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https://github.com/maximizegpt/archtrack

Open source employee desktop tracker for small business owners
https://github.com/maximizegpt/archtrack

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Open source employee desktop tracker for small business owners

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README 

          
# ArchTrack — Employee Time Tracking for Small Businesses



**Live demo: [archtrack.live](https://archtrack.live)**



**Know where your team's time goes. Without the enterprise price tag.**



ArchTrack is an open-source employee tracking SaaS. See who's working, what they're working on, and where time gets wasted — all in real-time from any device.



---



## What You Get



- **Real-time dashboard** — see who's online, what app they're using, productivity scores

- **AI assistant** — ask "Who was most productive today?" in plain English

- **Automatic tracking** — silent desktop app, no timesheets, no manual entry

- **Smart role detection** — auto-detects if someone is a developer, designer, manager, etc. and adjusts scoring (admins can override)

- **Business hours** — set per-employee working hours; activity outside hours is shown separately, not counted against productivity

- **Multi-currency** — pick from 15+ currencies for each employee's hourly rate (USD, EUR, GBP, INR, AED, and more)

- **Company branding** — upload your own logo to replace the ArchTrack wordmark in the sidebar

- **Multi-tenant** — multiple businesses on one server, completely isolated data

- **Mobile friendly** — check your dashboard from your phone



---



## Getting Started (2 minutes)



### 1. Sign Up



Go to **[archtrack.live/signup](https://archtrack.live/signup)**. Enter your company name, your name, email, and a password. You're in.



### 2. Add Employees



Go to **Employees** > **+ Add Employee**. Add each team member with their name, email, and department.



### 3. Install the Desktop Tracker



For each employee, click the **Setup Token** button next to their name. This generates a one-time setup code.



#### Option A: Download the pre-built app (recommended for employees)



Download the latest DMG (Mac) or EXE installer (Windows) from [GitHub Releases](https://github.com/maximizeGPT/Archtrack/releases).



**macOS:**

1. Open the `.dmg`, drag **ArchTrack** to Applications

2. Right-click → **Open** → **Open Anyway** (required once for unsigned apps)

3. macOS will prompt for **Screen Recording** and **Accessibility** — grant both

4. ArchTrack runs silently in the background (no Dock icon, no menu bar)



**Windows:**

1. Run the `.exe` installer, follow the wizard

2. ArchTrack starts automatically — no permission prompts needed

3. SmartScreen may show "Windows protected your PC" on first run — click **More info → Run anyway**



Enroll the tracker with the setup token from the dashboard:

```bash

# Get the device token (replace SETUP_TOKEN with the code from the dashboard)

curl -X POST https://archtrack.live/api/auth/enroll \

  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \

  -d '{"setupToken":"PASTE_SETUP_TOKEN_HERE"}'

```



Save the returned `accessToken` to the config file:

```bash

# macOS

mkdir -p ~/Library/Application\ Support/@archtrack/desktop

echo '{"deviceToken":"PASTE_ACCESS_TOKEN_HERE","serverUrl":"https://archtrack.live"}' > ~/Library/Application\ Support/@archtrack/desktop/config.json

```



ArchTrack auto-starts on login. To verify it's running, check the dashboard — you should see the employee appear within 60 seconds.



> See **[Desktop Tracker Permissions](#desktop-tracker-permissions)** below for details on what each OS needs.



#### Option B: Build from source (for developers)



If you want to build the tracker yourself or make changes:



```bash

git clone https://github.com/maximizeGPT/Archtrack.git

cd Archtrack/desktop

npm install

```



**Run in dev mode:**

```bash

npx electron .

```



**Build a distributable app:**

```bash

npm run dist:mac    # builds DMG + ZIP for macOS (arm64 + x64)

npm run dist:win    # builds Windows installer (x64)

npm run dist:all    # both platforms

```



Build output goes to `desktop/release/`.



> **Note for monorepo builds:** the repo uses npm workspaces which can

> conflict with electron-builder's production install step. If the build

> fails, copy the `desktop/` folder to a standalone directory, run

> `npm install` there, then `npm run dist:mac`.



After building, re-sign the macOS app so Accessibility/Screen Recording permissions persist across restarts:

```bash

# Sign all nested frameworks, then the main app

find release/mac-arm64/ArchTrack.app/Contents/Frameworks -name "*.framework" -exec codesign --force --sign - {} \;

find release/mac-arm64/ArchTrack.app/Contents/Frameworks -name "*.app" -exec codesign --force --sign - {} \;

codesign --force --sign - --identifier live.archtrack.tracker release/mac-arm64/ArchTrack.app

```



#### Auto-start on login



**macOS:** ArchTrack.app registers as a Login Item automatically. You can also add it manually: System Settings → General → Login Items → add ArchTrack.



**Windows:** The NSIS installer creates a Start Menu shortcut. To add auto-start, the installer places a Scheduled Task or you can add ArchTrack to Startup:

```powershell

cd Archtrack\desktop

powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File install-autostart-windows.ps1

```



Symptoms that you're running an old tracker build: missing screenshots

(the screenshot capture loop was added in the 2026-04-06 batch), no

stealth mode, or browser tabs misclassified as social media.



### 4. Watch It Work



Go back to your dashboard at [archtrack.live](https://archtrack.live). Within a minute, you'll see employee activity — what apps they're using, productivity scores, time breakdowns. Check it from your phone too.



---



## Self-Hosting (Optional)



Want to run your own instance instead of using archtrack.live? Deploy to any Ubuntu server:



```bash

curl -sSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/maximizeGPT/Archtrack/main/deploy.sh | bash

```



Works on DigitalOcean ($6/month droplet), AWS, or any VPS. Add a custom domain + HTTPS with:

```bash

certbot --nginx -d yourdomain.com

```



---



## Desktop Tracker Permissions



The tracker reads the active window's title and owning process. Different

operating systems gate this differently, so on the very first run each

employee will need to grant a small set of permissions.



### macOS (10.15 Catalina and newer)



macOS requires two permissions on first launch, both granted from

**System Settings → Privacy & Security**:



1. **Screen & System Audio Recording** — lets the tracker capture periodic

   screenshots. On first launch, macOS prompts automatically. Click

   **Open System Settings** and toggle on **ArchTrack**.

   - Settings path: **Privacy & Security → Screen & System Audio Recording

     → toggle on ArchTrack**.

2. **Accessibility** — lets the tracker read the active window title via

   the `active-win` library. Without this, activity shows as "Unknown".

   - Settings path: **Privacy & Security → Accessibility → toggle on

     ArchTrack**.



Both prompts appear once on first launch. The packaged app is signed with

a stable bundle ID (`live.archtrack.tracker`), so permissions survive

restarts and app updates.



> ⚠️ **If you build from source**, re-sign the app after building (see

> "Build from source" above). Without re-signing, macOS may re-prompt for

> permissions on every restart because the code signature identifier

> defaults to "Electron".



### Windows (10 and newer)



Windows does not require an explicit permission for reading window titles —

the tracker uses standard user-level APIs (`GetForegroundWindow`). However,

you may see friction on first run:



1. **SmartScreen warning** — because the tracker binary isn't signed yet, the

   first launch may show "Windows protected your PC". Click **More info →

   Run anyway**. This only happens once per machine.

2. **Microsoft Defender / corporate AV** — some EDR products (CrowdStrike,

   SentinelOne, etc.) quarantine unsigned Electron apps by default. If the

   tracker exits immediately, add an exclusion for the ArchTrack folder or

   work with IT to whitelist the binary.

3. **Group Policy** — in locked-down enterprise environments, policy may

   block side-loaded Electron apps. You may need IT to push the tracker as

   an approved MSI.



No Accessibility or Screen Recording toggles are needed on Windows.



### Linux



The desktop tracker is **not officially supported on Linux yet**. Support

for Wayland/X11 window-title reading is tracked in `DEFERRED.md`. For now,

we recommend running the tracker on a Mac or Windows box that mirrors the

Linux user's activity (e.g. developer workstations).



---



## Features



### Dashboard

- Team productivity score (0-100%)

- Focus time vs idle/wasted time

- Per-employee activity breakdown

- Suspicious activity alerts (YouTube while Slack shows "active", etc.)

- Time breakdown by category (Core Work, Communication, Research, etc.)



### AI Assistant (Genesis)

Ask questions in plain English:

- "Who was most productive today?"

- "How much time did Ahmed spend on emails?"

- "Who's at risk of burnout?"

- "Show me non-work activity this week"



### Smart Role Detection

The system watches what apps an employee uses and auto-detects their job type:

- **Developer** — VSCode, Terminal, Claude get scored as "Core Work"

- **Designer** — Figma, Photoshop, Sketch

- **Architect** — AutoCAD, Revit, SketchUp

- **Manager** — Jira, Zoom, Slack

- **Sales** — Salesforce, LinkedIn, CRM tools

- **Data Analyst** — Jupyter, Tableau, Excel



Admins can override it from **Employees → Edit Employee → Job Type**.



### Business Hours (per employee)

Each employee can have configured working hours (e.g. "Mon–Fri 09:00–17:30,

Asia/Kolkata"). Activity captured outside those hours is still stored — so

admins can audit it — but it is **not** counted in the employee's Total,

Productive, or Productivity Score. Instead it appears in a separate

"Outside Business Hours" card on the Report. Leave it unset (the default)

to track 24/7 — great for solopreneurs.



### Company Branding

Click the ArchTrack logo in the sidebar to open **Organization Settings**:

- Upload a custom company logo (PNG, JPEG, WebP, SVG, max 1 MB). It replaces

  the ArchTrack wordmark in the sidebar for everyone in the org. Leave it

  empty for the clean default.

- Set the organization's timezone (used for the "today" boundary on the

  Dashboard and as the default for new employees).

- Pick the default currency for new employees.



### Multi-Currency Hourly Rates

When adding or editing an employee, pick a currency from the dropdown next

to their hourly rate. Supported: USD, EUR, GBP, INR, CAD, AUD, JPY, AED,

SAR, SGD, BRL, MXN, ZAR, CHF, CNY. Reports and the Employees list format the

rate with the appropriate symbol.



### Daily Email Summary

Toggle on **Daily Email Summary** in Organization Settings, set a recipient

and an hour, and ArchTrack will email a per-employee productivity summary

once a day. The email contains:

- Team productivity score, total tracked time, productive time

- Per-employee score, total / productive / idle, top 5 apps with category

- Suspicious activity badges, "outside business hours" callouts when set



The summary is also viewable in the **Daily Summary** page in the dashboard

(useful for previewing what will go out, or sending a test on demand).



To wire SMTP, set these env vars on the server (PM2 / `pm2 ecosystem.config.cjs`

or your preferred process manager):



```bash

SMTP_HOST=smtp.your-provider.com

SMTP_PORT=587

SMTP_USER=your-smtp-user

SMTP_PASS=your-smtp-pass

SMTP_FROM="ArchTrack "

```



If SMTP isn't configured, the cron still runs, the summary is still generated,

and the in-app preview still works. Only the actual mail send is gated.



### Periodic Screenshots

Toggle on **Periodic Screenshots** in Organization Settings, pick a capture

interval (1–60 min) and a retention window (1–365 days), and the desktop

tracker will quietly capture the primary display, JPEG-compress it, and

upload it to your dashboard. Browse them per-employee, per-day in the

**Screenshots** page (grid view + click for full-size lightbox + per-shot

delete). Old screenshots are auto-removed after the retention window.



Screenshots are off by default. Storage path on the server:

`admin/data/uploads/screenshots////.jpg`.



### Stealth Mode (Desktop Tracker)

The tracker can run completely invisibly: no menu-bar / tray icon, no dock

icon on macOS, silent boot. Enable by launching with the `ARCHTRACK_STEALTH=1`

env var:



```bash

ARCHTRACK_STEALTH=1 npx electron .

```



Combined with a launch agent (macOS `launchd` plist) or a Windows scheduled

task, the tracker becomes invisible to the employee while still uploading

activity + screenshots to the admin dashboard. Performance overhead is

negligible — the tracker checks the active window every 10 seconds and

syncs every 60 seconds.



### Multi-Tenant

- Each business is completely isolated

- One server handles unlimited companies

- JWT auth for dashboard and desktop tracker

- Setup tokens for easy employee onboarding



---



## Architecture



```

[Employee Mac/PC]          [Your Server]              [Your Phone/Laptop]

  Desktop Tracker  --->  Node.js + SQLite  <---   Dashboard (any browser)

  (Electron app)         (port 3001)               (React SPA)

                         nginx (port 80)

```



- **Admin dashboard:** React SPA served by Express

- **API:** Express + SQLite (upgradeable to Postgres)

- **Desktop tracker:** Electron app — samples the active window every **10

  seconds**, batches them, and syncs to the server every **60 seconds**.

- **Productivity math:** Dashboard and Reports share one formula —

  `score = productive ÷ (productive + unproductive) × 100`. "Other" /

  neutral and idle/break time are tracked separately and never dilute the

  score. The math always reconciles: every shown bucket sums to the total.

- **Timezones:** the dashboard's "today" window is computed in the admin's

  local timezone (sent with each request). Each organization also stores a

  default timezone, and each employee can override theirs.

- **Auth:** JWT tokens (24h dashboard, 90d device)

- **Process manager:** PM2 (auto-restart on crash)

- **Reverse proxy:** nginx (port 80 -> 3001, WebSocket support)



---



## Updating



SSH into your server (or use DigitalOcean Console) and run:



```bash

cd /opt/archtrack && git pull && cd admin && npm install --no-package-lock && npx tsc -p tsconfig.server.json && npx vite build && pm2 restart archtrack

```



---



## API Reference



All endpoints require `Authorization: Bearer ` header (except auth endpoints).



### Auth

| Endpoint | Method | Auth | Description |

|----------|--------|------|-------------|

| `/api/auth/signup` | POST | Public | Create account + org |

| `/api/auth/login` | POST | Public | Login, get JWT |

| `/api/auth/forgot-password` | POST | Public | Generate reset link |

| `/api/auth/reset-password` | POST | Public | Reset password with token |

| `/api/auth/setup-token` | POST | Dashboard | Generate employee setup token |

| `/api/auth/enroll` | POST | Public | Redeem setup token for device JWT |

| `/api/auth/me` | GET | Any | Get current user info |



### Employees & Activities

| Endpoint | Method | Description |

|----------|--------|-------------|

| `/api/employees` | GET/POST | List or create employees (supports `currency`, `timezone`, `businessHoursStart`, `businessHoursEnd`, `businessHoursDays`) |

| `/api/employees/:id` | PUT/DELETE | Update or deactivate an employee |

| `/api/activities` | GET | Get tracked activities |

| `/api/activity` | POST | Desktop tracker syncs here |

| `/api/dashboard/stats?tz=` | GET | Dashboard overview data for the admin's local day |

| `/api/reports/productivity?employeeId=&startDate=&endDate=&tz=` | GET | Productivity report (same tz-aware bounds + business-hours filter) |

| `/api/roles/:id` | GET/PUT | Smart role detection status / override (`roleType`: developer, designer, architect, manager, sales, data_analyst, writer, auto) |



### Organization settings (new)

| Endpoint | Method | Description |

|----------|--------|-------------|

| `/api/organization` | GET | Returns name, slug, timezone, logoUrl, defaultCurrency |

| `/api/organization` | PUT | Update name / timezone / defaultCurrency |

| `/api/organization/logo` | POST | Upload logo. Body: `{ mimeType, dataBase64 }`. Max 1 MB. PNG/JPEG/WebP/SVG. |

| `/api/organization/logo` | DELETE | Remove the current logo |



---



## System Requirements



**Server:** Ubuntu 20.04+, 1GB RAM, 1 CPU ($6/month on DigitalOcean)



**Desktop tracker:** Node.js 18+ on Mac or Windows. See

[Desktop Tracker Permissions](#desktop-tracker-permissions) for the

per-OS first-run setup. Linux is not yet supported.



**Dashboard:** Any modern browser (phone or computer)



---



## License



MIT License — free to use, modify, and sell.



Built for small business owners who deserve big tools.