Running on GNOME

As an alternative for users of GNOME 3 and other desktop environments that don’t support app trays, or simply to avoid depending on Qt, you can place two simple workaround scripts in your ActivityWatch install folder:

start.sh:

#!/bin/bash

cd ~/.local/opt/activitywatch         # Put your ActivityWatch install folder here

./aw-server/aw-server &
./aw-watcher-afk/aw-watcher-afk &
./aw-watcher-window/aw-watcher-window &                 # you can add --exclude-title here to exclude window title tracking for this session only

notify-send "ActivityWatch started"   # Optional, sends a notification when ActivityWatch is started

kill.sh:

#!/bin/bash
pkill aw-
notify-send "ActivityWatch killed"    # Optional, sends a notification when ActivityWatch is killed

Don’t forget to chmod +x start.sh and chmod +x kill.sh.

Then you can create two desktop files for these scripts to show up among your apps:

~/.local/share/applications/aw-start.desktop:

[Desktop Entry]
Name=Start ActivityWatch
Comment=Start AW
Exec=~/.local/opt/activitywatch/start.sh
Hidden=false
Terminal=false
Type=Application
Version=1.0
Icon=activitywatch
Categories=Utility;

~/.local/share/applications/aw-kill.desktop:

[Desktop Entry]
Name=Kill ActivityWatch
Comment=Kill AW
Exec=~/.local/opt/activitywatch/kill.sh
Hidden=false
Terminal=false
Type=Application
Version=1.0
Icon=activitywatch
Categories=Utility;