Rize
Track desktop activity categories and provide neutral focus and break reminders
The core loop is small enough for a capable coding agent to produce a useful local version in one sitting. For Rize, track desktop activity categories and provide neutral focus and break reminders. The hard boundary is cross-platform polish, automatic classification, coaching flow, and sync, plus ubiquitous capture, coaching, and team workflow.
Build verification: not recorded. How we judge buildability
What you give up
- cross-platform polish, automatic classification, coaching flow, and sync
- cross-device history
- team timesheets and payroll
- behavioral datasets
- blocking across every platform
Why people still pay
People still pay for Rize because the timer is simple, but people pay for frictionless capture and a history they trust enough to invoice or change habits from. The recurring cost buys idle detection, permissions, app metadata, privacy, notifications, sync, reports, integrations, and backups, not just the visible interface.
Your build guide
The stack, security requirements, and agent rules for a focused replacement.
Before you start
- Runtime and tools: Swift, SwiftUI/AppKit and SQLite on macOS, with secrets in Keychain where needed.
- Before starting: A Mac, the current Xcode toolchain and a documented permission checklist; distribution signing is a separate delivery task.
Use these project rules and optional skill references alongside the prompt. Review each skill before adding it to your agent; the AGENTS.md export includes the same guidance.
Project rule — domain: Store AppObservation, IdleInterval, CategoryRule and FocusSession; idle and lock time remain separate from active time and private app titles need not be collected.
Project rule — scope and recovery: Ask for needed permissions and offer a pause/private mode. App activity is not productivity or employee-performance proof; do not upload titles or infer personal traits.
Project rule — acceptance: Lock the screen during a session, change a category rule and cross midnight; totals exclude idle time and explain whether the new rule affects past observations.
Project rule — delivery: document real setup commands and permissions; do not claim a build, accuracy level, performance result or security certification that has not been demonstrated.
Recommended skill: swiftui-expert-skill — design native SwiftUI state, accessible controls and permission/error views for the proposed Apple-platform interface. Follow the maintainer's installation instructions and match its requirements to the chosen runtime.
Recommended skill: swift-concurrency — isolate capture, background work and UI updates, and make cancellation invalidate late callbacks. Follow the maintainer's installation instructions and match its requirements to the chosen runtime.
Implementation plan
Phase 1
Pin the working slice and create its example input: Track selected desktop-app categories locally, mark deliberate focus sessions and review daily activity totals with neutral break reminders. Confirm setup: A Mac, the current Xcode toolchain and a documented permission checklist; distribution signing is a separate delivery task.
Phase 2
Implement persistence and write-time invariants before decorating the UI: Store AppObservation, IdleInterval, CategoryRule and FocusSession; idle and lock time remain separate from active time and private app titles need not be collected.
Phase 3
Connect the working view to real saved state. Ask for each operating-system permission when its feature is used. Handle denial and revocation without a loop; show permission status and keep local history deletable.
Phase 4
Expose the app-specific limits and recovery path in context: Ask for needed permissions and offer a pause/private mode. App activity is not productivity or employee-performance proof; do not upload titles or infer personal traits.
Phase 5
Walk through this concrete acceptance case and preserve its exported evidence: Lock the screen during a session, change a category rule and cross midnight; totals exclude idle time and explain whether the new rule affects past observations. Finish the README and backup/restore instructions; report unfinished capabilities explicitly.
Build the following focused alternative to Rize. Implement the focused workflow below first; the verdict is not evidence of a completed or production-certified build. WORKING SLICE Track selected desktop-app categories locally, mark deliberate focus sessions and review daily activity totals with neutral break reminders. SETUP AND ARCHITECTURE Use Swift, SwiftUI/AppKit and SQLite on macOS, with secrets in Keychain where needed. Prerequisites: A Mac, the current Xcode toolchain and a documented permission checklist; distribution signing is a separate delivery task. Before integrating anything, record actual versions and permissions, plus model files or provider limits only where used, in the README; make unavailable dependencies visible rather than simulating success. DOMAIN MODEL AND INVARIANTS Store AppObservation, IdleInterval, CategoryRule and FocusSession; idle and lock time remain separate from active time and private app titles need not be collected. IMPLEMENTATION CONTRACT Ask for each operating-system permission when its feature is used. Handle denial and revocation without a loop; show permission status and keep local history deletable. Provide an input/setup view, the main work view, and a review/export view appropriate to this workflow. Preserve the last saved state if a job or save fails. Include empty, loading, permission-denied, partial and retryable-error states. Log identifiers and error categories without secret values or unnecessary private content. APP-SPECIFIC BOUNDARY AND RECOVERY Ask for needed permissions and offer a pause/private mode. App activity is not productivity or employee-performance proof; do not upload titles or infer personal traits. ACCEPTANCE SCENARIO Lock the screen during a session, change a category rule and cross midnight; totals exclude idle time and explain whether the new rule affects past observations. Also reopen the app after an interrupted operation, confirm the saved record/export remains inspectable, and document the recovery action. These are implementation acceptance requirements, not a claim that this guide has been tested. DELIVERY Deliver a runnable repository with migrations or project-format versioning, a non-sensitive example, environment/permission setup, the exact manual acceptance steps, and a backup/export-and-restore walkthrough. Implement the working slice before optional integrations; list any deferred paid-product capabilities honestly. Do not add capabilities outside the working slice just to resemble the original product. PROJECT RULES FOR AGENTS.md Keep the domain invariants above executable at the write boundary. Propose scope changes before adding providers or permissions. Never fabricate source evidence, publish results, identity matches or successful delivery. Preserve user originals and require an explicit confirmation for destructive changes or external publication.
$ open in your agent (prompt prefilled, you press enter), copy the prompt or copy or download AGENTS.md · generated from this app's build plan
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Rize pricing
| plan | monthly | annual (per mo) | what you get |
|---|---|---|---|
| basic | $12.99/user | $9.99/user | 500 AI credits/month; desktop activity tracking and focus insights. |
| pro | $28.99/user | $23.99/user | 1,000 AI credits/month; advanced analytics and coaching. |
| max | $49.99/user | $39.99/user | 3,000 AI credits/month; highest individual AI allowance. |
| team | $39.99/user | $29.99/user | Team reporting and administration; no public numeric seat minimum. |
| enterprise | — | — | Custom credits, security, and support.Custom quote. |
free tierno free tier
billingmonthly + annual; quarterly option also exists but its exact public rate was not verified; 7-day trial
hidden costsAI use is credit-capped and can force an upgrade; Enterprise is custom.
pricing sources checked 2026-08-14 · pricing source ↗
Questions about Rize
Can you build your own Rize with AI?
The verdict is yes for the scoped workflow. The core loop is small enough for a capable coding agent to produce a useful local version in one sitting. For Rize, track desktop activity categories and provide neutral focus and break reminders. The hard boundary is cross-platform polish, automatic classification, coaching flow, and sync, plus ubiquitous capture, coaching, and team workflow.
What does the Rize build prompt cover?
The prompt starts with this scope: Track selected desktop-app categories locally, mark deliberate focus sessions and review daily activity totals with neutral break reminders. Full-product capabilities excluded from the comparison include: cross-platform polish, automatic classification, coaching flow, and sync; cross-device history; team timesheets and payroll. Follow the implementation plan and its prerequisites before expanding the build.
How do I use the prompt, AGENTS.md and agent skills?
Start with the Rize prerequisites and stack, then copy the prompt into your coding agent. Save the project rules as AGENTS.md in the project root. Linked skills are optional packages or source instructions for specific tasks; review their current contents and install only those matching the chosen stack. A skill does not supply API credentials or verify the finished app.
How long will this Rize project take?
The catalogue estimate is one sitting for the limited scope. Setup, integration approvals, debugging, deployment and ongoing maintenance can add time. This is an estimate, not a delivery guarantee.
What would I give up by replacing Rize?
cross-platform polish, automatic classification, coaching flow, and sync; cross-device history; team timesheets and payroll; behavioral datasets; blocking across every platform. People still pay for Rize because the timer is simple, but people pay for frictionless capture and a history they trust enough to invoice or change habits from. The recurring cost buys idle detection, permissions, app metadata, privacy, notifications, sync, reports, integrations, and backups, not just the visible interface.
What price is this guide comparing against?
The recorded Basic plan is $12.99/mo per seat (monthly per user), checked 2026-08-14. Check the linked pricing source before buying. Building your own also has hosting, API and maintenance costs; the recorded amount is not a guaranteed saving.
What can I use instead of building Rize?
The prior-art section lists Kimai as starting points. Review their current scope, license and maintenance before adopting one.