CuckooHow it works
You work. It keeps the record.
No timers to start, nothing to remember. You look at the day once it's over and correct anything it got wrong.
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It notes the window in front
Every two seconds Cuckoo records the app and window title you're using. Step away for three minutes and the clock stops, wound back to the moment you left.
09:05–10:40 Code
header.tsx — acme-site -
Your rules file it under a project
Tell it once that anything mentioning a client's name, repository or web address belongs to that client. Rules apply to past days too, so a new rule tidies up last week.
title contains acme-site
→ Acme website -
You check the day in a minute
Whatever the rules missed is listed as unassigned. Pick a project, drag across the timeline to add a meeting, then export a spreadsheet for invoicing.
14:15–14:35 Mail
Unassigned · choose a project
Privacy
Your day stays on your Mac.
A record of everything you looked at is sensitive. So there is no account, no server and no team dashboard. Nobody sees your time unless you export it and send it to them.
Kept, in one file on your disk
- ✓App name and window titleWhat the title bar says, for example a file or document name.
- ✓The page address in your browserTrimmed to site and page. Everything after ? is dropped, because that is where links carry tokens.
- ✓Start and end timesTo the second, so the totals add up.
Never
- ✕Screenshots or key pressesIt reads the title of the window. It does not look inside it.
- ✕Uploads of any kindNo sync, no analytics, no crash reports. The only thing it fetches is its own updates, plus the Sense HR page if you use that.
- ✕Private browsingIncognito windows in Chrome, Edge, Brave and Arc, and Firefox private windows, are recorded as the browser's name and nothing else. Safari does not say which of its windows are private, so use one of the others for those, or tell Cuckoo which titles to hide.
The file is ~/Library/Application Support/dev.cuckoo.desktop/cuckoo.sqlite3, readable only by your account. Open it, back it up or delete it whenever you like. Cuckoo can also forget on a schedule: delete anything older than a number of days you choose, or keep the hours and drop the window titles.
The details
Accurate enough to invoice from.
- Knows when you've gone
- Idle time, a locked screen and a sleeping Mac all stop the clock. Away time is cut back to your last key press, not rounded up.
- Counts calls
- On a call or watching a recording you aren't typing, but you are working. That counts, for up to an hour at a stretch.
- A never-track list
- Name the apps that are none of its business. Add Spotify and it is never recorded again.
- Reminds you if it's off
- Stop tracking and keep working, and five minutes later a small pop-up offers to start again or snooze.
- Keyboard first
- ⌘ ⌥ ⇧ T starts and stops tracking from any app. Change the keys to suit.
- Light
- A 6 MB download that uses about 30 MB of memory. It starts when you log in and lives in the menu bar.
- Reports and export
- Totals by project for a day, a week or a month, and a CSV file your accounts software can read.
- Updates itself
- New versions are signed, checked and switched in while you are away from your desk.
- Sense HR
- If your company clocks in with Sense HR, do it from the menu bar or a hotkey, and let that start and stop tracking.
Get Cuckoo for your Mac.
Download for MacLatest version · macOS 11 or later on a Mac with an Apple chip (M1 or newer). Intel Macs are not supported.
- Open the downloadDouble-click Cuckoo.dmg and drag Cuckoo into Applications.
- Start it from ApplicationsA small bird appears in the menu bar. That is the whole app until you open it.
- Allow it to read window titlesmacOS asks once, under Privacy & Security → Accessibility. Without it Cuckoo only knows which app you were in.
What it costs. Nothing at the moment. We expect to charge a couple of pounds a month later on, and we'll say so here well before that happens.