⏱️ HackTimer

I built the timer I use to time every hack. Hack #0. 😂

A CLI that tracks only real active coding time — not clock time. Auto-pauses when you go AFK. Logs LOC delta. Tamper-evident so "shipped in 7h" actually means something.

npx myhacktimer start .

Why

Clock time is a lie. You start a timer, make a coffee, scroll Twitter, come back — and now your "6 hour build" was really 2.5h of actual work.

HackTimer only counts time when files are changing. The moment you stop editing, the clock pauses. No fluff.

Install

npm install -g myhacktimer
# or just run directly
npx myhacktimer start .

Commands

hacktimer start <path> [-t 4h]   # start or resume session (default timeout: 12h)
hacktimer start <path> --daemon  # run in background, close terminal freely
hacktimer stop                    # pause session — resume anytime with start
hacktimer end                     # end session forever + final summary
hacktimer status                  # check live session from another terminal
hacktimer report [project] -p week  # day | week | month | year
hacktimer list                    # all tracked projects
hacktimer log [project]           # raw session history

Timeout format: 30m, 2h, 12h, 24h — whatever fits your session.

Sessions persist forever — stop just pauses, start always resumes. Only end closes a session for good.

How it works

• Watches your folder with chokidar for add, change, unlink events
• Resets a 10-minute inactivity timer on every file change
• When the timer fires → pauses. Next file change → resumes
• Snapshots LOC at start and stop, computes delta
• Saves everything to ~/.hacktimer/sessions.json

Integrity

Two layers so "I shipped this in X hours" isn't just vibes:

1. HMAC-SHA256 — the entire session file is hashed on every write and verified on every read. Mismatch = warning + reset.
2. Read-only file — chmod 444 after every write. Editing it manually requires a deliberate chmod, which feels intentional and leaves a trace.

Not unbreakable — it's a local tool. But it makes casual faking obvious. That's the point.

Example output

✅ HackTimer started for ./my-hack
   ⏱️  Timeout: 12h | Active time: 0h 0m
   👀  Watching for file changes...
   ⏸️  Pauses automatically after 10min of no edits

⏸️  Paused — my-hack
────────────────────────────────────────
⏱️  Active coding time:  2h 10m
────────────────────────────────────────
   Run hacktimer start . to resume anytime.

🏁 Session ended for my-hack
────────────────────────────────────────
⏱️  Active coding time:  6h 48m
📝 LOC delta:           +980 lines
💾 Timeout used:        57%  (6h 48m / 12h)
────────────────────────────────────────
✅ Saved. Great work! 🔥

Stack

Node.js + TypeScript. chokidar for watching. commander for CLI. chalk for colour. HMAC via built-in crypto. Zero database, zero cloud, zero telemetry.

Everything stays on your machine.

Agent Skill

Install the skill so any agent (Kiro, Claude Code, Copilot, etc.) knows how to use hacktimer:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/thejamesnick/hacktimer/main/skills/install.sh | bash

Or manually copy skills/hacktimer/SKILL.md into ~/.agent-skills/hacktimer/SKILL.md.

Part of the HACK Series (https://x.com/YukoNikumo) — building one thing a day, live. 🔥