EARLY CSV Export Tool

A simple Ruby script to export time tracking data from the EARLY API (formerly Timeular) in CSV format.

Features

• Export time entries with Activity, Duration, and Note fields
• Simple date range specification using Beeminder-style syntax
• Minimal configuration via environment variables
• Clean CSV output suitable for further processing
• Progress tracking for monthly work hours vs. 40-hour work week
• Progress output showing percentage and hours over/under target
• Smart current month handling - only counts started workdays

Requirements

• Ruby (tested with standard library only)
• EARLY API credentials (API Key and Secret)

Setup

1. Create a .env.local file with your EARLY API credentials:

EARLY_API_KEY=your_api_key_here
EARLY_API_SECRET=your_api_secret_here

2. Make the script executable:

chmod +x export.rb

Usage

The script accepts date range parameters in a simplified Beeminder format:

• ^ - Current month (partial data if run mid-month)
• ^^ - Previous month
• YYYY M - Specific month (e.g., 2024 6 for June 2024)

Examples

# Export current month
./export.rb '^'

# Export last month
./export.rb '^^'

# Export June 2024
./export.rb '2024 6'

Using the provided scripts

# Run with default settings (last month)
make run

# Or directly
./hack/runme.sh

# Run now (this month's progress report)
make this

# Clean up after
make clean

Output

The script creates output.csv by default with three columns:

• Activity: The name of the tracked activity
• Duration: Time spent in HH:MM:SS format
• Note: Associated note text (empty if no note)

Example output:

Activity,Duration,Note
Email,08:00:00,Vacation - PTO
Flux / Community,00:32:41,Flux Dev Meeting
Recording,02:45:00,

The next run will overwrite the file. Historical records are meant to be kept as copies of the CSV output.csv, in history/YYYY_MM_history.csv as needed.

Configuration

Environment variables:

• EARLY_API_KEY - Your EARLY API key (required)
• EARLY_API_SECRET - Your EARLY API secret (required)
• OUTPUT_FILE - Custom output filename (default: output.csv)
• DEBUG - Enable debug output (optional)

Error Handling

The script will:

• Print success messages to stdout
• Print error messages to stderr
• Exit with status code 1 on failure
• Include HTTP status codes for API errors

License

MIT License

Version

• 0.2.0 - Track simple progress against 8d/40w on a monthly basis
• 0.1.0 - Basic CSV export functionality