Foreground is an activity tracking program for Windows computers. It tracks time spent in applications and websites, focusing on privacy by storing data locally without sharing it. Features include scores and categories for productivity, daily and long-term reports, browser add-ons, and Exist integration. It uses minimal system resources and allows users to manage their own data.
Features
Scores and categories
Rank apps and sites from most productive to most distracting, and categorize the type of activity.
Daily and long-term reports
View today's time grouped by productivity rating for each hour, and get insights with tables and graphs over longer periods.
Comprehensive browser add-ons
Track your active tab in browsers like Firefox, Chrome, Edge, Brave, and others.
Exist integration
Send total productive time, distracting time, neutral time, and time spent gaming to Exist.
Modern design, low overhead
Foreground uses around 1-2% CPU and 40MB RAM while running, offering efficiency with a modern interface.
Local data storage
Data is stored locally in a SQLite database, and not sent or shared with others.
Productivity ratings
Rank productive apps and sites as 'core productivity' or 'related productivity', use 'neutral' for things like utilities, and put distracting apps and sites into 'distracting' or 'focused entertainment'.
App and site categories
Assign every app or site to a category. Foreground comes with a list of categories, but these can be edited, removed, and added as per your preference. Subdomains can be automatically categorized based on the parent domain.
Daily and long-term reports
View time by productivity rating for each hour of today. The Reports tabs display a graph of your time each day over the last 7–60 days.
Daily Insights
Provides insights on more complex measures like the 'focus score' and 'activity spread', indicating concentration levels.
Full activity history
See total time for any date in your Logs tab, drill down into any app or site in your logs, and browse over past months and years with a calendar interface.
Dark theme
Foreground offers both light and darker color themes, automatically following the system setting or a user-chosen theme.
Modern design, low overhead
Uses Tauri, which leads to much smaller CPU and memory overhead. Foreground operates with about 1-2% CPU and 40MB RAM while in the background.
It's your data
Data is stored in a local SQLite database file. It can be backed up, copied, or accessed with database tools and is never synced or transmitted elsewhere, except with the Exist integration.
Configurable
Allows setting Foreground to start automatically on boot, adjusting time-out features, and managing the user's set of categories and default scores.
Comprehensive browser add-ons
Tracks active tabs in browsers like Firefox, Chrome, Edge, Brave, and others.
Exist integration
Sends daily total productive time, distracting time, neutral time, and time spent gaming to Exist.
Buy once, own forever
Foreground is a non-subscription service; once purchased, it can be run on your computer indefinitely without any future charges.
Building in public
Engages users in the development process via a public roadmap, allowing feedback and suggestions for new features.
Browser Extensions
Foreground provides browser extensions for Firefox, Chrome (and other Chromium-based browsers), and Edge. These extensions enhance compatibility and functionality with browser workflows.
Public Roadmap
Foreground includes a public roadmap that shows every task from suggestion through to completion. This allows users to suggest and vote for new features.