# Track time from Claude with a free, no-install server

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**MCP server for time tracking: timesheets, a timesheet and a billable hours tracker.** Track billable time without leaving the chat.

Works with Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor and any Model Context Protocol client. Runs on your own machine, or hosted with no install.

Product page: <https://mcp.zovo.one/s/time-tracker> — what it does, the tools it exposes, and a live token endpoint.

## Install

**Hosted, nothing to install.** Get a token from <https://mcp.zovo.one/mcp/connect> (the connect page) or <https://mcp.zovo.one/mcp/token> (the same token as JSON); a free anonymous one is issued on the spot and a Pro key works the same way. Then point an MCP client at `https://mcp.zovo.one/mcp/time-tracker` over streamable-http and send the token as `Authorization: Bearer <token>`.

If your client cannot set headers, put the token in the path instead: `https://mcp.zovo.one/mcp/time-tracker/t/<token>`. Both forms work. The bare URL with no token answers 401 on `tools/call`, so the token is not optional.

**Claude Desktop, one click.** Download `time-tracker.mcpb` from the [latest release](https://github.com/theluckystrike/mcp-servers/releases/latest) and double-click it.

**From source.** The mirror is self-contained: every `@theluckystrike/*` dependency is vendored, so a fresh clone builds with no extra setup.

```sh
git clone https://github.com/theluckystrike/mcp-time-tracker.git
cd mcp-time-tracker
npm install && npm run build
```

Then point your client at the built entry point:

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "time-tracker": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/absolute/path/to/mcp-time-tracker/dist/index.js"]
    }
  }
}
```

> `@theluckystrike/mcp-time-tracker` is **not published on npm yet**, so an `npx -y @theluckystrike/mcp-time-tracker` command will fail. The three paths above are the working ones and each is exercised by CI.

![time-tracker demo](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/theluckystrike/mcp-servers/main/assets/demo-time-tracker.gif)

Read-only mirror of [mcp-servers/servers/time-tracker](https://github.com/theluckystrike/mcp-servers/tree/main/servers/time-tracker). See [MIRROR.md](MIRROR.md).

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**Featured on [Awesome MCP Servers](mcpservers.org)** — [directory listing](https://mcpservers.org/servers/github-com-theluckystrike-mcp-servers-tree-main-servers-time-tracker) | [live hosted endpoint](https://mcp.zovo.one/s/time-tracker), free tier, no signup.


Track billable time without leaving your AI chat. Say "start a timer on the acme redesign", keep working, then
ask for "my hours this week by project" or "invoice lines for acme in August". It keeps a running timer, lets you
log time you forgot to track, applies your hourly rate per project, and turns the result into a report, a CSV file
or a set of invoice line items. Everything is stored as plain JSON on your own machine.

Built by [theluckystrike](https://github.com/theluckystrike).

**In the [official MCP Registry](https://registry.modelcontextprotocol.io/v0.1/servers/io.github.theluckystrike%2Ftime-tracker-timesheet-billable-hours/versions/latest)** (`io.github.theluckystrike/time-tracker-timesheet-billable-hours`).

**Listed on the [AI Product Index](https://index.percall.dev/l/zovo-time-tracker.html)** — live remote endpoint at [mcp.zovo.one/s/time-tracker](https://mcp.zovo.one/s/time-tracker), free tier, no signup.


Track billable time from chat and turn it straight into a report or invoice line items, zero setup, all local.

## 60-second install

npm publish for `@theluckystrike/mcp-time-tracker` is pending. Until then, the `.mcpb` one-click bundle or a clone+build
is the working path, both are verified below.

One-click (.mcpb): download `time-tracker.mcpb` from the latest release and double-click it in Claude Desktop:
https://github.com/theluckystrike/mcp-servers/releases/latest

(`claude_desktop_config.json`):

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "time-tracker": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@theluckystrike/mcp-time-tracker"]
    }
  }
}
```

Claude Code:

```sh
claude mcp add time-tracker -- npx -y @theluckystrike/mcp-time-tracker
```

(`.cursor/mcp.json`):

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "time-tracker": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@theluckystrike/mcp-time-tracker"]
    }
  }
}
```

The `npx` form above starts working the moment the package is published. Until then, use the .mcpb bundle above, or
build from source with exactly these three commands:

```sh
git clone https://github.com/theluckystrike/mcp-servers.git && cd mcp-servers
npm install
npm run build -w packages/mcp-license -w servers/time-tracker
```

Then point your client's `command` at `node` with one arg: the absolute path to `servers/time-tracker/dist/index.js`.

To run in Pro mode set `MCP_LICENSE_KEY` in the same config block, or call `license_activate` once with your key.

## Tools

| Tool | What it does |
| --- | --- |
| `timer_start` | Start a timer on a project (optional task, tags, rate, currency). Starting a new one stops and logs the old one. A partial project name that matches exactly one existing project is used as that project. |
| `timer_stop` | Stop the running timer, write the entry, return the duration. |
| `timer_status` | What is running, for how long, and today's total. |
| `entry_add` | Log time you already worked (start plus end or minutes), with an optional rate and currency: rate "90 euros an hour" bills as EUR 225.00 for 2.5 h. Partial project names resolve like `timer_start`. |
| `entry_list` | Compact table of entries, filtered by date range and project. |
| `entry_edit` | Change any field of an entry. |
| `entry_delete` | Delete an entry by id. |
| `project_set_rate` | Set the hourly rate and currency used for money totals (currency accepts codes or words: EUR, euros, pounds, zl). `apply_to_existing: true` re-rates time already logged for that project; add `only_missing: true` to touch only entries that carry no rate. |
| `report` | Hours and money for a period, optionally grouped by project, day, task or tag; omit `group_by` for the plain total per currency. Table, JSON or CSV. Hours already invoiced are left out; pass `unbilled_only: false` for the full timesheet. |
| `export_csv` | Write entries to a CSV file and return the path. |
| `invoice_summary` | Invoice-ready line items for one project: hours, rate, amount, total, in the currency the time was logged in. One line per task and rate, so no line ever shows a blended rate nobody agreed. Returns the `entry_ids` behind the lines, and skips hours already invoiced (`unbilled_only: false` includes them). Free for the last 7 days, Pro for any period from full history. |
| `entry_mark_billed` | Stamp the hours that went on an invoice with its number (`ids` from `invoice_summary`, or `project` + `from` + `to`), so `report` and `invoice_summary` stop offering them and the same hours are never billed twice. |
| `license_status` | Free or Pro, and where to upgrade. |
| `license_activate` | Activate a Pro key (verified offline). |

Also exposed: the resource `timetracker://today` (today's summary) and the prompt `daily_standup`
(writes a standup update from yesterday's and today's tracked time).

## What you can say

No tool names required. These are the sentences that were actually tested against the server; the tool
column is what answered them.

| You say | Tool |
| --- | --- |
| "Start a timer for the Acme website project." | `timer_start` |
| "Stop the timer and tell me how long I worked." | `timer_stop` |
| "What's running right now, and for how long?" | `timer_status` |
| "Log 2.5 hours yesterday for Acme, design review, at 90 euros an hour." | `entry_add` |
| "Show me my Acme entries for this week." | `entry_list` |
| "That last entry should say API refactor, not design review." | `entry_edit` |
| "Delete the entry I just logged twice." | `entry_delete` |
| "Set my rate for Acme to 90 EUR an hour." | `project_set_rate` |
| "How many hours did I bill this month, grouped by project?" | `report` |
| "Give me invoice lines for Acme in August." | `invoice_summary` |
| "I invoiced those hours as INV-2026-0001." | `entry_mark_billed` |

Two more worth knowing: "export my time to a CSV for my bookkeeper" (`export_csv`) and "write my standup
update from yesterday and today" (the `daily_standup` prompt).

## Worked example

This is a real transcript from the audit in `docs/USER_VALUE_R2.md`, numbers unchanged.

```
You: Log 2.5 hours yesterday for Acme, design review, at 90 euros an hour.

  entry_add { project: "Acme", ... }
  -> "Acme" resolved to the existing project "Acme website"
  -> rate "90 euros an hour" parsed as EUR 90.00/h

Assistant: Logged 2.50 h for Acme website - design review at EUR 90.00/h = EUR 225.00.

You: How much do I bill Acme this week? Give me invoice lines.

  invoice_summary { project: "Acme website", from: "2026-08-31", to: "2026-09-02" }

Assistant: Invoice summary - Acme website
  design review    2.50 h   EUR 90.00/h   EUR 225.00
  TOTAL            2.50 h                 EUR 225.00
```

One call each. The rate carries its currency all the way through: the report never prints a bare "225",
and it never turns into "$225" by accident.

A second worked example, the weekly report and the `daily_standup` prompt:

```
You: How many hours did I put into Acme this week, grouped by task?

  report { project: "Acme website", from: "2026-08-27", to: "2026-09-02", group_by: "task" }

Assistant: Acme website, 2026-08-27 to 2026-09-02
  design review   2.50 h   EUR 225.00
  TOTAL           2.50 h   EUR 225.00

You: Write my standup update.

  (prompt) daily_standup

Assistant: Yesterday: 2.50 h on Acme website (design review).
Today: nothing logged yet.
```

### Billed hours close

An hour that has been invoiced is finished. `entry_mark_billed {ids, invoice_number}` writes
`billed_at` and `billed_invoice` onto those entries; from then on `report` and `invoice_summary`
skip them by default, so next month's "invoice Acme" cannot re-bill work already paid for. The
whole timesheet is still there: pass `unbilled_only: false` to any of them. `invoice_summary`
returns the `entry_ids` it used precisely so they can be handed straight to `entry_mark_billed`
once the invoice exists.

`report` and `invoice_summary` answer overlapping questions on purpose: `report` is for "how much time
and money," grouped any way you like; `invoice_summary` is for "give me the lines I can put on an
invoice," which is a narrower, invoice-shaped view of the same entries for one project.

## How it stores data

Entries, projects and rates live in one JSON file:
`${XDG_DATA_HOME:-~/.local/share}/mcp-servers/time-tracker/data.json`.

Every write (starting or stopping a timer, adding, editing or deleting an entry, setting a rate) happens
under an advisory lock file at `.../time-tracker/.lock`, held across the whole load-mutate-save cycle, so
two overlapping calls cannot interleave and corrupt the file. The save itself writes to a temporary file
and renames it into place, so a crash or a killed process mid-write leaves either the old file or the new
one, never a half-written one. Reads (`entry_list`, `report`, `timer_status`, `export_csv`) do not take
the lock.

To back up your data, copy the single `data.json` file (and `.lock` if present, though it holds no data).
There is no database and no hidden second file.

If `data.json` is ever unreadable or not valid JSON, the server does **not** treat that as "no data yet".
It moves the file aside byte-for-byte as `data.json.corrupt-<timestamp>`, writes a `data.json.corrupt`
marker and makes every tool, reads included, return `data file is corrupt; moved to ...; nothing was
written`. Restore a good `data.json` (the quarantined copy is right there) and delete the marker file to
carry on. Nothing is overwritten in the meantime.

## Dates, times and rates

- **Timestamps with no offset are your local time.** `2026-09-02T09:00:00` means 09:00 where you are, not
  UTC. Pass an explicit offset (`2026-09-02T09:00:00+02:00`) or a trailing `Z` and it is honoured exactly.
- **Date-only bounds cover whole local days.** `from: "2026-09-01"` is 00:00:00 local on the 1st and
  `to: "2026-09-30"` is 23:59:59.999 local on the 30th, so a month reported by dates includes its last
  day. Timestamps with a time are used as given.
- **Entries are clipped to the window.** An entry that starts before `from` or ends after `to` counts for
  the part inside the period, not all of it and not none of it.
- **Entries are split at local midnight for day grouping.** Work from 23:30 to 01:30 is 0.5 h on the first
  day and 1.5 h on the next, including across a month boundary. `timer_status` counts only the part of an
  entry, or of the running timer, that falls after midnight today.
- **Rate strings are parsed, never guessed.** `"1,200 USD"` is 1200 (a comma followed by exactly three
  digits is thousands grouping), `"12,50 EUR"` is 12.50 (the unambiguous European decimal shape), and
  `"1.200,50"` is 1200.50. Anything that could mean either thing, such as `"1,2345"`, is refused with a
  worked example instead of being read as the wrong number.
- **Rates are captured when the time is logged.** `entry_add` and `timer_stop` store the effective hourly
  rate and currency on the entry, and reports and invoices use that stored rate. `project_set_rate`
  therefore applies to future entries only; pass `apply_to_existing: true` to re-rate the time already
  logged for that project. That re-stamps EVERY entry of the project, including entries that already
  carry a rate, and the response says how many changed and the project's new total. Add
  `only_missing: true` to touch only entries that captured no rate of their own.
- **Tag rows overlap.** In `group_by: "tag"` an entry tagged `dev` and `meeting` appears in both rows; the
  total is computed from the entries once, so it is never the sum of the rows.

## Limits and honest caveats

- Free `entry_list`, `report`, `export_csv` and `invoice_summary` only see the last 7 days. Timers and
  entries themselves are unlimited and nothing is ever deleted, the window just narrows what a free
  call can read back.
- Free tier supports hourly rates on 2 projects; a third rated project needs Pro.
- Every `report` grouping is free, tag included: the tag total is a correctness fix, not a premium
  feature. `group_by` itself is optional, omit it for the plain total per currency.
- Only one timer can run at a time. Starting a second one stops and logs the first, there is no
  concurrent-timer mode.
- There is no reminder or idle-detection: if you forget to stop a timer, it keeps running until you stop
  it or start another.

## Troubleshooting

- **`npx` hangs or fails to find the package**: npm publish for this package is pending. Use the `.mcpb`
  bundle or the clone-and-build path above until it lands.
- **Using the `.mcpb` bundle**: it installs into Claude Desktop directly; there is no separate path to
  configure.
- **Using the clone path**: the server binary is `servers/time-tracker/dist/index.js` after
  `npm run build`. Point your client's `command` at `node` with that absolute path as the only argument.
- **Node version**: requires Node >= 18. Check with `node -v`.
- **Nothing shows up / silent failures**: this server writes logs to stderr only, never stdout (stdout is
  reserved for the MCP protocol). In Claude Desktop, check Settings -> Developer -> the server's log
  file; in Claude Code, run with `--mcp-debug` or check the terminal you launched it from.
- **A Pro key isn't recognized**: run `license_status` to see what the server thinks your tier is, and
  confirm `MCP_LICENSE_KEY` is set in the same process the client launches (not just your shell).

## Privacy

All data stays local: entries live in `${XDG_DATA_HOME:-~/.local/share}/mcp-servers/time-tracker/data.json`.
The server makes no network requests, has no telemetry, and needs no account. License keys are Ed25519
signatures verified offline against a public key compiled into the package, activation works with no
internet connection.

## Pairs with

- [mcp-invoice](../invoice/README.md), turn `invoice_summary` output straight into a numbered PDF invoice.
- [mcp-spreadsheet](../spreadsheet/README.md), export a CSV with `export_csv` and query or reshape it.
- [mcp-price-tracker](../price-tracker/README.md), if you also buy things for the client, watch those prices.
- [office-suite](../office-suite/README.md), every sibling server behind one install, one config entry.
- Guide: [Track billable hours in Claude Code and Cursor](https://mcp.zovo.one/guides/track-time-in-claude-code)

## FAQ

Yes. All three speak MCP over stdio with the same config shape; the tools and the data file are identical
regardless of client.

Nothing is deleted. The entry stays in `data.json` forever; it just will not appear in `entry_list`,
`report`, `export_csv` or `invoice_summary` results until you activate Pro, which opens full history.

Yes. Currency is set per project (or per entry, overriding the project default) and every total is grouped
by currency, a report never adds EUR and USD together.

The server does not block overlaps; it logs what you tell it. `entry_edit` lets you fix a mistake after
the fact.

No. There are no network calls anywhere in this server, including for license activation, which is
verified with a local public key.

## License

MIT

## One business profile for the whole suite

Your identity is stored once, at `${XDG_DATA_HOME:-~/.local/share}/mcp-servers/profile/business.json`,
and every server in the suite reads it: the invoice issuer, the docx letterhead, the recurring
issuer, expense-tracker's default VAT rate, time-tracker's and timezone's home zone, and the
resume and contract letterheads. Set it once with `business_set` (invoice or docx) - you never
repeat it anywhere else. An email address is only ever taken from that profile or from an explicit
argument; when none is stored, documents show `[add: email]` and the tool says so rather than
letting anyone improvise an address.

## Frequently asked questions

### Is there a free MCP time tracking server?

Yes. The time-tracker server at mcp.zovo.one is a free MCP time tracking server with no install: start and stop timers in chat, keep per-client totals, and produce weekly reports. Unlike SaaS trackers (WebWork, TrackingTime) it needs no account — paste the hosted URL and go.

### How do I track time from Claude?

Connect https://mcp.zovo.one/mcp/time-tracker (tokenized URL from mcp.zovo.one/mcp/connect) and say: 'Start a timer for the Acme project.' Stop it later the same way; weekly summaries are one ask away.

## Use these docs as an MCP server

Any MCP client (Claude, Cursor, Windsurf, VS Code) can read this repository's documentation directly via GitMCP — no install:

- Docs MCP URL: https://gitmcp.io/theluckystrike/mcp-time-tracker