Davinci Resolve Time Tracker

For DaVinci Resolve editors Know what every timeline actually cost you. Time tracking and billing built for DaVinci Resolve. It tracks each timeline on its own, starts and stops by itself, and turns your edit into an invoice-ready breakdown. No account, no cloud, no spreadsheets. Bill for the extras too — YouTube thumbnails, Insta360 reframing, uploading the finished video — logged right alongside your edit time on the same invoice. New in v1.1: quote clients from your real editing history, ask Claude about your time, invoices and quotes in plain English, use the tracker in English, Spanish, French, German or Portuguese, and track prepaid hours per client. Add to cart — $27.99 One-time purchase, no subscription · Mac & Windows · Works with DaVinci Resolve Studio and the free version Early release (v1.1.02). This is a young product, and the Quotes tab and Claude connection in particular are still in development, so you may run into the odd rough edge. Found a bug? Press Create support file in the tracker's Settings and email it to jon@davinciresolvetitles.com — feature ideas are welcome too. Example data shown. The problem You finish a job and try to remember how long it took. You guess and round it off. The two-round job that became six shows up nowhere on the invoice. Most time trackers only know which app you had open. This one knows which timeline you were cutting. How it works Press Start, then just edit. Knows your cut Every second it checks which project, timeline and page you're on in Resolve and logs the time to that timeline. Switch timelines and it switches with you. Won't pad your timesheet After 5 minutes with no keyboard or mouse it pauses itself and takes those 5 minutes back off. Watching your cut back still counts as work — a moving playhead keeps the timer running. Won't lose your time It saves every 10 seconds. If your machine crashes, the unsaved time comes back when you reopen it. Tracks each timeline Time is logged against Resolve's own timeline ID, so renaming a timeline doesn't split its history. Each timeline shows its format (long-form, vertical or square), time, rate and cost. Work outside Resolve counts too 360 reframing in Insta360, DJI or GoPro, thumbnails, descriptions, transcodes, AI-generated motion graphics. Log the time by hand or run a timer. It all goes on the same invoice. Hourly, flat fee or per item Charge £65/hr, £1,500 flat, or £15 per thumbnail — or mix them. On flat-fee jobs you see your live effective hourly rate, so you know the moment a fixed-price job starts losing you money. Proof when revisions pile up Tag each block as Original, Revision 1, 2, 3… and see exactly how much of the job was revisions. See where the time goes Every Resolve page — Edit, Cut, Colour, Fairlight — and every task outside Resolve, biggest first, plus long-form against vertical and square. It reads each timeline's runtime and tells you how many minutes of finished video you make per hour: the number you need to quote the next job. Budgets and clients Set budget hours per project and a bar at the top of the window shows how much is used while you work, with a warning when you get close or go over. Group projects by client for per-client totals, and give a client prepaid hours. Turn tracking off for personal projects. Export anything Every table exports to CSV or copies as a Markdown table. Round billing lines up to the nearest N minutes. New in v1.1 Quote the next job. Then ask Claude about it. Two additions that turn your tracked history into prices and answers. Quote from what your jobs really took The Quotes tab works out how long a finished minute of long-form, vertical or square video actually takes you, and how long tasks like thumbnails and uploads take per item. Add lines to a quote, set your rate, add a contingency percentage and expenses, and see the price. Turn on Profit, enter your own cost per hour and a target margin, and it shows your cost, profit and margin, or the minimum price that hits your target. Not enough history for a kind of job yet? Type your own time for that line. Example data shown. See if the job is running over the quote Save the quote and link it to a project. As you edit, the tracker shows the time and value tracked since the quote date against what you quoted, so you see a job heading over budget long before the invoice. Export to CSV, or use Copy for client to paste a clean price list into an email (prices only, no cost or profit figures). Example data shown. Ask Claude about your time Connect the tracker to Claude Desktop or Claude Code and ask in plain English: "How much haven't I invoiced yet?" or "What would three 8-minute videos cost?" You can also have Claude log time you forgot to track or save a quote for you. Setup is a few clicks in the Settings tab. What Claude can do Read your projects, time reports, sessions, unbilled time, invoices and quotes. Price a job with the same maths as the Quotes tab. Add time entries and save quotes. Start, pause and stop the timer. Safe by design Off until you switch it on. Claude can never edit or delete sessions, invoices, projects or settings. Anything it adds only works while the tracker window is open, is marked "via Claude" in Sessions, and is written to an activity log. Needs Claude Desktop or Claude Code from Anthropic. Windows support for the Claude connection is still being tested. New in v1.1.01 Your language. And help when you need it. Two additions that make the tracker easier to use and easier to support. Five languages Use the tracker in English, Spanish, French, German or Portuguese (Brazil). Pick your language in Settings and reopen the tracker: every tab, button, message, export and date switches over. Your projects, time and invoices are never changed — switch back at any time. English Español Français Deutsch Português (Brasil) Shown in German. Example data shown. One click to report a problem If something doesn't work as expected, press Create support file in Settings. The tracker saves one text file with its version, your settings, its recent activity and any errors, opens the folder and copies the support email address for you — attach it to an email and send. No project, timeline or client names are included. New in v1.1.02 Prepaid hours. And a second home for your backups. For clients on a retainer, and for peace of mind about your billing history. Prepaid hours per client Enter the hours a client has paid for, as a one-off block or every month. The Projects tab shows the hours left across all of that client's projects, the bar at the top of the window shows them while you work, and you get a warning when they're nearly used up and again when they run out. A second backup folder Choose a Dropbox, Google Drive or other synced folder in Settings and the tracker puts its daily backups there as well, so your time and invoices are safe even if your computer's drive fails. If the folder can't be reached, it tries again later. Also in v1.1.02: the budget bar now appears in the header as it should, and a few words that stayed in English in the other languages are now translated. Stays out of your way Mini mode is a small floating timer that sits over Resolve, even in full screen. Expand it when you want the full reports. Mini mode Invoices More under the hood Selects fold into the main timeline Spots timelines called Selects Moto Apex and matches them to Moto Apex, adding their hours to the main billing line without double-counting. Old rates stay put Each block of time keeps the rate you were charging when you worked it. Raise your rate today and last month's figures don't change. Render time kept apart Renders are detected and logged in their own bucket, or left out entirely. Your data stays yours All your data lives in one plain file on your own computer. No account, no cloud. Back up one file and you've backed up everything. The optional Claude connection is off by default, and when you use it, only what's needed to answer your question is sent to Claude. Studio or free Resolve DaVinci Resolve Studio Full tracking. Project, timeline, page, playhead and renders are all detected automatically. Free DaVinci Resolve Basic mode. Blackmagic removed scripting from the free version, so the tracker reads the project name from the window title and you pick the timeline yourself. Billing, reports and exports all work the same. FAQ Is this a subscription? No. It's a one-time purchase of $27.99 — no recurring fees, no account needed. Do I need DaVinci Resolve Studio? No. It works with both. Studio gets full automatic tracking — project, timeline, page and renders detected on their own. The free version needs you to pick the timeline yourself, but billing, reports and exports all work the same either way. Which languages does it come in? English, Spanish, French, German and Portuguese (Brazil). It starts in English; choose your language in the Settings tab and reopen the tracker. Your data isn't affected, and the illustrated User Guide is in English. Do I need to install Python or write any code? No. As of v1.0.06 the tracker is a single Lua file that runs through DaVinci Resolve's own built-in scripting engine — nothing extra to install, no Python, no code to touch. Drag one file into one folder and you're done. I'm on the old Python version — what do I do? Close the old tracker with Stop & bank, delete the old Time Tracker.py from your Scripts › Utility folder, then install the new .lua file the same way. All your tracked time carries straight over — see the "Coming from the old Python version" guide below. What happens if my computer crashes or sleeps mid-session? Time saves to disk every 10 seconds, so a crash costs you at most 10 seconds, not the session. It also pauses itself after 5 minutes of no keyboard or mouse activity, so idle time never gets billed by mistake. Does time spent outside Resolve count? Yes. Log it by hand or run a timer for 360 reframing, thumbnails, transcodes, descriptions or motion graphics done elsewhere, and it lands on the same invoice as your Resolve time. How does the Quotes tab work out a price? It adds up the hours you worked on each finished timeline and divides by its runtime, giving you your real time per finished minute for long-form, vertical and square video. Timelines you opened but barely edited are skipped, and revision rounds are already included. Tasks like thumbnails are averaged per item, or priced at a fixed amount per item if you set one. You can override the time for any line. Do I need Claude to use the Time Tracker? No. Everything, including Quotes, works on its own. The Claude connection is optional, off by default, and needs Claude Desktop or Claude Code from Anthropic. Can Claude change or delete my invoices or time? No. Claude can read your time, invoices and quotes, and add time entries and quotes or start, pause and stop the timer. It can never edit or delete sessions, invoices, projects or settings. Its additions only work while the tracker window is open, and each one is marked "via Claude" and logged so you can always see (and fix) what it did. What if something goes wrong? Press Create support file in the Settings tab and email the file to jon@davinciresolvetitles.com with a few words about what happened. It contains the tracker's recent activity and any errors, but no project, timeline or client names. Where does my data live? On your own computer, in one plain file. No account, no cloud — back up that one file and you've backed up everything. The only exception is the optional Claude connection (off by default): if you switch it on and ask Claude a question, the tracker sends Claude only what it needs to answer that question. Install As of v1.0.06 the tracker is a single Lua file that runs through Resolve's own built-in scripting engine. No Python, no installer, no settings to change — just drop one file into one folder. 1 Quit DaVinci Resolve. 2 Drag Time_Tracker.lua into Resolve's Scripts › Utility folder (paths below for Mac and Windows). 3 Start Resolve and open a project. 4 Choose Workspace › Scripts › Time_Tracker and press Start. That's it — no settings to change in Resolve. Full setup guide — Windows 1. Quit DaVinci Resolve. 2. Open Resolve's Scripts folder Open File Explorer, click the address bar, paste this and press Enter: %APPDATA%\Blackmagic Design\DaVinci Resolve\Support\Fusion\Scripts\Utility If it says the folder doesn't exist, go up to the "Scripts" folder and create a new folder inside it called Utility. 3. Drag Time_Tracker.lua into that Utility folder. 4. Start tracking Start Resolve, open a project, and choose Workspace › Scripts › Time_Tracker. Press Start. Full setup guide — Mac 1. Quit DaVinci Resolve. 2. Open Resolve's Scripts folder In Finder choose Go › Go to Folder… (Shift‑Command‑G), paste this and press Return: ~/Library/Application Support/Blackmagic Design/DaVinci Resolve/Fusion/Scripts/Utility If it says the folder doesn't exist, go up to the "Scripts" folder and create a new folder inside it called Utility. 3. Drag Time_Tracker.lua into that Utility folder. 4. Start tracking Start Resolve, open a project, and choose Workspace › Scripts › Time_Tracker. Press Start. Using it & your data The tracker counts while its window is open. Click "Mini" for a small chip that stays on top of Resolve. Closing the window banks your time. To change the language, open the Settings tab, choose it under Language, press Save settings and reopen the tracker. Your time is saved in: Mac: Documents/Resolve Time Tracker/data.json Windows: Documents\Resolve Time Tracker\data.json Back that file up with your projects — updates never touch it. Connecting Claude (optional) 1. In the tracker, open the Settings tab, tick Let Claude read your tracked time and add entries (MCP) and press Save settings. Nothing is shared until you do. 2. Claude Desktop: press Add to Claude Desktop, then quit Claude Desktop completely and reopen it. Your other Claude settings are kept, and the file is backed up first. 3. Claude Code: press Copy Claude Code command and paste it into a terminal once. Untick the box at any time to switch the connection off. Windows support for the Claude connection is still being tested. A full illustrated User Guide PDF comes with the download. Updating 1. Close the Time Tracker window — your time is saved when it closes. 2. Drag the new Time_Tracker.lua into the same Utility folder and choose Replace, then restart Resolve. The version number is in the tracker's window title. Coming from the old Python version (1.0.05 or earlier)? 1. Close the old tracker with Stop & bank. 2. In the same Utility folder, delete the old Time Tracker.py — otherwise the Scripts menu shows two Time Trackers. 3. Install the .lua version as above. All your tracked time carries straight over — the first run also keeps a backup copy of your old data as data.json.bak-before-lua. You can uninstall Python if nothing else on your machine needs it. Troubleshooting Time_Tracker isn't in the Scripts menu: make sure the file is directly inside the Utility folder, is named exactly "Time_Tracker.lua", and restart Resolve. Windows: the file is really "Time_Tracker.lua.txt": in File Explorer turn on View › Show › File name extensions and remove ".txt". Mac: can't see the Library folder: use Go › Go to Folder as above — Library is hidden, but that always works. The window disappeared behind Resolve: choose Workspace › Scripts › Time_Tracker again — it brings the open one forward. Something went wrong: open the Settings tab, press Create support file and email the file it makes to jon@davinciresolvetitles.com with a note of what you clicked. Stop guessing. Start billing what the edit really took. Add to cart — $27.99 Early release, built and supported by a solo dev — bug reports and feature requests welcome.