Scheduling Daily Time Tracking Execution

Devlog — 2026-01-01

Overview

This update explores automating the time tracking application to run daily without manual user intervention. The goal was to ensure the application starts and stops on a predictable schedule and reliably produces daily tracking data.

The initial approach focused on managing runtime entirely within the Python application itself. Further evaluation revealed that while viable for testing, this approach was not ideal for real-world usage or long-term maintainability.

Initial Approach: In-App Timer Control

The original idea was to embed a timer directly into the Python application that would automatically terminate execution after a fixed duration.

• 86,280 seconds represents 23:59:00
• The application would run for one full day
• At midnight (12:00 AM), the application would exit
• The OS scheduler would then relaunch it

This approach relied on internal timers to “kill” the application once the time limit was reached.

Why This Was Abandoned

• Useful for testing runtime limits
• Fragile in real-world usage
• Harder to debug and recover from failures
• Application lifecycle should not be self-terminating
• OS-level scheduling is more reliable and predictable

Embedding shutdown logic inside the application blurred responsibility between the OS and the application itself.

Final Approach: OS-Level Scheduling

The design pivoted to using OS scheduling to control application execution:

• A scheduled task runs the application daily
• A .bat file acts as the execution entry point
• The OS handles start time, restarts, and failures
• The application focuses solely on tracking logic

This separation of concerns resulted in a cleaner and more robust solution.

Cleanup and Maintenance

As part of implementing scheduled execution:

• Obsolete CSV files were removed
• Daily runs now generate fresh output
• Reduced the need for manual file cleanup
• Improved consistency of daily tracking data

References

• https://docs.python.org/2/library/threading.html#timer-objects
• https://stackoverflow.com/questions/20887563/python-timer-module
• https://schedule.readthedocs.io/en/stable/
• https://www.reddit.com/r/learnpython/comments/q7ujwo/schedule_an_event_at_a_certain_time_within_a/

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