Prism

A modern desktop application for tracking application usage time, built with Electron and inspired by Steam's UI design.

Why "Prism"?

Just like a prism breaks white light into a beautiful spectrum of colors, Prism breaks down your raw application usage data into colorful, actionable insights. The name reflects the app's core purpose: transforming simple time tracking into detailed analytics, trends, and productivity metrics—making the invisible visible.

Features

📚 Library (Main Page)

• Automatic Time Tracking - Tracks all running applications automatically in the background
• Steam-Inspired UI - Clean, modern interface with familiar navigation patterns
• Collections/Categories - Organize apps into custom collections with colors and icons
• Favorites System - Quick access to your most-used applications
• Daily Statistics - View today's total usage time and app count at a glance
• Search & Filter - Find apps quickly with built-in search
• Context Menus - Right-click any app for quick actions (launch, favorite, hide, manage collections)
• Hidden Apps - Hide apps from your library while still tracking them
• Real-time Updates - Live updates as you use applications
• Multiple Views - Home, Collections, and Hidden apps views

📊 Analytics

• Daily Usage Charts - Visualize your app usage over time with interactive charts
• Top Applications - See your most-used apps ranked by time spent
• All Apps Overview - Complete list with usage time, sessions, and last used info
• Category Breakdown - Time distribution across different app categories
• AI-Powered Insights - Smart suggestions based on your usage patterns
• Hourly Activity Heatmap - Hour-by-hour breakdown of which apps you use when
• Custom Date Ranges - View data for today, week, month, year, or custom periods
• Export Functionality - Export analytics data to CSV, JSON or PDF

🎯 Productivity

• Productivity Score - Overall score (0-100) based on productive, neutral, and unproductive time
• Time Breakdown - Visual breakdown of productive vs neutral vs unproductive time
• Key Metrics Dashboard:
  • Focus Time tracking
  • Distraction Time monitoring
  • Context Switches counter
  • Deep Work Sessions (25+ min sessions)
  • Peak Productivity hours
  • Most Productive Day
• Productivity Trend Chart - Track your score over time
• Category Distribution - See how productive time is distributed across categories
• Top Apps Lists - Most productive and most distracting apps
• Session Analytics:
  • Session length distribution
  • App switching frequency
  • Productivity by time of day
• Productivity Heatmap - Hour-by-hour productivity breakdown
• Custom Productivity Levels - Mark apps as productive, neutral, or unproductive
• Export Functionality - Export productivity data to CSV, JSON or PDF

🎯 Goals

• 5 Goal Types:
  • Productivity Score - Target overall productivity score
  • Focus Time - Track productive/neutral/unproductive time
  • Work Sessions - Count deep work sessions (customizable duration)
  • App-Specific - Track time on specific applications
  • Category Goals - Track time spent on app categories
• Flexible Frequencies - Daily, weekly, or monthly goals
• Real-Time Progress - Live updates as you work towards goals
• Goal Status Tracking - Pending, in progress, achieved, or failed
• Streak System - Track consecutive days of goal achievement
• Success Rate Analytics - 7-day success rate chart and 30-day activity calendar
• Goal Templates - Pre-made templates for common productivity goals
• Historical Data - View goal progress for past dates
• Auto-Save & Backfill - Automatic progress tracking even when app was closed
• Export Functionality - Export goals data to CSV, JSON or PDF
• Quick Stats - Active goals, achieved today, current streak, and success rate

📱 App Details

• Comprehensive Statistics:
  • Total time spent
  • Session count
  • Average session length
  • Last used timestamp
  • First tracked date
• Usage Trends - Visual chart showing usage over time
• Calendar Heatmap - 30-day activity visualization
• Productivity Settings - Override productivity level per app
• Recent Sessions - Detailed list of recent usage sessions with duration
• Milestones - Celebrate usage achievements (10h, 50h, 100h, etc.)
• Insights & Recommendations - Smart analysis of your usage patterns
• Quick Actions - Launch app, manage favorites, change productivity level

Usage

• Keyboard Shortcuts – Press ? anytime in the app to view all available shortcuts

Images

• Home View:
  

- **Category Insights:**

- **Analytics Page:**

- **Productivity Page:**

- **Goals Page:**

Installation

Prerequisites

• Node.js 16 or higher
• npm or yarn

Setup

1. Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/severmanolescu/prism.git
cd prism

2. Install dependencies

npm install

3. Run the application

npm start

Build

To create a distributable package:

npm run build

Project Structure

prism/
├── scripts/                    # Useful scripts
├── src/
│   ├── main/                      # Main process (Electron/Node.js)
│   │   ├── ipc/                   # IPC handlers organized by domain
│   │   │   └── exporters/         # IPC handlers for exporting PDF files
│   │   ├── services/              # Business logic (tracking, database, storage)
│   │   │   └── data_access/       # Database access handlers
│   │   └── utils/                 # Helper functions
│   ├── preload/                   # Preload script for IPC bridge
│   └── renderer/                  # Renderer process (UI)
│       ├── styles/                # Modular CSS files
│       │   ├── analytics/         # Analytics page styles
│       │   ├── app-details/       # App details page styles
│       │   ├── category-insights/ # Category Insights page styles
│       │   ├── global/            # Global page styles
│       │   ├── goals/             # Goals page styles
│       │   ├── index-page/        # Main page styles
│       │   ├── productivity/      # Productivity page styles
│       │   └── shared/            # Shared page styles
│       └── js/                    # Frontend JavaScript modules
│           ├── analytics/         # Analytics page logic
│           ├── app-details/       # App details page logic
│           ├── category-insights/ # Category Insights page logic
│           ├── goals/             # Goals page logic
│           ├── index-page/        # Main page logic
│           ├── productivity/      # Productivity page Logic
│           └── shared/            # Shared src 
├── assets/                        # Images and icons
└── main.js                        # Main Electron entry point

Usage

Basic Operations

• Launch apps - Click any app card or right-click and select "Launch Application"
• View details - Click an app to see detailed usage statistics
• Organize apps - Create collections and drag apps into them
• Search - Use the search bar to filter applications
• Today's stats - View in the top-right corner of the window

Collections

1. Click the grid icon in the sidebar to view collections
2. Click "Create New Collection" to add a new category
3. Right-click any app and select "Add to" to move it to a collection

Hidden Apps

Apps can be hidden from the main view while still being tracked:

• Right-click an app → More → Hide from Library
• Access hidden apps via Library → Hidden in the top menu

Goals System

Set and track productivity goals with different frequencies (daily, weekly, monthly):

• 5 Goal Types: Productivity score, focus time, work sessions, app-specific, category goals
• Smart Tracking: Real-time progress for current periods, historical data for past periods
• Streak System: Track consecutive days of goal achievement
• Auto-Save: Automatic backfill for missed days when app was closed

📚 View Complete Goals System Documentation

Data Storage

The application uses SQLite database for efficient data management SQLite database provides better performance for queries and analytics while maintaining data integrity.

Development

Tech Stack

• Electron - Desktop app framework
• Node.js - Backend runtime
• Vanilla JavaScript - No framework dependencies
• CSS3 - Custom styling with modular architecture

Key Dependencies

• electron - Desktop application framework
• active-win - Get active window information (Windows/macOS/Linux)
• better-sqlite3 - Better SQLite database for data persistence
• auto-launch - Auto-start on system boot

Roadmap

• ✅ Weekly/Monthly statistics view - Implemented
• ✅ Export data to CSV/JSON - Implemented for Analytics, Productivity, and Goals
• ✅ Application goals and limits - Implemented with comprehensive Goals system
• ✅ Productivity insights and analytics - Implemented with dedicated Productivity page
• 🚧 Settings page - In progress
• 📋 Custom themes
• 📋 Notifications for goal achievements
• 📋 Desktop widgets for quick stats
• 📋 Multi-language support

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

1. Fork the repository
2. Create your feature branch (git checkout -b feature/TestBranch)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add some TestBranch')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/TestBranch)
5. Open a Pull Request

Acknowledgments

• UI design inspired by Steam's client interface
• Built with Electron for cross-platform compatibility

Support

If you encounter any issues or have questions, please open an issue on GitHub.