DocsGetting started
Getting started with Spindle
Create an account, install the apps, add your projects and start the first timer. Then invite your team.
On this page
Getting started takes a few minutes: create an account on Spindle Cloud, add the projects you work on, and start a timer from the web, your computer or your phone. Inviting your team and bringing over your old time can come after.
Create an account
Click Start tracking for free on spindletrack.com, enter your name, email and a password, and click Create account. Spindle sends an email to confirm your address.
Your account comes with its own workspace, and you are its admin. Everything you track, your projects and your team live in that workspace.
Install the apps
Spindle has apps for Mac and Windows, for iPhone and Android, and it works in any browser. Get them from the downloads and sign in with the same account. Each app keeps the same timer, so you can start it on one and stop it on another.
The desktop app is where suggestions from Claude Code and Codex come from, so install it on the computer you work on.
Add your projects
Open Projects and click New project. Give it a name and a colour, pick its client or type a new one, and choose whether its time is billable by default. Click Create project.
A project can also have tasks, an estimate and a rate. You can add those later.
Track your time
With the timer
On the web, open Timer, type what you’re working on in Add description, pick the project, and start the timer. Stop it when you’re done.
On your computer, the timer is in the menu bar on a Mac and in the notification area on Windows: start, stop and switch from there without opening the app. On a Mac, these shortcuts work from any app:
| Shortcut | What it does |
|---|---|
| ⌃⌥⌘K | Quick entry: type what you work on, in one line |
| ⌃⌥⌘S | Start or stop the timer |
| ⌃⌥⌘N | A new entry in the Spindle window |
You can change them in the app’s settings.
After the fact
Forgot the timer? Switch the timer to Manual mode and enter a start and an end, such as 9:00 and 10:30. In Calendar, gaps in the week are easy to spot, and you can fill them from there.
If you work with Claude Code or Codex, the desktop app also notices agent work with no timer running. Just after you start a timer, it asks ✦ Start at 9:12? when agents were already at work, and the calendar shows past agent work nobody tracked as outlined blocks to add with a click. See Time nobody tracked.
In one line
Press ⌘K on the web, or use quick entry on the Mac, and write the entry the way you’d say it:
| You type | What happens |
|---|---|
Pricing page review @Acme Web |
Starts a timer on Acme Web |
Rate limiter fix @Acme API since 9:40 |
Starts a timer that began at 9:40 |
Standup @Internal 25m ago |
Starts a timer that began 25 minutes ago |
Pricing page review @Acme Web for 1h30 |
Adds a finished entry of 1:30 that ends now |
Client call @Northwind yesterday 14:00-15:00 |
Adds an entry on another day |
@ picks a project or a client from a list, # picks a tag, and $ on its own makes the entry billable. A time is read only at the end of the line, so a description with numbers in it stays as you typed it.
Split an entry across projects
When one stretch of time went to several projects, open the entry, choose Split in the project picker, and divide it between two to six projects. Every report counts each part on its own project.
If you work with Claude Code or Codex, Spindle can suggest the split for you, and collects the suggestions in the day’s review. See How suggestions are made.
Invite your team
Open Team and click Invite people. Enter their email and their role, and they get an email with a link to join, valid for 14 days. If the email can’t be sent, Spindle gives you the link to share yourself.
Members see only their own time and no money. Admins see everyone’s time, rates and reports.
Bring your old time
Coming from Toggl Track, Clockify or Harvest? Export a detailed report as CSV and import it, for the whole team at once. See Importing from Toggl Track, Clockify or Harvest.