A feature-rich browser extension that brings time tracking directly into GitHub. Track time on issues, pin repositories, visualize your work in a calendar, analyze stats per repo, and collaborate with your team — all without leaving GitHub.
Note
This project was forked and significantly expanded from lywebdev/github-timetracker-extension.
| Issues | Calendar | Stats |
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| Repo Details | Contributors | Settings |
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| Issues | Calendar | Stats |
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| Repo Details | Contributors | Settings |
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A Start / Stop Timer button is injected directly on every GitHub issue page. It displays a real-time elapsed counter combining accumulated and current session time.
Note
Starting a new timer automatically stops the previous one — preventing overlaps and ensuring accurate tracking. Timer state survives browser restarts and recovers gracefully from crashes.
Pin any GitHub repository for quick access from the extension popup. Browse, search, and filter issues by status (open, closed), assignee, or creator — and start or stop timers without leaving the popup.
Tip
Issue lists are cached with a 5-minute TTL to keep API usage minimal even when switching between repos frequently.
An interactive monthly calendar highlights every day with tracked time. Days are shaded with a 5-level heat map inspired by GitHub's contribution graph — the more time tracked on a given day, the more intense the colour — making it easy to spot busy and quiet periods at a glance. The week starts on Monday. Click any day to see a full breakdown of issues worked on (including issue number and repository) and total time spent. Entries are searchable and update live while a timer is running.
Summary cards display time tracked today, this week, this month, and all time. A per-repository breakdown shows horizontal bar charts with percentage distribution. Drilling into a repository reveals total time, number of sessions, average session length, and days worked per issue — sortable by any of those dimensions. A custom date range picker allows filtering to any period.
Tip
Forgot to stop a timer? Go to Stats → repository → expand an issue and click the session duration to manually correct it. Both local storage and the synced GitHub comment are updated instantly.
An Everyone mode automatically fetches all team members' tracker comments from issues when toggled — no manual sync required. Your own data always appears instantly from local storage, while others' data loads in the background. Drilling into a repository switches between an Issues tab and a Contributors tab, which shows a stacked time-distribution bar chart, per-contributor breakdowns with color-coded progress bars, and expandable per-issue detail for each user.
The extension posts time sessions as formatted Markdown tables to GitHub issue comments. These comments double as a backup: tracked times can be recovered from them after data loss or when setting up on a new device.
When a timer is started, the extension automatically backfills remote entries from the corresponding GitHub comment into local storage — ensuring your data stays in sync without manual intervention.
Important
Auto-sync triggers on popup open (optional toggle in Settings) and automatically when pinning a new repo. The merge logic only imports remote data when it exceeds local records — your local data is never silently overwritten.
| Feature | Details |
|---|---|
| Theme support | System (auto-detect), Light, and Dark modes — preference persists across sessions |
| Data export | Export as CSV or JSON — CSV includes formula injection protection |
| Settings | Masked token display, API rate limit indicator with reset countdown, token format validation |
| Offline-first | All data in Chrome storage.local — background worker refreshes every 15 min, ~33k entry capacity |
graph TD
subgraph ext [Browser Extension]
direction TB
CS[Content Script]
BG[Background Service Worker]
PO[Popup UI]
end
GH[GitHub Issue Page]
ST[(Chrome Storage)]
API[GitHub API]
CS -- injects timer --> GH
CS -- messages --> BG
BG -- alarms / cache --> ST
PO -- reads / writes --> ST
PO -- API calls --> API
BG -- periodic refresh --> API
The extension is composed of three independently built entry points:
- Content Script — monitors GitHub navigation and injects the timer button on issue pages. Communicates with the background worker to synchronize timer state across tabs.
- Background Service Worker — manages cache refresh alarms, timer persistence, and message forwarding between content scripts and the popup.
- Popup UI — the main interface with four tabs (Issues, Calendar, Stats, Settings). Built with Preact and Tailwind CSS.
| Layer | Technology |
|---|---|
| UI Framework | Preact |
| Styling | Tailwind CSS v4 |
| Build Tool | Vite (separate configs for popup, background, content) |
| Linting / Formatting | Biome |
| Type Checking | TypeScript via JSDoc annotations |
| Extension Manifest | Manifest V3 |
- Download the latest
github-time-tracker-vX.Y.Z.zipfrom the Releases page. - Extract the zip into a permanent folder (e.g.
~/extensions/github-timetracker). Remember this location — you'll need it for updates. - Open
chrome://extensions→ enable Developer mode (top-right toggle). - Click Load unpacked → select the extracted folder.
- Navigate to any GitHub issue — a Start Timer button appears automatically.
- Open the extension popup and add a GitHub Classic Personal Access Token in Settings to unlock syncing, issue browsing, and commenting.
Tip
To fix a missed stop after the fact, go to Stats → repository → expand an issue and click the session duration to correct it manually.
Note
Your data is safe regardless of how you update. All tracked time is synced to GitHub issue comments, so even if you load the extension fresh from a new folder, everything can be recovered in one click via Settings → Sync from GitHub.
Update steps:
- Download the new
github-time-tracker-vX.Y.Z.zipfrom Releases. - Extract the zip and overwrite the contents of your existing folder, or extract to a new folder entirely — your choice.
- Open
chrome://extensions, find GitHub Time Tracker, and click the reload icon (↺). If you used a new folder, click Load unpacked instead and select it. - If you loaded into a new folder, open Settings → Sync from GitHub to pull all your history back from the issue comments.
Tip
In-place reload (same folder) is the fastest path — no re-auth, no sync needed. A new folder requires re-entering your token and triggering a sync, but no data is lost.
All data stays in your browser. No analytics, no telemetry, no external servers. The only network requests go to the GitHub API, authorized by your token, for features you explicitly use.
See the full Privacy Policy.