Jira Time Tracking on the CLI

A simple Python script to quickly check how much time you’ve logged in Jira today, right from your terminal.

The Problem

Keeping track of time logged in Jira can be tedious. You have to open the web interface, navigate to your worklogs, and manually calculate how much time you’ve spent. I wanted a quick way to see this information directly from the command line.

The Solution

I built a Python script that queries the Jira API to fetch all worklogs logged today by the current user. It provides a clean breakdown showing:

• Total time logged today
• A detailed breakdown by issue
• Time spent per issue
• When each worklog was started and created

You can find the full script on GitHub Gist.

Features

• Flexible Configuration: Supports multiple configuration methods:
  • Environment variables (JIRA_API_USERNAME, JIRA_API_TOKEN, JIRA_API_BASE_URL)
  • .env file
  • YAML config file (compatible with jiratui config format)
• Smart Defaults: Automatically looks for config in common locations
• Clean Output: Formatted, readable output showing your time breakdown
• Today Only: Filters worklogs to show only today’s entries

Usage

The script can be run directly:

python3 get_time.py

Or with custom config paths:

python3 get_time.py --config ~/.config/jiratui/config.yaml
python3 get_time.py --env-file ~/.env

Recommended: Add an Alias

To make this even more convenient, I recommend adding an alias to your shell configuration (~/.zshrc or ~/.bashrc):

alias jt="python3 /path/to/get_time.py"

Then you can simply run:

jt

This makes checking your logged time as quick as typing two letters!

Example Output

Total Time Logged: 6h 30m

Breakdown by Issue:

1. PROJ-123 - "Implement user authentication"
 - Time: 2h 30m
 - Started: 09:00 AM
 - Logged at: 09:15 AM

2. PROJ-456 - "Fix bug in payment processing"
 - Time: 4h 00m
 - Started: 01:00 PM
 - Logged at: 01:05 PM

Technical Details

The script uses the Jira REST API v3 to:

1. Search for issues with worklogs logged today by the current user
2. Fetch detailed worklog information for each issue
3. Calculate and display the total time spent

It uses curl under the hood for API calls, making it lightweight and avoiding additional dependencies beyond Python’s standard library and a few common packages (pyyaml, python-dotenv).

Why This Matters

Small productivity tools like this can save significant time over the course of a day. Instead of context-switching to a web browser and navigating through Jira’s interface, you get instant feedback right where you’re already working—in your terminal.

Building this also reinforced the value of creating focused, single-purpose tools that solve specific problems well. Sometimes the best solution is a simple script that does one thing perfectly.