timeSlice Manual

About "Capture Now"

Triggering "Capture Now" opens a Spotlight-like comment input popup. Enter a comment and press Enter to immediately capture, perform text recognition, and save. The comment is optional.

Press ⌘ + Enter to skip saving and instead open the Capture Viewer with your input as a search query. Press Esc to cancel without saving.

The top of the popup shows the target app name and window title on two lines without labels (displays "(No Title)" if unavailable).

When the popup opens, any text currently selected in the frontmost app is automatically filled into the comment field (requires Accessibility permission).

Setting a global shortcut key allows you to trigger "Capture Now" from any app. See General Tab for shortcut configuration.

About "Capture Rectangle"

Triggering "Capture Rectangle" uses macOS's screencapture command to let you select any rectangular region on screen.

After selection, text recognition is performed on the captured image, and a comment input popup (same as "Capture Now") is displayed. Press Enter to save the record, or Esc to cancel — the capture itself is discarded and nothing is saved.

This feature works independently of periodic capture, so it can be used at any time regardless of whether recording is active. The captureTrigger in the saved data will be rectangleCapture.

Setting a global shortcut key allows you to trigger "Capture Rectangle" from any app. See General Tab for shortcut configuration.

Browser URL Capture

When the frontmost app is a supported browser, timeSlice automatically retrieves the active tab URL via AppleScript and includes it in the record. Supported browsers:

Browser	Support
Safari (including Technology Preview)	✅
Google Chrome (including Beta / Dev / Canary)	✅
Microsoft Edge (including Beta / Dev / Canary)	✅
Brave Browser (including Beta / Nightly)	✅
Arc	✅
Vivaldi	✅
Firefox	❌ (No AppleScript support)

On the first URL retrieval for each browser, macOS will show an Automation permission dialog. Click "OK" to allow. Permission must be granted separately for each browser. If denied, the URL will simply be null and capture continues normally.

Sample Output

The above is an example report generated with the following prompt. You can freely customize the prompt.

The following is work record data for {{DATE}} ({{TIME_RANGE}}).
The current working directory is `timeSlice/data`.
Please read the following files and create a daily report summarizing the content:
{{JSON_FILE_LIST}}

Approximate expected record count: {{RECORD_COUNT}}

JSON structure:
- `applicationName`: Frontmost app name
- `windowTitle`: Window title (may be null)
- `capturedAt`: ISO 8601 timestamp of the record
- `recognizedText`: Recognized text
- `hasImage`: Image save flag
- `captureTrigger`: Record trigger (`manual` = Capture Now, `scheduled` = periodic capture, `rectangleCapture` = region capture)
- `comments`: Manual record comment (may be empty string)
- `browserURL`: Active browser tab URL (may be null, browser apps only)
- `documentPath`: Document file path (may be null, supported apps only)
- `applicationBundlePath`: App bundle path (may be null, for icon resolution)

Important:
- The target time range is {{TIME_RANGE}}. Only include records where `capturedAt` falls within this range.
- Records with `captureTrigger` of `manual` or `rectangleCapture` are intentional logs by the user — treat them as high priority.
- Records with non-empty `comments` are intentional memos — give them the highest priority in the summary.
- The overview, work timeline, and deliverables/progress must include content based on `manual` / `rectangleCapture` records.

Write the report in Markdown with the following structure:
1. Overview (2–3 sentences)
2. Work Timeline (by time period)
3. Applications Used and Time Spent
4. Deliverables / Progress
5. Impressions (optional)

Generation Flow

When you trigger report generation, timeSlice expands the prompt template and launches the AI CLI with the data/ directory as the working directory. The AI CLI reads the JSON files directly from the paths in the prompt and outputs the report to stdout. timeSlice captures the output and saves it as a Markdown file.

Time Slots and Output File Names

If only one time slot is enabled, the report is saved as report.md. If multiple slots are enabled, each report includes the time in its filename (e.g., report-0800-1200.md).

If a report is regenerated on the same day, the existing file is backed up as report-YYYY-MM-DD-HHmmss.md before being overwritten.

Scheduled auto-generation runs once per time slot at the slot's end time. If multiple backup files like report-1800-2410-YYYY-MM-DD-HHmmss.md exist for the same slot, it means the output file was overwritten multiple times during that time period.

Cross-Midnight Slots

Slots with an end time past 24:00 (e.g., 18:00–25:00) execute in the early hours of the next day and generate a report for the previous day's records. For example, a slot ending at 25:00 (1:00 AM the next day) creates a report covering records from 18:00 onward of the previous day.

Notifications

A notification is sent to Notification Center when report generation succeeds. Clicking the notification opens the saved report file. If generation fails, a notification showing the error is also sent.

Clicking the completion notification for "Capture Now" or "Capture Rectangle" opens the Capture Viewer with the corresponding record selected.

The most recent execution details (command, prompt, output, success/failure, error message) are saved to logs/report-last-run.json for debugging.

General Tab

Permissions (Screen Recording / Accessibility / Automation)

The General tab shows the status of three permission types:

• Screen Recording (required for capture)
• Accessibility (required for auto-filling selected text into the "Capture Now" popup and for retrieving document paths)
• Automation (required for browser URL retrieval)

You can try requesting Screen Recording and Accessibility permissions using the "Request" button in each row. Click "Refresh Permission Status" to re-check the current state.

Automation permissions are managed per browser and cannot be checked in bulk. Use the "Open System Settings" button to go directly to the Automation screen in Privacy settings. macOS will automatically show a permission dialog on the first browser URL retrieval, so no pre-configuration is needed.

Keyboard Shortcuts

You can configure three global shortcuts: "Capture Now", "Capture Rectangle", and "Open Viewer". Click a shortcut field to enter input mode, then press a key combined with one of ⌘ / ⌥ / ⇧ / ⌃ to register it. Press Esc to cancel, or Delete to clear the shortcut.

Configured shortcuts are system-wide and work even when other apps are in focus. Pressing the "Capture Now" shortcut shows the comment input popup and auto-fills any text selected in the frontmost app (Accessibility permission required; a permission dialog will appear on first use if not yet granted).

Pressing the "Capture Rectangle" shortcut enters screen selection mode, and the comment popup appears after you make a selection. Pressing the same shortcut again while the popup is visible dismisses the popup and cancels the action.

Pressing the "Open Viewer" shortcut opens the Capture Viewer window.

Startup Settings

Enable "Start recording on app launch" to automatically begin recording when timeSlice starts. Enable "Launch at login" to have timeSlice start automatically when you log into macOS.

Capture Tab

Capture Interval

Use the slider to set the periodic capture interval (10–600 seconds, default: 60 seconds). Shorter intervals produce more detailed records but increase storage usage.

Minimum Text Length

For periodic captures, lines in the OCR result shorter than this character count are excluded (default: 10 characters). If no valid lines remain after filtering, the capture is skipped. This avoids recording blank screens or windows with very little content.

Excluded Apps / Excluded Keywords

Adding a keyword will skip text recognition when the frontmost app name or window title partially matches it. For periodic captures, text recognition results are also checked — if the recognized text partially matches a keyword, the capture is similarly skipped.

In either case, no text or image is saved — only metadata (app name, window title, etc.) is stored. Useful for password managers, personal messaging apps, or any app you don't want captured.

You can also use specific strings like apikey as keywords to exclude captures that may contain sensitive information such as API keys.

Save Images

When this toggle is enabled, captured images are saved in addition to recognized text. Image format can be set to PNG or JPG (default: PNG). Images are retained for 3 days.

CLI Tab

Configure the AI agent CLI used for report generation.

Saved Sets (Command + Arguments)

CLI configurations are saved as "sets". Select a set from the top dropdown, use + to add a new one, or - to delete the current one.

Each set includes:

• Set name
• CLI command name (e.g., codex, claude, gemini, opencode)
• Additional arguments

Specify -p or --prompt in the additional arguments. The prompt string is appended after the specified argument flag.

• Example 1: codex exec --skip-git-repo-check {{PROMPT}}
• Example 2: claude -p {{PROMPT}}
• Example 3: gemini -p {{PROMPT}}
• Example 4: opencode --prompt {{PROMPT}}

The currently selected set is used for both manual and scheduled generation.

Timeout

Set the CLI execution timeout (30–3600 seconds, default: 300 seconds). Increase this if AI processing takes a long time.

Report Tab

Scheduled Auto-Generation and Time Slots

Enabling "Scheduled Auto-Generation" causes reports to be automatically generated at the end time of each configured time slot.

Each time slot row lets you configure: start time, end time, enabled/disabled status, and the prompt template to use. Times increment/decrement in 10-minute steps; rolling past 50 minutes increments the hour, and rolling before 0 minutes decrements it.

The prompt dropdown in each row lets you assign a specific template to that slot's report generation (select "Default" to use the default template).

The following four slots are registered by default:

Slot	Status
08:00 – 25:00 (Full Day)	Enabled
08:00 – 12:00 (Morning)	Disabled
12:00 – 18:00 (Afternoon)	Disabled
18:00 – 25:00 (Evening)	Disabled

Enabling multiple slots generates separate reports per time period. If only one slot is enabled, the file is saved as report.md; if multiple are enabled, files are named with times (e.g., report-0800-1200.md).

The "Next" time shown is automatically calculated from enabled slots. If no slots are enabled, "No enabled slots" is displayed.

Report Output Directory

If you want to change the save location, specify a directory here. If not set, reports are saved to ~/Library/Application Support/timeSlice/reports/.

Manual Generation

Select a target date and click "Generate Report Now" to immediately generate a report for that date. You can also click the ▶ button on an individual time slot row to manually generate for that slot only.

The "Generate Report" menu item in the menu bar also reflects time slot settings. If one slot is enabled, it generates for that slot; if multiple, a submenu lets you choose. If no slots are enabled, it generates a full-day report.

Prompt Tab

Manage and edit the prompt templates passed to the AI CLI.

Managing Multiple Templates

Switch between templates using the dropdown menu. The "Default" template cannot be modified. Click "+" to add a new template, or "−" to delete the selected one. Template names can be edited directly in the name field.

Click "Reset to Default Content" to reset the currently selected template's content to the initial default.

Changes are auto-saved.

Placeholders

The following placeholders can be used in templates and are replaced with actual values at report generation time:

Placeholder	Content
{{DATE}}	Target date (e.g., 2026-02-16)
{{TIME_RANGE}}	Target time range (e.g., "08:00-12:00"; full day shows "Full Day")
{{JSON_GLOB_PATH}}	Glob paths for JSON files (space-separated)
{{JSON_FILE_LIST}}	Glob paths for JSON files (newline-separated)
{{RECORD_COUNT}}	Approximate number of target records

Update Tab

Manage automatic updates powered by Sparkle.

• Shows the current app version and the last update check date.
• "Check for Updates Now" starts a manual update check.
• "Check for updates automatically" controls Sparkle's startup and scheduled background checks.
• "View All Releases" opens the GitHub Releases page.

Screen Recording

Required for capture. A permission dialog is shown on first launch. If it was not shown or was accidentally denied, follow these steps to grant it manually:

1. Open "System Settings".
2. Go to "Privacy & Security" → "Screen Recording".
3. Find timeSlice in the list and enable it.

Accessibility (Selected Text / Document Path)

Used for auto-filling selected text into the "Capture Now" popup and for retrieving document paths from supported apps. Capture and saving continue to work without this permission, but selected text auto-fill and document path retrieval will be disabled.

If the permission dialog is not shown on first use or was accidentally denied, follow these steps:

1. Open "System Settings".
2. Go to "Privacy & Security" → "Accessibility".
3. Find timeSlice in the list and enable it.

Automation (Browser URL)

Required to retrieve the active browser tab URL via AppleScript. macOS automatically shows a permission dialog the first time a URL is retrieved from each browser.

If accidentally denied, follow these steps:

1. Open "System Settings".
2. Go to "Privacy & Security" → "Automation".
3. Under the timeSlice entry, enable the target browser.

You can also access the Automation settings directly via the "Open System Settings" button in the General tab of the settings window.