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How a day fills itself in

Hourbrook notes which window is in front, draws what it saw, and turns it into entries when you say so. Here is one working day, start to end, and what it never does along the way.

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It notices what's in front

Every two seconds Hourbrook looks at the app in front, its window title and, in Safari, Chrome, Arc, Brave, Edge and Vivaldi, the page you're on. Firefox gives it the window title only.

After five minutes without keyboard or mouse it marks you away, unless a call is running, a video or slideshow is full screen, or Claude or a build is busy. You choose the minutes.

1Password, Bitwarden and Keychain Access are skipped by default. A private window is kept only as “Private window”, without its title or address, when Hourbrook can tell it's private (when it can). Apps and sites you add to its rules leave no trace at all.

It draws the day as a brook

Each app is a stream; the brook is how wide your day ran at each hour. Beside it, every app gets a lane of memories: what was in front, from when to when.

This one is live. Click memories in the lanes and log them, the way you would on your Mac.

4h 1mtracked
15mlogged
3h 46mnot logged yet
Entries
Xcode
Safari
Claude Code
Slack
Calendar
Kestrel stand-up15m
2h 30m4 picked

Picked 2h 3m → logging 2h 30m (+24m rounding, +3m joined gaps)

Breaks count up to

You pick, it adds up fairly

Pick the memories that belong together and press ⌘↩. Short breaks between them count, up to the limit you set, and the entry is rounded out to the quarter hour. (Drafts round to 5 minutes; timers don't round.)

The card always says how it got its number, so nothing is added that you can't see.

Or take a draft

As you log, a small model on your Mac learns which repositories, sites, issue keys and words go with which project. Next time it drafts the entry for you, with its reasons.

Rules you write always win. Say “not this” and it learns that too. None of it is sent anywhere.

The week, the invoice, the report

Logged entries become cards in the Week. Drag a card's edge to change its length, add time the Mac didn't see, and plan the days ahead. Projects, budgets, reports and invoices are built from these entries.

When you sign in, these entries are what syncs: to the web dashboard, your other Macs and, if you have one, your team. What syncs, exactly

What it reads, and what it never does

The whole list. If it isn't on the left, Hourbrook doesn't look at it.

It reads

  • The app in frontevery 2 seconds
  • Its window titleyou can turn this off
  • The page addressin a browser; can be off
  • That you're at the Macnot what you pressed
  • That a mic is in useto notice calls; nothing is heard
  • That an agent is busyClaude Code, Codex, a build: CPU and log times, never the chat
  • Your calendaron the Mac, if you allow it

It never

  • Takes screenshotsor records the screen
  • Records keystrokesor anything you type
  • Records audio or video
  • Keeps private windowsno title, no address
  • Sees what you excludeapps and sites in your rules
  • Gives anyone a scoreno percentages, no ranking
  • Syncs the left-hand listit stays on your Mac
Does it slow the Mac down?

It looks at the front window every 2 seconds and listens for changes instead of polling where macOS allows it. It's built to stay out of your way.

Which permissions does it ask for?

Accessibility, to read window titles, and Automation for each browser whose address you want. Calendars only if you connect them.

What if I forget to log for a week?

Nothing is lost. The memories stay on your Mac until you delete them or they pass the age you set, and the Week shows what isn't logged yet.

Can I still use a timer?

Yes. Start one from the menu bar, a shortcut or Shortcuts, and add time by hand for anything the Mac didn't see.

Does it work with my calendar?

Meetings from the calendars on your Mac show on the day, so a call is easy to log. Calendar events are read on the Mac and never synced.

What do I need?

A Mac with macOS 14 or later. A Windows version is in the works.

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