backend is planned)
+ Org does so many things that keybindings seem to necessarily get longer. Chronometrist has far fewer commands than Org, so most of the keybindings are single keys, without modifiers.
+ Chronometrist's UI makes keybindings discoverable - they are displayed in the buffers themselves.
+ Chronometrist's UI is cleaner, since the storage is separate from the display. It doesn't show tasks as trees like Org, but it uses tags and key-values to achieve that. Additionally, navigating a flat list takes fewer user operations than navigating a tree.
+ Chronometrist data is just s-expressions (plists), and may be easier to parse than a complex text format with numerous use-cases.

* Installation
:PROPERTIES:
:CUSTOM_ID: installation
:END:
** from MELPA
:PROPERTIES:
:CUSTOM_ID: from-melpa
:END:

1. Set up MELPA - https://melpa.org/#/getting-started

   (Chronometrist uses semantic versioning and only releases are pushed to the master branch, so using MELPA Stable is recommended and has no effect on frequency of updates.)
2. =M-x package-install RET chronometrist RET=

** from Git
:PROPERTIES:
:CUSTOM_ID: from-git
:END:

You can get =chronometrist= from https://tildegit.org/contrapunctus/chronometrist

=chronometrist= requires
+ Emacs v25 or higher
+ [[https://github.com/magnars/dash.el][dash.el]]
+ [[https://github.com/alphapapa/ts.el][ts.el]]

The optional extension =chronometrist-key-values= requires =choice.el=, apart from =chronometrist= itself.

Add the "elisp/" subdirectory to your load-path, and =(require 'chronometrist)=.

* Usage
:PROPERTIES:
:CUSTOM_ID: usage
:END:

** chronometrist
:PROPERTIES:
:CUSTOM_ID: chronometrist-1
:END:

Run =M-x chronometrist= to see your projects, the time you spent on them today, which one is active, and the total time clocked today.

Click or hit =RET= (=chronometrist-toggle-task=) on a project to start tracking time for it. If it's already clocked in, it will be clocked out.

You can also hit =<numeric prefix> RET= anywhere in the buffer to toggle the corresponding project, e.g. =C-1 RET= will toggle the project with index 1.

Press =r= to see a weekly report (see =chronometrist-report=)

** chronometrist-report
:PROPERTIES:
:CUSTOM_ID: chronometrist-report
:END:

Run =M-x chronometrist-report= (or =chronometrist= with a prefix argument of 1, or press =r= in the =chronometrist= buffer) to see a weekly report.

Press =b= to look at past weeks, and =f= for future weeks.

** chronometrist-statistics
:PROPERTIES:
:CUSTOM_ID: chronometrist-statistics
:END:

Run =M-x chronometrist-statistics= (or =chronometrist= with a prefix argument of 2) to view statistics.

Press =b= to look at past time ranges, and =f= for future ones.

** chronometrist-details

** common commands
In the buffers created by the previous three commands, you can press =l= (=chronometrist-open-log=) to view/edit your =chronometrist-file=, which by default is =~/.emacs.d/chronometrist.sexp=.

All of these commands will kill their buffer when run again with the buffer visible, so the keys you bind them to behave as a toggle.

All buffers keep themselves updated via an idle timer - no need to frequently press =g= to update.

** Prompt when exiting Emacs
:PROPERTIES:
:CUSTOM_ID: prompt-when-exiting-emacs
:END:

If you wish to be prompted when you exit Emacs while tracking time, you can use this -

=(add-hook 'kill-emacs-query-functions 'chronometrist-query-stop)=

** Time goals/targets
:PROPERTIES:
:CUSTOM_ID: time-goalstargets
:END:

If you wish you could define time goals for some tasks, and have Chronometrist notify you when you're approaching the goal, completing it, or exceeding it, check out the extension [[https://github.com/contrapunctus-1/chronometrist-goal/][chronometrist-goal.el]].

* How-to
:PROPERTIES:
:CUSTOM_ID: customization
:END:

See the Customize groups =chronometrist= and =chronometrist-report= for variables intended to be user-customizable.

** How to attach tags to time intervals
:PROPERTIES:
:CUSTOM_ID: how-to-tags
:END:

1. Add =chronometrist-tags-add= to one or more of these hooks [fn:1] -

   #+BEGIN_SRC emacs-lisp
   (add-to-list 'chronometrist-after-in-functions 'chronometrist-tags-add)
   (add-to-list 'chronometrist-before-out-functions 'chronometrist-tags-add)
   (add-to-list 'chronometrist-after-out-functions 'chronometrist-tags-add)
   #+END_SRC
2. clock in/clock out to trigger the hook.

   The prompt suggests past combinations you used for the current task, which you can browse with =M-p=/=M-n=. You can leave it blank by pressing =RET=.

[fn:1] but not =chronometrist-before-in-functions=

** How to attach key-values to time intervals
:PROPERTIES:
:CUSTOM_ID: how-to-key-value-pairs
:END:

1. Add =chronometrist-kv-add= to one or more of these hooks [fn:2] -

#+BEGIN_SRC emacs-lisp
(add-to-list 'chronometrist-after-in-functions 'chronometrist-kv-add)
(add-to-list 'chronometrist-before-out-functions 'chronometrist-kv-add)
(add-to-list 'chronometrist-after-out-functions 'chronometrist-kv-add)
#+END_SRC

To exit the prompt, press the key it indicates for quitting - you can then edit the resulting key-values by hand if required. Press =C-c C-c= to accept the key-values, or =C-c C-k= to cancel.

[fn:2] but not =chronometrist-before-in-functions=

** How to skip running hooks/attaching tags and key values
Use =M-RET= (=chronometrist-toggle-task-no-hooks=) to clock in/out.

** How to open certain files when you start a task
:PROPERTIES:
:CUSTOM_ID: open-certain-files-when-you-start-a-task
:END:

An idea from the author's own init -

#+BEGIN_SRC emacs-lisp
(defun my-start-project (project)
  (pcase project
    ("Guitar"
     (find-file-other-window "~/repertoire.org"))
    ;; ...
    ))

(add-hook 'chronometrist-before-in-functions 'my-start-project)
#+END_SRC

** How to warn yourself about uncommitted changes
:PROPERTIES:
:CUSTOM_ID: uncommitted-changes
:END:

Another one, prompting the user if they have uncommitted changes in a git repository (assuming they use [[https://magit.vc/][Magit]]) -

#+BEGIN_SRC emacs-lisp
(autoload 'magit-anything-modified-p "magit")

(defun my-commit-prompt ()
  "Prompt user if `default-directory' is a dirty Git repository.
Return t if the user answers yes, if the repository is clean, or
if there is no Git repository.

Return nil (and run `magit-status') if the user answers no."
  (cond ((not (magit-anything-modified-p)) t)
        ((yes-or-no-p
          (format "You have uncommitted changes in %S. Really clock out? "
                  default-directory)) t)
        (t (magit-status) nil)))

(add-hook 'chronometrist-before-out-functions 'my-commit-prompt)
#+END_SRC

** How to display the current time interval in the activity indicator
:PROPERTIES:
:CUSTOM_ID: current-time-interval-in-activity-indicator
:END:

#+BEGIN_SRC emacs-lisp
(defun my-activity-indicator ()
  (thread-last (plist-put (chronometrist-last)
                          :stop (chronometrist-format-time-iso8601))
    list
    chronometrist-events-to-durations
    (-reduce #'+)
    truncate
    chronometrist-format-time))

(setq chronometrist-activity-indicator #'my-activity-indicator)
#+END_SRC

* User's reference
All variables intended for user customization are listed here. They serve as the public API for this project for the purpose of semantic versioning. Any changes to these which require a user to modify their configuration are considered breaking changes.

1. =chronometrist-file=
2. =chronometrist-buffer-name=
3. =chronometrist-report-buffer-name=
4. =chronometrist-details-buffer-name=
5. =chronometrist-sexp-pretty-print-function=
6. =chronometrist-hide-cursor=
7. =chronometrist-update-interval=
8. =chronometrist-activity-indicator=

Buffer schemas
1. =chronometrist-schema=
2. =chronometrist-details-schema=

Hooks
1. =chronometrist-mode-hook=
2. =chronometrist-schema-transformers=
3. =chronometrist-row-transformers=
4. =chronometrist-before-in-functions=
5. =chronometrist-after-in-functions=
6. =chronometrist-before-out-functions=
7. =chronometrist-after-out-functions=
8. =chronometrist-file-change-hook=
9. =chronometrist-timer-hook=

* Contributions and contact
:PROPERTIES:
:CUSTOM_ID: contributions-and-contact
:END:

Feedback and MRs are very welcome. 🙂
+ [[file:TODO.org]] has a long list of tasks
+ [[file:doc/manual.org]] contains an overview of the codebase, explains various mechanisms and decisions, and has a reference of definitions.

If you have tried using Chronometrist, I'd love to hear your experiences! Get in touch with the author and other Emacs users in the Emacs channel on the Jabber network - [[https://conversations.im/j/emacs@salas.suchat.org][xmpp:emacs@salas.suchat.org?join]] ([[https://inverse.chat/#converse/room?jid=emacs@salas.suchat.org][web chat]])

(For help in getting started with Jabber, [[https://xmpp.org/getting-started/][click here]])

* License
:PROPERTIES:
:CUSTOM_ID: license
:END:

I dream of a world where all software is liberated - transparent, trustable, and accessible for anyone to use or improve. But I don't want to make demands or threats (e.g. via legal conditions) to get there.

I'd rather make a request - please do everything you can to help that dream come true. Please Unlicense as much software as you can.

Chronometrist is released under your choice of [[https://unlicense.org/][Unlicense]] or the [[http://www.wtfpl.net/][WTFPL]].

(See files [[file:UNLICENSE]] and [[file:WTFPL]]).

* Thanks
:PROPERTIES:
:CUSTOM_ID: thanks
:END:

wasamasa, bpalmer, aidalgol, pjb and the rest of #emacs for their tireless help and support

jwiegley for timeclock.el, which we used as a backend in earlier versions

blandest for helping me with the name

fiete and wu-lee for testing and bug reports