# Phase 030: Time Tracking
**Status**: Completed
**Start Date**: 2026-02-18
**Completion Date**: 2026-02-18
**Owner**: Adam
## Objectives
- Enable AI-assisted time tracking within the Memory Palace, replacing manual tools like ClickUp
- Allow users to instruct their AI to log hours against projects, clients, meetings, and work items
- Provide time aggregation and summary capabilities for billing, reporting, and invoicing
- Store time data as structured notes within the vault for full transparency and portability
## Research Summary
Industry research (Toggl, Harvest, Clockify, ClickUp, Tempo, RFC 5545) informed these decisions:
- **`duration_minutes` as integer** -- Harvest stores decimal hours, Toggl stores seconds. Integer minutes is the pragmatic middle: DQL-summable, human-readable, no ISO 8601 parser needed.
- **Separate `date` field** -- Harvest pattern. Calendar date is first-class, not derived from timestamp. Enables backdating ("forgot to log Wednesday").
- **`source` field** -- `session` (from palace_session_end), `manual` (user-entered), `estimate`. Tracks provenance.
- **10 category values** -- Based on Toggl/agency research: development, research, meetings, review, documentation, design, admin, business_dev, professional_dev, other.
- **Binary `billable` + category** -- Simpler than Tempo's 4-way model, sufficient for consultants.
- **Session-scoped tracking** is the natural AI pattern -- calculate duration from session start/end, confirm at session close.
- **Excluded**: billable_rate, cost_rate, approval_status, rounded_hours (billing tool concerns, out of scope).
## Implementation
### New Files
- `src/services/time/storage.ts` -- Time entry creation, duration parsing/formatting
- `src/services/time/aggregator.ts` -- Time aggregation with filtering and grouping
- `src/services/time/index.ts` -- Service re-exports
- `src/tools/time-log.ts` -- `palace_time_log` tool
- `src/tools/time-summary.ts` -- `palace_time_summary` tool
- `tests/unit/services/time.test.ts` -- 26 tests for time service
### Modified Files
- `src/types/note-types.ts` -- Added `time_entry` to valid types, `time`/`timeentry` aliases
- `src/types/index.ts` -- Added `time` to VaultStructure
- `src/services/vault/resolver.ts` -- Added `time` default path to structure resolver
- `src/tools/session.ts` -- Added `palace_session_end` tool
- `src/tools/index.ts` -- Registered 3 new tools
- `tests/unit/types/note-types.test.ts` -- Added time_entry type tests
- `tests/unit/tools/session.test.ts` -- Added session_end tests
- `CLAUDE.md` -- Updated directory structure, tool table, tool schemas, valid types
### Tools Added
| Tool | Purpose |
|------|---------|
| `palace_session_end` | Close active session, calculate duration, optionally create time entry |
| `palace_time_log` | Create a time entry with project, duration, description |
| `palace_time_summary` | Aggregate and report time by project/client/date/category |
### Time Entry Note Format
```yaml
---
type: time_entry
created: 2026-02-18T09:00:00Z
modified: 2026-02-18T09:00:00Z
project: Palace MCP
client: Acme Corp
category: development
duration_minutes: 120
date: "2026-02-18"
billable: true
source: manual
tags: [time-tracking, palace-mcp]
---
# Time Entry
**Project**: Palace MCP
**Client**: Acme Corp
**Duration**: 2h
**Category**: development
**Date**: 2026-02-18
## Description
Implemented time tracking feature.
## Work Items
- [[Palace MCP]]
```
### Storage Structure
```
time/
├── 2026/
│ ├── 02/
│ │ ├── 2026-02-18 - Palace MCP - development.md
│ │ ├── 2026-02-18 - Acme Corp - meetings.md
│ │ └── ...
```
## Acceptance Criteria
- [x] Research completed and documented
- [x] `palace_session_end` closes sessions and records duration
- [x] `palace_time_log` creates structured time entries linked to projects/clients
- [x] `palace_time_summary` aggregates time by project, client, date, and category
- [x] Time entries are searchable and queryable (indexed in SQLite)
- [x] Flexible duration input (minutes, hours, hours+minutes)
- [x] Backdating support via separate `date` field
- [x] All tests passing (729 tests)
- [x] Documentation updated
## Verification
```bash
npm run typecheck # Pass
npm run lint # No new errors
npx vitest run tests/unit/services/time.test.ts # 26 tests pass
npx vitest run tests/unit/types/note-types.test.ts # 26 tests pass
npx vitest run tests/unit/tools/session.test.ts # 16 tests pass
npm run test:fast # 729 tests pass
```
