You never have to remember to press start
Timeslip is automatic time tracking in the Mac menu bar. It writes down which client and project the hours belong to, then turns them into a timesheet you can send as-is. Everything stays on this Mac.
Automatic, not willpower
No start button, no stop button. You work; it records.
By client and project
Not “you spent three hours in the browser”, but “Acme took twelve hours”.
Ready to bill
A timesheet proves the hours; an invoice PDF adds your letterhead, tax lines and payment notes—not a tax-authority invoice.
The one job it does
If you bill by the hour or by the project, time is what you sell. Timeslip only records how much of it you produced, and turns that into something you can get paid for.
A fit if you…
Bill clients by the hour or by the project; work alone or in a tiny studio; juggle several clients and hate reconstructing the month; and refuse to upload client names and rates to someone else’s server.
Not a fit if you…
Need staff schedules, timesheet approval, or multi-person rollups—that is a different product. Timeslip is for people who keep their own books.
How it differs from what you do now
| What you might use | The problem | What Timeslip does |
|---|---|---|
| A timer app (start / stop) | Two weeks in, you forget to press; the numbers are fiction | Records automatically—no willpower required |
| Excel / notes by hand | Memory estimates; you always under-bill | A minute a day to review; every number has a source |
| Screen Time | Free, but by app only—no billable timesheet | Rolls up by client / project; export a timesheet |
| A cloud time service (subscription) | Client data on someone else’s server; monthly charges | Fully local, buy once |
~/Library/Application Support/Timeslip/timeslip.db. Apart from licence activation and update checks, it makes no network requests—no account, no cloud sync.Five steps from install to getting paid
About ten minutes the first time; a minute a day after that; export once at month-end.
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Grant Accessibility
The first launch explains why. Click “Open System Settings” and enable Timeslip under Privacy & Security → Accessibility.
Why: only with this permission can macOS tell Timeslip which window is frontmost. Without it, it knows the app but not the project, so rules cannot file entries. It cannot read keystrokes or capture the screen.
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Create clients and projects
Open the timeline and switch to Clients & Projects: create clients first (who pays), then projects under each with an hourly rate.
For internal time that should not bill (meetings, admin, learning), turn off “Billable by default”. It still records duration, but stays off client timesheets.
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Let it run
You can ignore it after this. The menu-bar clock shows status: Recording / Idle / Paused / Missing permission / Not recording (licence). The shell is always the same clock; badges appear when you need to act, and pause dims the icon.
For meetings, personal errands, or anything you do not want logged, choose “Pause recording”. After five idle minutes it stops on its own (threshold is adjustable in Settings).
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File entries for a minute a day
This is the only daily action. Open the timeline and assign unfiled rows to a project.
Then click the row again and use “Always file here…” to create a rule. Matching unfiled history can be applied too—declining only affects future rows.
Secondary-click a row to mark billable / non-billable or delete this segment. After editing rules, use “Apply rules to history…” to refile old unassigned rows (already assigned rows stay put).
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Export a timesheet or invoice at month-end
Open Report, pick “This month”, filter to one client, then Export:
Timesheet PDF—summary by default (no window titles to the client); use “Timesheet with detail” when you need to reconcile. Invoice PDF—your payee details, tax lines, payment notes and invoice number. Neither is a tax invoice; neither talks to a tax authority.
Three places you will look
Timeslip has no Dock icon. Everything lives under the menu-bar clock: a menu, a main window (Timeline / Report / Clients & Projects), and a Settings window (Record / General / Invoice / Data / Licence).
3.1 Menu bar: the screen you check daily
The first three lines are status only
Today’s total, the app currently recording and for how long, and overall state. The shell is always the same clock so you can find it; changes are corner badges (none / alert “needs you” / up-arrow “needs network”) or a dimmed icon while paused.
“Pause recording” is the escape hatch
Timeslip records by default, so the stop switch must be obvious. While paused it does not sample or write; existing rows are untouched.
3.2 Timeline: the daily review screen
The time range on the left
Start and end are decided by Timeslip. Adjacent samples with the same window merge into one segment—so you see “one task”, not “a row every five seconds”.
The middle is the fact
App icon, app name, window title. The title is the best signal for which client owns the segment, and rules match on it.
The right side is yours to edit
The coloured chip is ownership. Click it for every project; grey italic Unassigned means nothing claimed it yet—report totals ignore it. The row menu also offers Always file here…, billable toggles, delete, or clear back to no project.
3.3 Report: month-end export
Billable 38h 04m · Non-billable 3h 08m
Three periods, no free-range picker
Today / This week / This month cover most cases. For other ranges, export then filter.
One filter bar, four dimensions
Billable state, app, client & project, and keyword search all apply together to on-screen summary/detail and to exports—so the screen never disagrees with the PDF.
Summary and detail are the same data
Detail rows map 1:1 to timeline segments; summary adds them up, so the numbers always match.
Export has summary and detail
Timesheet PDF (summary by default), submenu Timesheet with detail, and Invoice PDF (client required; payee info in Settings). Both include billable time only.
Rounding only affects reports and exports
Settings can round each segment up to 1 / 6 / 15 / 30 minutes (off by default). It changes billing numbers only, never the recorded facts—so you can switch freely.
3.4 Settings: one window, five panes
What the five panes cover
Record—sampling, idle threshold, app scope, hidden titles, Accessibility, launch at login, auto-updates.
General—rounding, currency, default hourly rate, language.
Invoice—payee, terms, tax lines, invoice numbers.
Data—database location, delete all, privacy note.
Licence—trial status, email+serial, import .timesliplicense, buy, remove.
Only one window
Menu items “Settings…” and “Licence…” open the same window on different panes. ⌘, jumps straight to Settings. An orange banner on the timeline after trial expiry also lands here.
Click once; watch how it works
This is a live mock, not a screenshot. Play the day to see automatic recording; click any row to reassign it.
What the export looks like
Period: 2026-09-01 → 2026-09-30 · Currency: USD
| Project | Hours | Rate | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Acme website redesign | 23.08 | 85.00 | 1,961.80 |
| Northwind mobile | 18.12 | 95.00 | 1,721.40 |
| Total | 41.20 | 3,683.20 |
Common questions
Does it record what I type or which pages I visit?
No. It stores three things: time, the frontmost app, and that window’s title. No keystrokes, no screenshots, no page contents.
Window titles can include client names. Is that a leak?
Titles stay in the local database and are never uploaded. If you prefer not to keep them locally either, delete all records in Settings, or Pause recording from the menu bar.
I left the Mac off / travelled for a week. Will it invent hours?
No. If it did not run, there are no samples. Every minute on a timesheet comes from a real sample.
What if I change Macs?
A licence covers 1 Mac by default. Back up ~/Library/Application Support/Timeslip/timeslip.db to move history; reactivate with the same email on the new machine. Contact support if you need a seat move.
Does rounding overcharge clients?
Rounding is off by default. You must enable it in Settings, and it only changes report/export numbers—raw samples never change.
Is the invoice a tax invoice? Can it talk to tax authorities?
No, and it cannot. The invoice is a commercial PDF (letterhead, tax lines, payment notes). Official e-invoicing regimes are out of scope.
Why does the first launch ask for Accessibility?
Filing by project needs the window title; that is the only reliable path on macOS. If you refuse, Timeslip stops recording and shows a menu-bar cue instead of silently keeping incomplete data.
Why does the menu-bar icon sometimes show a badge?
The shell stays the same clock. A bang means trial expired, licence problem, seats full, upgrade needed, or missing Accessibility; an up arrow means network is still needed; a dimmed icon means you paused recording.
Can I hide sensitive window titles?
Yes. In Settings → Record → Hide window titles, add apps whose titles should not be stored (app and duration still are). Or limit recording to a whitelist of work apps.
Does it update automatically?
Yes. The menu has “Check for Updates…”, and Settings → Record can toggle automatic checks (Sparkle / appcast—one of the few networked actions, like activation).