Wakapi — Track your coding time and productivity stats privately, like a personal fitness tracker for your code.

Analyzed by Sai Pavan Gopularam · Developer Tools · Productivity · View on GitHub

Stars: 4436
Forks: 300
Commits last 30 days: 17
Health: Active (17 commits this month)
Language: Go
License: MIT

What It Is

Wakapi is an open-source, self-hosted alternative to WakaTime. Think of it as a personal fitness tracker for your code, but instead of tracking steps, it logs your time spent in different programming languages, editors, projects, and operating systems. You install it on your own server, giving you full control over your data.

This matters because many developers are uncomfortable sharing their coding activity with third-party services like WakaTime. Wakapi solves this by offering a privacy-preserving way to track productivity, providing detailed insights into how you spend your coding hours without relinquishing data ownership. It helps you understand your work patterns and identify areas for improvement.

Wakapi GitHub repository card

License Verdict

MIT License — Build and Sell Freely — Commercial Use Approved • No Copyleft Restrictions

The MIT License is highly permissive. You can use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the software. This means you can freely build commercial products and services on top of Wakapi without needing to open-source your own proprietary code.

How to Use It

To get Wakapi running, you'll first set up the Wakapi server using Docker. Then, you'll configure your existing WakaTime client in your IDE to send data to your self-hosted Wakapi instance instead of the public WakaTime service.

Prerequisites:

Docker
WakaTime client installed in IDE

Estimated setup time: 15 minutes.

docker volume create wakapi-data
SALT="$(cat /dev/urandom | LC_ALL=C tr -dc 'a-zA-Z0-9' | fold -w ${1:-32} | head -n 1)"
docker run -d \
  -p 3000:3000 \
  -e "WAKAPI_PASSWORD_SALT=$SALT" \
  -v wakapi-data:/data \
  --name wakapi \
  --restart unless-stopped \
  ghcr.io/muety/wakapi:latest

What I'd Build With This

Hosted Wakapi for Privacy-Conscious Developers (micro-saas)

Offer a managed, hosted Wakapi service for individual developers or small teams who want the benefits of coding statistics without the overhead of self-hosting, and with guaranteed data privacy. You'd handle updates, backups, and server maintenance. Market this to developers concerned about data ownership or those who find WakaTime's free tier too limited. Reach them through developer forums, Reddit communities, and tech blogs.

Effort: 3 Weeks Build Time · Target: Individual Developers, Small Dev Teams · Pricing: $9/month per user

Team Productivity Insights & Coaching Platform (saas)

Build a SaaS platform that integrates Wakapi's granular coding data with team-level analytics, goal setting, and personalized coaching prompts. Beyond just tracking, the platform would offer actionable insights for improving focus, identifying skill gaps, and balancing workload. Target engineering managers and team leads looking to boost collective productivity and well-being. Market through LinkedIn, developer conferences, and content marketing on team efficiency.

Effort: 3 Months Build Time · Target: Engineering Managers, Dev Team Leads · Pricing: $39/user/month

On-Premise Developer Activity Audit for Regulated Industries (enterprise)

Develop an enterprise-grade, on-premise deployment of Wakapi with enhanced security, compliance features, and integration with corporate identity management systems (e.g., LDAP/SSO). This would serve large organizations in highly regulated sectors (finance, defense, healthcare) that need to monitor developer activity for compliance, security audits, or internal process optimization, while keeping all data within their own network. Sell through direct sales to IT departments and compliance officers.

Effort: 6 Months Build Time · Target: Large Enterprises, Regulated Industries · Pricing: $10,000 - $50,000/year

Sai Pavan Gopularam's Take

Wakapi is a fantastic tool for developers who prioritize data privacy and control over their productivity metrics. The fact that it's WakaTime-compatible means there's a huge existing ecosystem of clients ready to plug into it. I'd lean into offering a hosted version for developers who want privacy but not the self-hosting hassle, easily making $5k/month with a few hundred users.

Watch Out For

No Pull Requests Accepted (Temporary): The maintainers have temporarily paused accepting pull requests due to limited time. This means new features or bug fixes you might want to contribute directly to the project won't be merged for now.
Requires WakaTime Client Setup: Wakapi is a backend; it doesn't collect data itself. You must install and configure the WakaTime client in your IDE/editor to send data to your Wakapi instance.
Self-Hosting Overhead: While Wakapi offers privacy benefits, self-hosting requires technical knowledge for setup, maintenance, updates, and ensuring data persistence and security. This isn't a 'set it and forget it' solution for non-technical users.

I break down trending repos like Wakapi every week — join the newsletter.

Browse all free repo breakdowns