RescueTime MCP Server

An MCP (Model Context Protocol) server that provides Claude Desktop with access to your RescueTime productivity data, including daily summaries, activity tracking, and productivity trends.

Features

• Daily Summary: Get your productivity pulse, time logged, and productive vs distracting breakdown
• Productivity Trends: Track your productivity score over the past week or more
• Activity Data: See which applications and websites you spent time on
• Category Breakdown: View time by category (Development, Communication, etc.)
• Hourly Analysis: Identify your peak productivity hours

Prerequisites

• Python 3.11+
• uv package manager
• A RescueTime account (free or premium)
• RescueTime API key

Setup

1. Clone and Install

git clone https://github.com/JasonBates/rescuetime-mcp.git
cd rescuetime-mcp
uv sync

2. Get Your API Key

1. Go to rescuetime.com/anapi/manage
2. Sign in with your RescueTime account
3. Create a new API key or copy an existing one

3. Configure Claude Desktop

Add the server to your Claude Desktop config at: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "rescuetime": {
      "command": "uv",
      "args": [
        "--directory",
        "/Users/YOUR_USERNAME/Projects/rescuetime-mcp",
        "run",
        "rescuetime-mcp"
      ],
      "env": {
        "RESCUETIME_API_KEY": "your_api_key_here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Replace YOUR_USERNAME with your actual username and add your API key.

4. Restart Claude Desktop

Quit and reopen Claude Desktop. You should see "rescuetime" in the MCP servers list.

Usage

Once configured, you can ask Claude things like:

• "How productive was I today?"
• "Show me my productivity trend for the past week"
• "What apps did I use most today?"
• "What categories did I spend time on yesterday?"
• "When was I most productive today?"

Available Tools

Tool	Description
get_today_summary	Today's productivity pulse, time logged, and breakdown
get_productivity_trend	Productivity score history (default 7 days)
get_activity_data	Top applications/websites by time spent
get_category_breakdown	Time spent by category
get_hourly_productivity	Productivity breakdown by hour

Tool Details

get_today_summary

Returns a complete daily overview including:

• Productivity pulse (0-100 score)
• Total time logged
• Productive vs distracting percentages
• Breakdown by productivity level (very productive → very distracting)

get_productivity_trend

Shows daily productivity pulse with visual bars over multiple days. Useful for identifying patterns and weekly trends.

get_activity_data

Lists specific applications and websites ranked by time spent. Each activity shows:

• Productivity classification ([++] to [--])
• Duration
• Category

get_category_breakdown

Groups time by high-level categories like Software Development, Communication, Reference & Learning, Social Networking, etc.

get_hourly_productivity

Reveals when during the day you were most/least productive. Helps identify peak hours for scheduling deep work.

Troubleshooting

"Authentication error"

Make sure your API key is correctly set in the Claude Desktop config's env section.

No data showing

RescueTime needs to be running and logging data on your devices. Check that the RescueTime app is active.

Rate limiting

The RescueTime API has rate limits. If you encounter errors, wait a few minutes before retrying.

Development

# Install dev dependencies
uv sync --dev

# Run tests
uv run pytest

# Test with MCP Inspector
npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector uv run rescuetime-mcp

License

MIT