timekpra

CLI and GUI administration client for Timekpr-nExT screen-time limits

TLDR

List users known to Timekpr-nExT

$ timekpra --getuserlist

Show stored limits and time for a user

$ timekpra --getuserinfo [username]

Show the same info as human-readable times (hours and minutes)

$ timekpra --getuserinfo [username] -h

Show live time remaining for a logged-in user

$ timekpra --getuserinfort [username]

Allow Monday to Friday only

$ timekpra --setalloweddays [username] '1;2;3;4;5'

Set daily limits for those allowed days

$ timekpra --settimelimits [username] '2h;2h;2h;2h;3h'

Add 30 minutes to today's remaining time

$ timekpra --settimeleft [username] + 30m

Set the lockout action when time runs out

$ timekpra --setlockouttype [username] terminate

timekpratimekpra --helptimekpra --getuserlisttimekpra {--getuserinfo|--getuserinfort} user [-h]timekpra --setalloweddays user 'days'timekpra --setallowedhours user {day|ALL} 'hours'timekpra --settimelimits user 'limits'timekpra --settimelimitweek user limittimekpra --settimelimitmonth user limittimekpra --settimeleft user {+|-|=} amounttimekpra --setlockouttype user typetimekpra --settrackinactive user {true|false}timekpra --sethidetrayicon user {true|false}timekpra --setplaytimeenabled user {true|false}timekpra --setplaytimeleft user {+|-|=} amount

DESCRIPTION

timekpra is the administration client for Timekpr-nExT, a Linux screen-time manager. A background daemon (timekprd) tracks logind sessions and enforces daily, weekly, and monthly allowances, allowed hours, and optional PlayTime process limits. timekpra talks to that daemon over D-Bus and applies changes immediately.Run it as root (or with sudo), or as a member of the timekpr group. Group membership is needed for password-less GUI access; some advanced daemon options stay superuser-only. Adding a user to timekpr requires a new login before it takes effect.Time values in CLI mode are seconds, or (since 0.5.9) compact time strings (30m, 2h, 13h53m20s, 2d7h33m20s). Weekdays follow ISO 8601. The effective remaining time is the smallest of daily, weekly, monthly, and hour-interval rules.With no CLI flags and DISPLAY, WAYLAND_DISPLAY, or MIR_SOCKET set, the GTK Control Panel starts instead of the CLI.

PARAMETERS

With no arguments and a graphical display, timekpra opens the Timekpr-nExT Control Panel. Without a display it prints a warning and falls through to CLI help.--getuserlist, --userlist

Print usernames Timekpr-nExT has configuration for.

--getuserinfo, --userinfo user [-h]

Print stored configuration and time counters. -h prints durations as time strings instead of seconds.

--getuserinfort, --userinfort user [-h]

Same layout as --getuserinfo, using live values from a logged-in session when available.

--setalloweddays user 'd1;d2;...'

ISO 8601 weekdays the user may use the computer. Monday is 1, Sunday is 7. Example: '1;2;3;4;5'.

--setallowedhours user {day|ALL} 'hours'

Hours (0-23) the user may be logged in on that day, or ALL days. Semicolon-separated. 7[00-30] limits hour 7 to minutes 0-30. Prefix ! for an unaccounted ("free") hour.

--settimelimits user 'l1;l2;...'

Daily allowances for each allowed weekday, in order. Count must not exceed the allowed-day list. Values are seconds or time strings such as 2h.

--settimelimitweek user limit

Weekly allowance (seconds or a time string such as 13h53m20s).

--settimelimitmonth user limit

Monthly allowance (seconds or a time string such as 2d7h33m20s).

--settimeleft user {+|-|=} amount

Add, subtract, or set remaining time for today. Does not bypass allowed hours or the daily/weekly/monthly caps.

--setlockouttype user type

Action when time runs out: lock, suspend, suspendwake, terminate, kill, shutdown. For suspendwake, pass suspendwake;_from_;_to_ (wakeup hour range, default 0-23).

--settrackinactive user {true|false}

Count time while the session is locked or another user is active.

--sethidetrayicon user {true|false}

Hide the client tray icon and most notifications.

--setplaytimeenabled user {true|false}

Enable PlayTime (per-process limits) for this user. A separate master switch in the daemon config must also be on.

--setplaytimelimitoverride user {true|false}

Override mode: count computer time only while PlayTime activities are running.

--setplaytimeunaccountedintervalsflag user {true|false}

Whether PlayTime activities may run during unaccounted ("∞") hour intervals.

--setplaytimealloweddays user 'days'

Weekdays PlayTime activities are allowed.

--setplaytimelimits user 'limits'

Daily PlayTime allowances for those days.

--setplaytimeactivities user 'mask[desc];...'

Process masks to track (executable name or regexp). Optional [description] is shown to the user.

--setplaytimeleft user {+|-|=} amount

Add, subtract, or set remaining PlayTime for today.

--help

Print CLI usage. Also printed when the command line is invalid.

CONFIGURATION

/etc/timekpr/timekpr.conf

Daemon settings (poll interval, termination delay, PlayTime master switch).

**/var/lib/timekpr/config/timekpr.*.conf**

Per-user limits. Prefer timekpra over editing these files.

**/var/lib/timekpr/work/timekpr.*.conf**

Per-user runtime counters.

$HOME/.config/timekpr/timekpr.conf

Client (end-user) preferences.

INSTALL

sudo apt install timekpr-next

yay -S timekpr-next

sudo zypper install timekpr-next

CAVEATS

CLI configuration is user-level only; daemon-wide options are not exposed as flags. --settimeleft still respects allowed hours and period caps. PlayTime needs both the per-user flag and the daemon master switch. Session accounting depends on systemd-logind and desktop screensaver interfaces; some environments under-count idle or locked time. shutdown and suspendwake affect the whole machine.

HISTORY

Timekpr-nExT is Eduards Bezverhijs's rewrite of the older timekpr / timekpr-revived parental-control tools, with D-Bus integration and a first-class CLI. Version 0.5.10 is current in the Launchpad tree.

RESOURCES

Source code · Homepage