Knows what you're doing. Tells no one about it.
Clessira is a time-tracking app I built because none of the others satisfied me: fast from the menu bar, honestly deep in the pivot table, and everything stays on your Mac. No account, no server of mine, no telemetry pixel — and if you want it, sync runs through your own private iCloud.
The quadrant nobody else occupies.
Most time-tracking tools today fall into one of three buckets: simple and solo (small timer apps), simple and team-based, or deep but cloud-locked.
Clessira sits in "Local/Solo + Feature-rich": full reporting depth, your Mac, your data.
Seven things tuned for the way solos actually work.
Adaptive idle prompts
Learns your rhythm, asks at the right moment, can auto-confirm.
Flexitime account In progress
Overtime balance and office vs. home-office days.
Git branch awareness
A VS Code extension reports the active branch — Clessira suggests the matching activity. JetBrains plugin next.
Custom JS export scripts
Sandboxed JavaScript. Write your own CSV, JSON or invoice format once.
macOS Services
Right-click any text → "Capture as Clessira note".
AppleScript · CLI · Shortcuts
App Intents, Keyboard Maestro — Clessira is scriptable.
Paste-to-activities import
Paste a Jira list, Markdown or table — auto-detected, issue keys become activity codes.
Capture. Organise. Analyse. Export.
Four phases, four tools — all in one app. No switching to a browser, no second app for invoicing.
Adaptive prompts. The app asks, you nod.
Idle detection with learning intervals. In clear contexts Clessira auto-confirms. When unclear it asks gently — and offers the most likely activities as keyboard shortcuts.
- Idle prompt at a configurable interval (5–60 min)
- Auto-confirm for recurring patterns
- Keyboard shortcuts 1 / 2 / 3 for the top suggestions
- Respects macOS Focus modes (DND, presentations)
Paste a Jira list. Get fifty activities, ready to track.
Setting up the activity catalog at the start of a sprint usually means typing ticket titles by hand. Not here: paste a list of Jira issues, a Markdown checklist, a table from Confluence, or just plain lines — Clessira auto-detects the format and turns each row into a new activity, with the issue key (PROJ-123) preserved as the code. Bulk-set group, weekly target hours and pin status before you confirm.
- Auto-detected formats: Jira, plain lines, Markdown, tables
- Paste from clipboard — no file drag, no column-mapping wizard
- Issue keys become the activity code; titles become the name
- Bulk-apply group, target h/week and pin to multiple rows at once
- Per-row override: code, default note, colour
Activities, groups, recurring items — neatly sorted.
Activities are colour-coded and organised in groups. Pin what you use most. Recurring items (standup, sprint review) land on the calendar automatically. "Empty group"? "Ungrouped"? Both are explicit — no hidden buckets.
- Colour-coded activities with drag-and-drop
- Groups with counter badges
- Recurring activities for daily routine
- Pin function for your top 3
Six views. One truth.
Day, week, pivot, month, range, stats. The pivot shows activity × weekday as a matrix — perfect for the weekly review. The stats view shows 30 / 90-day trends with top activities and hours.
- Pivot table: activity × weekday, with Σ and totals
- Toggle activities ↔ groups without re-render
- Exact mode for minute-precise billing
- Donut stats with top-activities ranking
Write your format once. Export forever.
Custom export scripts in JavaScript — sandboxed, no network access. Build exactly the CSV your accountant wants. Or your own invoice generator. Or JSON for your Notion workflow. Clessira supplies the data — you decide the format.
- JavaScript runtime, sandboxed
- Direct access to activities, notes, groups, ranges
- Sample scripts for CSV, JSON and invoice templates
- Scripts can be shared via iCloud Drive (optional)
Flexitime, holidays, calendar weeks — at home in the DACH workday.
A flexitime account that reconciles over- and under-time against your target hours. Public holidays for all 16 German Bundesländer plus Austria and Switzerland — the timer knows that Fronleichnam is a workday in Stuttgart but not in Hamburg, and pauses accordingly. Calendar-week (KW) navigation throughout the reports.
- Configurable target hours (week / month)
- Flexitime account with live balance
- Office vs. home office (automatic or manual)
- Holiday mode for all 16 Bundesländer, AT and CH — region-aware
- KW navigation in week, pivot and range views
Scriptable down to the bone.
Trigger Clessira from Alfred, Keyboard Maestro, Shortcuts.app or any terminal script — or drive it programmatically over the loopback HTTP API. The VS Code extension reports the active branch on every switch — Clessira suggests the matching activity.
- AppleScript library + CLI binary (
clessira) - App Intents → Shortcuts.app + Siri
- macOS Services in the right-click menu
- HTTP API on loopback, with official
npm&PyPISDKs - Git branch awareness via a thin VS Code extension (JetBrains plugin on the roadmap)
Shortcuts.app App Intents
"Start Backend development" as a Siri command.
tell application "Clessira" to start tracking "Backend"
Terminal CLI
Log automatically from your build script.
$ clessira start "CI build"
Keyboard Maestro Macro
Switch activities without touching the mouse.
⌘ ␣ → clessira start "Backend"
VS Code extension Marketplace
Switch branch in VS Code → Clessira suggests an activity. JetBrains plugin next. VS Code docs →
git checkout feat/billing → Hotfix?
Your data. Your call.
Turn on built-in iCloud sync for a clean merge across your Macs — or keep the single JSON file in any folder you pick. No preset, no hidden cloud dependency; switch any time without losing a minute.
- iCloud sync — built in, merges changes entry by entry across your Apple devices
- OneDrive / SharePoint — company-compliant backups inside the Microsoft world
- Dropbox / Google Drive — if you're already in there, no reason to change
- NAS or network share — offline-available on your own network
- Local folder on the SSD — manual backup, your way
Folder options (Dropbox, OneDrive, NAS) sync whole files, so for editing on two Macs the built-in iCloud sync is the safest pick. Setup guide and recommended layouts in the documentation.
The small things that carry the day.
Twelve features that look small on their own — and quietly hold up the whole workflow.
Three views on today
In the popover you switch between Groups (totals per category), Timeline (colour-coded bar from morning to evening) and List (every entry chronologically, gaps included). Three angles — same day.
Quick-switch: find or create
⌘K jumps between activities — or creates a new one straight from the search field. No mouse, no modal switching.
Keyboard-first, mouse optional
⌃⌥⌘L pops the prompt from anywhere — even mid-flight in another app. ⌃⌥⌘J takes the suggestion, ⌃⌥⌘O discards the interval, and ⌃⌥⌘1–9 log a pinned activity. When the prompt is up front, the bare keys (1–9, ⌃Y, ⌃S) work too. Configurable in settings, but the defaults survive a 9-hour day.
Notes per entry — Spotlight indexed
One line is enough. Three weeks later Spotlight finds it again, just like an Apple Note.
Daily goal & overtime indicator
Set a target, see live where you stand. If the day overshoots, the bar turns red — directly in the menu bar and popover.
Center-Drop near the notch
On a 34" ultrawide the menu bar is half a metre away. Switch to "Center-Drop": the popover anchors near the notch and falls straight into your line of sight — no neck swivel, no chasing the cursor.
Interactive desktop widgets
Today, 30-day heatmap and one-tap quick-log live right on your desktop. Tap a pill, the activity starts — no popover, no app switch.
iPhone, iPad & Watch companion
The Mac starts tracking — your iPhone shows the running session, live. And the other way round. The companion app (one universal download) starts, stops, backfills and fixes entries on the go; the Watch starts an activity from your wrist. Sync runs through your own private iCloud, nowhere else.
Rolling JSON backups & undo
Every change is undoable from a toast. On top of that, Clessira writes a rolling daily JSON snapshot next to your database. Mis-click at 11 p.m. on the 25th? Yesterday's billing data is one file away.
Holidays & KW the way DACH works
Choose your Bundesland (or AT / CH canton) once. Clessira knows the public holidays, pauses the timer and lets you navigate by KW everywhere — week, pivot, range.
Menu bar your way
Icon only, icon + current activity, icon + time, or all of it. As much or as little as your menu bar can spare.
Break countdown in the menu bar
Start a break — the countdown ticks visibly. Default break length is up to you. Back at the desk when the Mac says so, not when your stomach does.
You'll probably like Clessira if…
It's a small, opinionated app. Not for everyone — but if a few of these sound like you, it's probably a fit.
Just as important as what it is.
Built in Germany. Bound by European privacy law.
Clessira is built and maintained by one German engineer — not a VC-funded startup, not a data broker. There's no lengthy privacy policy to wade through, because there's nothing to disclose: no server, no account, no tracking.
- ✓Made in Germany.Designed, coded and supported by one engineer in Germany. You can see who — it says Marco Mattes in the imprint.
- ✓Your data never leaves your Mac.It lives in a plain JSON file on your machine. If your Mac is in the EU, so is your data.
- ✓GDPR-compliant by design.No account, no server, no analytics — there is simply no personal data to process, transfer or leak.
- ✓No US-cloud lock-in.Optional multi-Mac sync runs only through your own private iCloud. Nothing is forced through a cloud of mine.
On the App Store.
One universal app across Mac, iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch — a single download, no account to create. Free for now.
If Clessira ever costs anything, it'll be a one-time purchase — never a subscription, never a recurring fee.
Download Clessira
Get it from the App Store and it installs on your Mac, iPhone, iPad and Watch — the same app, everywhere. No account, no setup wizard.
- Free for now — a one-time purchase at most, never a subscription
- Every feature unlocked, including export scripts & automation
- Your data stays in an open JSON file on your Mac
- Universal: Mac, iPhone, iPad & Apple Watch in one download
- No account, no telemetry, works fully offline
What people ask before installing.
Is any of my data sent anywhere?
Nothing goes to a Clessira server — there isn't one. Your data lives in a plain JSON file on your Mac, with no account and no first-party telemetry — the App Store build sends nothing. For multi-Mac use there's an optional, built-in iCloud sync that merges changes entry by entry. Prefer Dropbox, OneDrive or a NAS? Point the data folder there instead — just note those sync whole files, so simultaneous edits on two machines can conflict.
What if you stop developing Clessira one day?
Then you still own your data. The database is a standard JSON file, openable with any text editor (or a spreadsheet via the CSV export). No proprietary container, no cloud dependency, no account that can be revoked. Your billing history from 2026 will still be readable in 2036, with or without this app.
Is it a subscription? What does it cost?
No subscription — that's the promise. Clessira is free for now. If it ever becomes paid, it'll be a one-time purchase on the App Store — buy once, use forever, including offline. Never a monthly fee.
What exactly do the custom export scripts do?
You write a JavaScript function that takes your entries and outputs any format — CSV for your accountant, JSON for Notion, a Markdown invoice. Scripts run sandboxed (no network, no filesystem access) and execute at export time.
Can I import a Jira backlog as activities?
Yes — but it imports the activity catalog, not time entries. Paste a list of Jira issues, a Markdown checklist, a table or plain lines into the import dialog; Clessira auto-detects the format and creates one activity per row, with the issue key (e.g. PROJ-123) as the code and the title as the name. You can bulk-assign group, weekly target hours and pin status before confirming. Time tracking against those activities happens afterwards, the normal way.
How does Git branch awareness work?
A small VS Code extension reports the active branch of your current workspace to Clessira. On each branch switch Clessira suggests the last activity you tracked on that branch — hit enter, done. Editor-side instead of filesystem watching, so it also works with worktrees, submodules and remote/Dev Container setups out of the box. The extension talks to the Mac app over a Unix domain socket inside the sandbox container — no network port. See the VS Code integration docs. A JetBrains plugin (IntelliJ, WebStorm, PyCharm, …) is next on the list.
What about flexitime and office days?
A flexitime account plus office vs. home-office tracking. Optional — if you don't need it, you don't see it. Still being built out.
Does it work offline?
Fully. Clessira needs no internet connection. Idle prompts, pivot, stats and export all work offline.
Is there an iPhone or Windows version?
iPhone, yes. Clessira is a universal app — the same download includes an iPhone & iPad companion app (with an Apple Watch app): it shows the session running on your Mac live, starts and stops tracking, backfills and fixes entries on the go. The Mac stays the home base — reporting, exports and settings live there. Sync between devices runs through your own private iCloud, nothing else. Windows: no — Clessira is too deeply wired into Apple's platforms (App Intents, Services, Shortcuts).
My team wants to use Clessira — possible?
Yes, with individual licenses per person. But there's no shared view for managers, by design. If you need real team reporting, a dedicated team time-tracking tool will fit better.