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» Forums » Freelancers » Re: Tracking APP Automation
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Mirko's avatar
Mirko G Community Member

Tracking APP Automation

Hello, do you have an API or CLI interface for the Upwork tracking app so I can start/stop tracking using it?

I'm using Linux and have multiple virtual workspaces and would want to automate that depending on which workspace I'm in the correct client would be tracked.

This would solve the problem of accidentally tracking in the wrong contract as I always use the correct workspace.
Can I put in a feature request for that if it's currently not possible?

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Preston's avatar
Preston H Community Member

Mirko, I appreciate that you are thinking outside the box.

To help you with your plans, I can answer your question:

 

Upwork currently has no API or CLI interface for the desktop time-tracker app.

 

Upwork will not be creating such.

 

It is not Upwork's intention that the operation of this tool be something that can be automated or hacked into programmatically.

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7 REPLIES 7
Goran's avatar
Goran V Retired Team Member

Hi Mirko,

 

I would like to confirm that you can track your time only at one contract at a time. You won't be able to track your time on multiple contracts.
If I misread something or confused any of the details, please share more information with me. Thank you.

~ Goran
Upwork
Mirko's avatar
Mirko G Community Member

Thanks but you have misunderstood my question.

I would not track on 2 accounts at the same neither do I have 2 accounts (misswrote it there), I have meant contracts and I only track on 1 contract at a time of course.

The problem is me sometimes tracking to the wrong contract so I would like to fix that by creating a script or simple app that would set the correct contract and "Working on" depending on the virtual workspace I'm in.

 

As you can see from the image on the right side I have 8 different workspaces, first one is dedicated to one client and the third one is dedicated to another client, I usually have 2 workspaces per client.

 

If I'm on the first workspace I would just like to click one start button and set the "Working on" text and the app would choose the correct client contract that is associated to that first workspace

 

It would be nice if this could be implemented in the Upwork app but if not it would be great to have an API or CLI interface to the Upwork app controls so I can create my own app that controls the Upwork app, this app that I would would in turn have this functionality.

 

Hopefully it's more clear this time.

Preston's avatar
Preston H Community Member

Mirko, I appreciate that you are thinking outside the box.

To help you with your plans, I can answer your question:

 

Upwork currently has no API or CLI interface for the desktop time-tracker app.

 

Upwork will not be creating such.

 

It is not Upwork's intention that the operation of this tool be something that can be automated or hacked into programmatically.

Goran's avatar
Goran V Retired Team Member

Thank you for your clarification, Mirko,

I would like to confirm that Preston is correct. At the moment we don't have this option available. But, I will share your feedback with our team. 

~ Goran
Upwork
Varun's avatar
Varun G Community Member

Switching contracts in the time tracker is a two-click process. It's not very different from a keyboard shortcut unless you're jumping between contracts on regular intervals, like every 10-20 minutes or so.

Also worth mentioning — adding custom backend functionality would allow tech-inclined freelancers to game the time tracker very easily. For example, someone may run the time tracker in a separate VPS/RDP/workspace instance while doing other stuff on the same computer, and when the screenshot is taken, it'll only take a screenshot of the running workspace despite the fact that the freelancer is not doing work-related stuff. It's just more fair the way it currently is.

Mirko's avatar
Mirko G Community Member

True, switching contracts is a 2 click job but sometimes I do forget (last time was 6+ months ago) and I don't want one day to spend a few hours changing all passwords if they get leaked to another client, that is what I would like to avoid.

 

Preventing people gaming the tracking app sounds very reasonable as there would most likely be people doing that.

 

Thank you all for your answers, it's very much appreciated.

Mirko's avatar
Mirko G Community Member

Hello again, I have found an API for getting the work diary but it looks like it's just for companies and teams. My thoughts are that I could at least make it alert me when I'm logging into the wrong contract.

 

https://developers.upwork.com/?lang=python#companies-and-teams_get-work-diary

 

Am I correct that there is no API I can use to get latest tracked time?

I'm not in a team or company.

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