Chrono

Chrono is a self-hosted workspace for agencies and small teams that bill by the hour. Keep your clients, projects, and tasks in one place, track the time spent on them, and send clients a clear report when it's time to invoice.

It runs on your own server, so your data stays with you. It's free to host yourself.

What you can do with Chrono

• Organize work by client. Each client has projects, and each project has issues (tasks) with assignees, labels, comments, and file attachments.
• Track time. Start a timer on any issue or add time by hand, with billable and non-billable entries and your own time-entry types.
• Report and export. Filter by project, person, and entry type to see where the hours went, then export a PDF report for a client in English or Romanian.
• Work with your team and your clients. Invite teammates as owners, admins, or members, or give clients limited guest access to only what they should see.
• Stay in the loop. An inbox shows assignments, status changes, and comments addressed to you.
• Move fast. Chrono is built to be used from the keyboard, with a light and dark theme and a compact layout.

A quick look

Issues for a client, grouped by status	One issue, with its activity and a timer

The PDF report you can send to a client (shown here in Romanian):

Install

You need a computer or server that can run Docker (Docker Desktop works too). Nothing else needs to be installed.

1. Run the installer

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/bitwave-md/chrono/main/scripts/install.sh | sh

It sets everything up in a chrono folder in your home directory, generates the passwords it needs, and starts Chrono at http://localhost:3000.

2. Create your account

Open http://localhost:3000/auth/setup and enter the setup code the installer printed. (It's also saved in ~/chrono/.env if you need it again.) Choose the email and password you'll use to sign in. You become the first owner.

3. Invite your team

Add teammates from the workspace settings. Chrono doesn't send emails, so invitation links are copied and shared by you directly.

Put it on your own domain

To make Chrono available at an address like https://chrono.example.com, point that domain at your server and run the installer with your address. Chrono sets up and renews the HTTPS certificate automatically (ports 80 and 443 need to be open).

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/bitwave-md/chrono/main/scripts/install.sh |
  NEXTAUTH_URL=https://chrono.example.com sh

Already have a reverse proxy such as Nginx, Traefik, or Caddy? Skip the built-in HTTPS, set NEXTAUTH_URL to your address, and proxy to Chrono's local port.

Updates and backups

Updating. When a new version is available, Chrono tells whoever administers the installation. Open Settings → Updates and click one button: Chrono makes a backup, installs the new version, and checks that everything works. If something goes wrong, it rolls back to the version you had.

Backing up. Run this on your server whenever you like:

cd ~/chrono
./backup.sh

A backup includes your database and all uploaded files. Keep copies somewhere other than the server itself, and try a restore now and then so you know it works. Restoring is covered in the operations guide.

Good to know

• Chrono doesn't send email. Sign-in uses an email address and password, and invitation and password-reset links are copied by an admin.
• Your data lives in two places on your server: a PostgreSQL database and a private file store. Both stay on your machine.
• Settings → Storage and Updates (for the installation's administrator) show the health of your installation.

For advanced setups and developers

• Manual Docker Compose setup, external S3 storage, and recovery steps: docs/OPERATIONS.md

• Running Chrono from source for development:

  cp .env.example .env   # then replace the placeholder secrets
  npm run stack:up

  Chrono opens at http://localhost:3000. See docs/OPERATIONS.md for details.

More documentation:

• Architecture: how Chrono is put together
• Operations: installing, updating, backing up, and recovering
• Releases: how versions are published
• Security: authentication and deployment notes
• API: HTTP endpoints
• Performance: measured performance notes
• UX and UI standards: interface conventions
• Roadmap: what has been built so far

License

Chrono is made by Bitwave Software and is free to use, read, and modify for non-commercial purposes, as long as you credit Bitwave Software. Commercial use, redistribution, and selling it need written permission. See LICENSE for the full terms, or contact daniil@btw.md for commercial licensing.