This utility helps limit the amount of time devoted to work by keeping track of clearly defined work periods. It's like a timer which cannot be stopped but will kill the passed command forcing the user to finish the job.
This may sound counterintuitive, but a lot of studies show that limiting time for a task forces the person to use the time more effectively.
- CLI interface
- Three configurable effort levels:
- Minimal
- Work
- Overtime
- Keep track of user-provided command and kill it if it has been running too long (after overtime)
- Utilizes desktop notifications to inform users about the finished period
- Optionally can play a sound when minimal effort/work period is done
- Allow storing amount of work done as CSV file for further analysis
$ pip install [--user] killtimer
usage: killtimer [-h] [-m duration] [-w duration] [-o duration] [-l log_file] [-t title] [-s sound_file] [command [command ...]]
Close application when time runs out
positional arguments:
command Executable (with arguments) to run (default: None)
optional arguments:
-h, --help show this help message and exit
-m duration, --minimal-effort duration
Minimal work duration (default: 0:10:00)
-w duration, --work duration
Proper work duration (default: 1:00:00)
-o duration, --overtime duration
Overtime duration (default: 0:15:00)
-l log_file, --log log_file
Log file where to store amount of work done (default: None)
-t title, --title title
Title to display above progress bars and configuration (default: None)
-s sound_file, --sound sound_file
Sound file to play when minimal effort or work period is reached (default: None)
Usually you would want to create alias in your *rc file like:
alias blender-work="killtimer -m 10m -w 1h -o 10m -t 'Creative work' -l /path/to/worklog.csv blender"