{"slug": "activitywatch", "name": "ActivityWatch", "category": "productivity", "category_name": "Productivity", "description": "", "recommenders": 4, "commenters": 4, "warners": 0, "score": 3.552, "rising": 0.02, "first": "2025-12-11", "latest": "2026-08-25", "why": "I highly recommend anyone to install github.com/ActivityWatch/activitywatch, it's an amazing tool to keep track of your computer use completely locally.", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 4, "neutral": 0, "compare": 0, "warn": 0}, "spark": [0, 1, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0], "listed": true, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "I highly recommend anyone to install github.com/ActivityWatch/activitywatch, it's an amazing tool to keep track of your computer use completely locally.", "kind": "", "icon": true, "domain": "activitywatch.net", "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://activitywatch.net", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["ActivityWatch"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 790913024, "item_id": 49432064, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49432064", "by": "cobertos", "date": "2026-08-25", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I've liked the focused window tracker in https://activitywatch.net", "excerpt": "I've liked the focused window tracker in https://activitywatch.net", "context": "", "use_case": "Focused window tracking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Screen memory without screenshots, just text to Markdown"}, {"id": 776855473, "item_id": 48553467, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48553467", "by": "jp011", "date": "2026-06-16", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "which is great at what it does", "excerpt": "Hi HN. RewindOS captures your screen every few seconds, OCRs it, and makes everything you've ever seen instantly searchable \u2014 all 100% local. No cloud, no account, no telemetry. MIT-licensed, and built specifically for Linux/Wayland. I started out using [ActivityWatch](https://activitywatch.net/), which is great at what it does \u2014 but it tracks how much time you spend in each app, not what you actually saw. It could t", "context": "", "use_case": "app time tracking", "switched_from": "", "story": "RewindOS \u2013 Searchable screen history for Linux local"}, {"id": 757157904, "item_id": 47322369, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47322369", "by": "egeres", "date": "2026-03-10", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I highly recommend anyone to install github.com/ActivityWatch/activitywatch, it's an amazing tool to keep track of your computer use completely locally.", "excerpt": "Related to this, I highly recommend anyone to install github.com/ActivityWatch/activitywatch, it's an amazing tool to keep track of your computer use completely locally. I think there are lots of possibilities with data analysis/AI aimed to improved one self's life", "context": "", "use_case": "local computer usage tracking", "switched_from": "", "story": "I put my whole life into a single database"}, {"id": 739794464, "item_id": 46237154, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46237154", "by": "squigz", "date": "2025-12-11", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "there are things like https://activitywatch.net/ (which seems to have a desktop and Android version)", "excerpt": "Ah okay. I think this would probably be pretty tricky, security-wise, no? One of my first thoughts that might help would be writing a simple tool that parses history from your browsers to categorize it. Other than that, there are things like https://activitywatch.net/ (which seems to have a desktop and Android version)", "context": "", "use_case": "Tracking computer activity", "switched_from": "", "story": "EFF launches Age Verification Hub"}]}], "caveats": [], "who": [], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["focused window tracking", "app time tracking", "local computer usage tracking", "tracking computer activity"], "compared": [], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49429095", "title": "Show HN: Screen memory without screenshots, just text to Markdown", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48553466", "title": "RewindOS \u2013 Searchable screen history for Linux local", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47321233", "title": "I put my whole life into a single database", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46223389", "title": "EFF launches Age Verification Hub", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {}, "2025-12": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-01": {}, "2026-02": {}, "2026-03": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-04": {}, "2026-05": {}, "2026-06": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-07": {}, "2026-08": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-09": {}, "2026-10": {}}, "versions": [], "version_unnamed": 0, "family_ref": null, "runs_on": null, "lines": [], "quotes": [{"id": 790913024, "item_id": 49432064, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49432064", "by": "cobertos", "date": "2026-08-25", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I've liked the focused window tracker in https://activitywatch.net", "excerpt": "I've liked the focused window tracker in https://activitywatch.net", "context": "", "use_case": "Focused window tracking", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Screen memory without screenshots, just text to Markdown"}, {"id": 776855473, "item_id": 48553467, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48553467", "by": "jp011", "date": "2026-06-16", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "which is great at what it does", "excerpt": "Hi HN. RewindOS captures your screen every few seconds, OCRs it, and makes everything you've ever seen instantly searchable \u2014 all 100% local. No cloud, no account, no telemetry. MIT-licensed, and built specifically for Linux/Wayland. I started out using [ActivityWatch](https://activitywatch.net/), which is great at what it does \u2014 but it tracks how much time you spend in each app, not what you actually saw. It could t", "context": "", "use_case": "app time tracking", "switched_from": "", "story": "RewindOS \u2013 Searchable screen history for Linux local"}, {"id": 757157904, "item_id": 47322369, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47322369", "by": "egeres", "date": "2026-03-10", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I highly recommend anyone to install github.com/ActivityWatch/activitywatch, it's an amazing tool to keep track of your computer use completely locally.", "excerpt": "Related to this, I highly recommend anyone to install github.com/ActivityWatch/activitywatch, it's an amazing tool to keep track of your computer use completely locally. I think there are lots of possibilities with data analysis/AI aimed to improved one self's life", "context": "", "use_case": "local computer usage tracking", "switched_from": "", "story": "I put my whole life into a single database"}, {"id": 739794464, "item_id": 46237154, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46237154", "by": "squigz", "date": "2025-12-11", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "there are things like https://activitywatch.net/ (which seems to have a desktop and Android version)", "excerpt": "Ah okay. I think this would probably be pretty tricky, security-wise, no? One of my first thoughts that might help would be writing a simple tool that parses history from your browsers to categorize it. Other than that, there are things like https://activitywatch.net/ (which seems to have a desktop and Android version)", "context": "", "use_case": "Tracking computer activity", "switched_from": "", "story": "EFF launches Age Verification Hub"}]}