# Build brief — a focused alternative to Timeular

> **Verdict:** Partly, if you narrow it · **Buildability:** 50/100 · **Category:** Time Tracking
> **Source:** https://www.canitbevibecoded.com/timeular
> Independent editorial assessment from Can It Be Vibe Coded? Not affiliated with, endorsed by, or derived from Timeular. Verify current pricing and capabilities before acting.

## Context

**Timeular** — Track time with projects and reminders using software-only controls. It currently costs $9/mo.

The core loop is buildable, but a dependable replacement becomes a substantially larger project. For Timeular, track time with projects and reminders using software-only controls. The hard boundary is physical tracker option, mobile apps, calendar integration, team features, and sync, plus ubiquitous capture, coaching, and team workflow.

This brief describes a focused, single-operator replacement for the part of Timeular that is genuinely reproducible. It is deliberately narrower than the product it replaces, and it says so in writing. Build the useful core; do not pretend to have rebuilt the rest.

## What you are building

Track time and focused sessions with projects and reminders using software-only controls, review patterns locally, and export a transparent activity record.

- Build a focused single-user workflow with real persistence, search, and export.
- A responsive interface with real empty, loading, success, and error states.

## Requirements

### Functional

- Desktop OS.
- Notification permission.
- Optional accessibility permission for app-name tracking.
- Local SQLite.

### Non-functional

- Accessibility: semantic markup, labelled controls, visible focus, and reduced-motion support.
- Security: server-side secrets, validated input, and no credentials in the client bundle.
- Reliability: retries with backoff on external calls, and a clear failure state when a provider is down.
- Portability: the operator can export their data and leave without losing it.

## Implementation brief

Build a personal replacement for Timeular in an empty repository.
Use Tauri 2, React, TypeScript, SQLite, and optional OS accessibility APIs; do not offer alternative stacks.
The core loop is: track time and focused sessions with projects and reminders using software-only controls, review patterns locally, and export a transparent activity record.
Make the first run work locally with one documented command.
Store all user data locally by default and make export straightforward.
Put secrets in .env, ship .env.example, and never commit credentials.
Create one-click start and stop, manual entries, idle detection, tags, projects, and notes.
Keep any application-name tracking opt-in and never record window contents or keystrokes.
Add Pomodoro-style focus sessions, break reminders, and an optional allowlist blocker.
Provide daily, weekly, project, and category reports with editable corrections.
Export CSV and JSON and make the underlying event log inspectable.
Add automatic local backups and a privacy screen explaining every collected field.
Include clear empty, loading, success, and recoverable error states.
Add input validation, safe filenames, and graceful handling of unavailable APIs.
Write focused tests for the core transformation and one end-to-end happy path.
Create a README with setup, architecture, permissions, data location, and backup steps.
Do not add accounts, billing, telemetry, analytics, or a hosted control plane.
Deliberately leave out employee surveillance.
Deliberately leave out payroll and billing automation.
Deliberately leave out cross-device blocking and behavioral coaching services.
Finish by running the tests and listing the exact commands used.

## Delivery standard

- Inspect the repository first, then write a short implementation plan before writing code.
- Deliver the smallest complete end-to-end workflow first; every primary control must work against persisted data.
- Use real validation and storage; never substitute fake dashboards, decorative controls, hard-coded success states, or mock integrations.
- Include responsive layouts plus genuine empty, loading, success, validation, and failure states.
- Keep secrets server-side in environment variables, provide .env.example, and never commit credentials or user data.
- Add structured logs around every external call and return actionable errors without leaking sensitive details.
- Write unit tests for the core logic and one automated test of the main user journey.
- Finish with a README covering setup, architecture, data location, backups, tests, deployment, and known limitations.

## Acceptance criteria

- [ ] A clean install starts the app using only the README and .env.example.
- [ ] The primary journey works from first visit through saved result, reload, edit, export, and deletion where applicable.
- [ ] Invalid input, missing configuration, provider failure, and an empty database each have a usable state.
- [ ] The interface works at 390px and 1440px, is keyboard navigable, and shows visible focus on every control.
- [ ] Tests, type checking, linting, and a production build all pass with no ignored failures.
- [ ] No part of the interface implies a live integration, security guarantee, or scale capability that was not actually built and verified.

## Non-goals

Do not build these, and do not claim to have replaced them:

- Physical tracker option, mobile apps, calendar integration, team features, and sync.
- Cross-device history.
- Team timesheets and payroll.
- Behavioral datasets.
- The last 20 percent is sync, migration fidelity, speed, and edge cases.
- Physical devices or hardware-generated data cannot be cloned in software.

## What you still own after launch

- Run migrations, backups, restores, and dependency updates.
- Test the critical journey after every model, API, or hosting change.
- Monitor failures and fix the edge cases a first prompt will miss.

## Risk

**Manageable.** A personal version is realistic if you test the critical journey and keep reliable backups.

Editorial confidence in this assessment: medium. No independent one-shot implementation is linked yet.

## Prior art

Working open-source software you can read, fork, or borrow from before starting:

- [Kimai](https://github.com/kimai/kimai) — Mature open-source time-tracking application with projects, reports, and exports

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Generated by [Can It Be Vibe Coded?](https://www.canitbevibecoded.com) · Full report: https://www.canitbevibecoded.com/timeular