Dev Ditches WakaTime's Snooping Fees for Self-Hosted TakaTime in Go: 'Zero Latency, MongoDB Free Tier, and My Keystrokes Stay Mine'

A developer has created a free, privacy-first alternative to WakaTime, called TakaTime, using Go and MongoDB, for VS Code and Neovim with zero latency. The developer, motivated by concerns over privacy and cost, spent three weeks building the open-source extension, which tracks coding activity and syncs it to a personal MongoDB. The architecture features a hybrid design, with a lightweight editor plugin and a background Go binary process handling database connections and caching. The system uses a debounced heartbeat approach, reducing database writes by 99%. The developer chose MongoDB Atlas for its free tier, ease of access, and flexible schema. The plugin is available for VS Code and Neovim, with a simple two-minute setup process. A CLI tool generates markdown reports, which can be used to update GitHub profiles. The project is open-source, and the developer plans to build a web dashboard and add support for more editors, such as IntelliJ/JetBrains.