I Built TabClock — A Simple Chrome Extension That Shows How Long You Spend on Each Website

#productivity #chromeextension #javascript #sideprojects

⭐ I Built TabClock — A Simple Chrome Extension That Shows How Long You Spend on Each Website

For the last few months, I kept catching myself thinking:

“I’ve only been on YouTube for a few minutes…”

…and then realizing it had been way longer.

So I built TabClock, a lightweight Chrome extension that helps you stay aware of your browsing habits by showing a live timer in the tab title for each website.
It also tracks how much time you spend on every domain per day.

No complexity, no dashboards, no accounts — just pure awareness.

🔗 Try it here:
👉 https://tabclock.site/

💡 Why I built it

I wanted something extremely simple:

When I open a tab, I want to see exactly how long I’ve been on it

If I switch tabs, the timer should pause

Each site gets its own total time per day

Everything stays locally in Chrome storage

And it should look clean + lightweight

This small thing surprisingly changed how I browse — the moment I see the time ticking, I automatically return to work faster.

🔍 What TabClock does

✔ Shows a live timer in the tab title
✔ Displays a floating mini-timer overlay on the page
✔ Tracks daily time spent per website
✔ Dark/light mode in popup
✔ Today’s activity with total time
✔ No accounts, no tracking, no ads

It’s basically the “screen time for your browser,” but without the bulk.

🛠️ How I built it

TabClock uses:

Chrome Manifest V3
JavaScript + minimal DOM injection
chrome.storage.sync for daily logs
chrome.tabs + chrome.scripting APIs to inject timers
A small popup UI built with HTML/CSS + Lucide icons

I focused a lot on performance so it doesn’t drain CPU or cause flickering between tab switches.

If anyone’s interested, I can publish a full technical breakdown or even open-source a simplified version.

🚀 Want to try it?

If you want a small boost to your daily focus:

👉 Install TabClock on Chrome: https://tabclock.site/

(instant install, no signup)

Would love your feedback, ideas, or optimizations!

🙌 Let’s connect

If you’ve built something similar or are working on a productivity tool, I’d love to see it.
I’m always curious how people improve their digital habits.

Thanks for reading! 💙