Coding Stopwatch
Coding stopwatch times compile cycles, debug rabbit holes, and focus blocks beside your IDE. Lap per ticket with keyboard control and minimal visual noise.
How to Use
- Dock the stopwatch on a second monitor or transparent overlay corner.
- Start when you begin meaningful work on a ticket, not when you open Slack.
- Lap at branch open, tests green, and PR opened milestones.
- Stop when context-switching to another ticket or meeting.
- Save or note trails before sprint retro for estimation review.
Features
- Minimal footprint beside IDE workflows
- Keyboard start, stop, and lap without leaving editor focus
- Per-ticket lap trails for standup evidence
- Transparent overlay option for stream recordings
- Long-running session stability for deep debug days
- History compare for similar ticket types across sprints
Real-World Use Cases
- Solo dev timing ticket life from branch to merge
- Performance tuning laps around local benchmark runs
- Pair programming shared clock on a second screen
- Live coding streams with transparent elapsed overlay
- Interview take-home honesty about time spent per part
Practical Examples
Laps show four hours before reading the actual stack trace; retro adds read-first checklist.
History compares auth tickets averaging six hours versus two estimated; planning adjusts.
Benefits
- Standups cite lap trails instead of memory
- Estimates improve from ticket-type duration history
- Debug tangents visible before they eat the sprint
- Streams show honest elapsed without custom OBS widgets
Tips & Best Practices
- Lap at PR open, not when you think you are done - CI may disagree.
- Use ticket IDs in notes for history search.
- Stop the clock when you open Slack for a long thread.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Timing keyboard time including long meetings in the same ticket lap.
- Overlay on the same monitor you need for code readability.
- Sharing lap shaming without team agreement on why you time.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does it integrate with Jira?
No native sync; use ticket IDs in notes and manual compare.
Keyboard shortcuts while coding?
Space, L, and R on supported layouts without leaving the editor.
Transparent over VS Code?
Use transparent stopwatch with window capture in OBS or PiP.
Will it slow my machine?
No meaningful impact; the page is lightweight.
Can I time compile cycles?
Yes. Lap each build attempt in a debug session.
Is data private?
Local until you export; suitable for proprietary work contexts.
Does it run offline?
After load, yes for local dev without network.
Pair programming one clock?
Yes on a shared second monitor for mutual visibility.