Home · Setup · Cline

MCP Time Tracker in Cline

Track billable time without leaving the chat. It keeps a running timer, takes time you forgot to log, applies an hourly rate per project, and turns the log into a report, a CSV or invoice lines. Plain JSON on disk.

Confirming every tool call is noisy for a stopwatch. Put timer_start, timer_stop and timer_status in that server's autoApprove array and leave export_csv, which writes a file, out of it.

What you get in Cline

You say	Tool
Start a timer for the Acme website project.	`timer_start`
Log 2.5 hours yesterday for Acme, design review, at 90 euros an hour.	`entry_add`
How many hours did I bill this month, grouped by project?	`report`

In the audit run each of those sentences took one tool call, at 7.7 s and 14.6 s including a turn that also logged an expense.

Install it in Cline

The file is mcp.json, and the key inside it is mcpServers.

Scope	Path
Cline CLI	`~/.cline/mcp.json`
The editor extension	`opened from the Cline panel, not by path; the documentation deliberately calls it the MCP settings JSON used by the extension`

If you also run Claude Desktop, the shortest path there is one click: time-tracker.mcpb from the bundle catalog opens as an extension, with no JSON and no terminal. Cline reads its own config, so here it is:

The config block:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "time-tracker": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/absolute/path/to/mcp-servers/servers/time-tracker/dist/index.js"],
      "disabled": false,
      "autoApprove": []
    }
  }
}

The node command above wants a built file. From a clone, once:

git clone https://github.com/theluckystrike/mcp-servers.git
cd mcp-servers && npm install
npm run build -w packages/mcp-license -w servers/time-tracker

That writes servers/time-tracker/dist/index.js, and its absolute path is the one argument the config needs.

The npm packages are not published yet, so the form below returns a 404 today. It is here because it is what the entry becomes the day the publish lands, with nothing else changed:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "time-tracker": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@theluckystrike/mcp-time-tracker"]
    }
  }
}

No full-app restart. The MCP settings actions include restarting an unresponsive server if its tools do not appear.

Nothing is published to npm yet, so the working install paths are the ones above: the .mcpb bundle from the bundle catalog, a clone and build, or the hosted URL.

No install: the hosted endpoint

The same server runs at https://mcp.zovo.one/mcp/time-tracker over MCP streamable HTTP, no install. Mint a free token with curl https://mcp.zovo.one/mcp/token, or use a Pro key. It has no filesystem, so a file comes back as a one-hour download link.

Write the transport in. Omitting type falls back to the legacy sse transport, which will not talk to this endpoint:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "time-tracker": {
      "type": "streamableHttp",
      "url": "https://mcp.zovo.one/mcp/time-tracker",
      "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer <token>" }
    }
  }
}

Cline notes worth knowing first

Cline is the one client here with an unsafe transport default. `type` selects it, and omitting `type` falls back to the legacy sse transport, so a streamable HTTP endpoint needs it written in or you will debug a server that is fine. Local entries carry "disabled" and an "autoApprove" array.

Free: unlimited timers and entries, 7 days of reports, 2 rated projects. Pro is $19 once, verified offline.

Questions

Where does the config live?

The CLI reads ~/.cline/mcp.json. For the extension, do not hunt for a path: MCP Servers icon, Configure tab, Configure MCP Servers. cline mcp opens a wizard, and cline config mcp --json is the non-interactive form.

The hosted endpoint will not connect.

Set the transport explicitly. Omitting type falls back to the legacy sse transport, so streamable HTTP needs "type": "streamableHttp" written in.

Should I auto-approve MCP Time Tracker's tools?

Approve the read-only ones and leave the writing ones behind a click: each entry carries an autoApprove array and a disabled flag.

MCP Time Tracker in detail · The same server in Windsurf and Claude.ai and Claude Desktop connectors · Every server in Cline · Guides · Cline docs · Buy Pro

Related guides & tools

How to track billable hours inside Claude Code and Cursor · Freelancer invoicing from chat: billable hours to invoice lines to PDF without a SaaS subscription · Run a kanban board in Claude, with time tracking on the same task · Is this project making money? Hours against costs, without a spreadsheet