Documentation

Getting started

Strimu needs macOS 14 or later. On first launch it opens a real, editable session called Getting Started that walks you through the mechanic in the app itself. You can edit it, keep it, or delete it like any other session.

There is no account to create and no setup to do. Press ⌘N for a fresh session and start typing. Every keystroke is saved for you, so there is no Save or Open command anywhere in the app.

09:00  Standup                      15m
09:15  Code review                  45m
10:00  Write proposal            1h 20m
11:20  Emails                       12m   (running)

How timing works

Typing starts a task

The moment an empty line gets its first character, Strimu stamps that line with a start time. That line is now the running task, and its duration ticks upward in the right rail against the current time.

Enter finishes it

Pressing Return completes the task your cursor is in. Its end is stamped at that moment, the duration freezes, and you land on a clean line ready for the next task.

Only one task runs at a time

If something is still running and you start typing a new task, the old one is closed at exactly the instant the new one begins. No overlap, no gap, nothing to remember.

Gaps stay gaps

Time between tasks belongs to no task. Lunch, a walk, a phone call: if you did not log it, it is not counted. Strimu never invents time you did not record, and it never guesses from inactivity.

Lines that are not tasks

Blank lines and headings (# followed by a space) are never stamped. A line written directly beneath a stamped line without its own stamp is a continuation of the entry above it, so you can write a few lines of notes about one task and it stays one timed entry.

Leaving the app

Some things read as a deliberate "I am done here" and complete the running task at that moment:

• Pressing Return.
• Switching to another session.
• Closing the window.
• Quitting Strimu.

Simply switching to another app, or walking away with the window open, does not stop the clock. You might be coming right back, and Strimu would rather you correct one number than lose a block of work.

Pausing and resuming

When you step away mid-task and want the clock to stop without leaving the session, use Pause Session (⌥⌘P). It freezes the running task right where it is.

Resume Session (⌥⌘R) picks the most recently completed task back up. The time you already logged on it is preserved: its start slides forward by the length of the pause, so the duration carries on ticking from exactly where it stopped.

Both live in the Session menu and in the command palette. Pause is unavailable when nothing is running, and Resume is unavailable while something is.

Editing times and durations

Nothing in Strimu is locked. Both rails are editable in place, with no dialog and no admin screen in between.

Click a timestamp to change it

Click any time in the left rail and type a new one. Times are shown and parsed in 24-hour form. Anything you leave out is filled in from the stamp you are editing, so a bare time only changes the time of day. All of these work:

Moving a start time keeps the duration you logged: the end moves with it. Changing when a task happened never changes how long it took.

The rail shows the date on the first entry of each day, so a session can span several days and still read clearly. Stamps from another year show the year too.

Click a duration to override it

Click any value in the right rail and type the length you actually want to bill. The task's end moves to match, and the start stays put. The field is deliberately forgiving about units, which may appear in any order, with or without spaces:

Editing the duration of a running task gives it an end, which completes it. Anything the field cannot make sense of is ignored, leaving the existing duration untouched.

Sorting

Automatically sort entries by time is on by default (Settings, ⌘,). With it on, a corrected timestamp slides the entry into its correct chronological place, along with its continuation lines. Headings ride with the entry above them. The view holds still while this happens, so your cursor stays where you were typing.

Finding your place

Jump to Current Task (⌘J) scrolls to the running task and puts the cursor on it. If nothing is running, it takes you to the most recent task instead.

Command palette

Press ⌘K for a searchable list of everything you can do to the session you are looking at. Type to filter, use the arrow keys to move, Return to run, and Esc to dismiss. Commands that have their own shortcut show it on the right.

Commands that do not currently apply are greyed out rather than hidden, so the list stays in the same place every time you open it. Every command is namespaced by category, which means typing time brings up the whole set of timeline tools at once.

Timeline tools

The Time: commands reshape a whole day at once, instead of making you nudge entries one at a time. They are the tools for the five minutes at the end of an afternoon when the log is honest but messy.

Shift Timeline

Moves every start and end by the same amount, in 5 minute steps from a stepper in the banner. Durations, gaps, and order are all preserved. Use it when you logged a morning accurately but started the whole thing at the wrong hour.

Snap to 15m

Rounds each finished task up to the next quarter hour, the classic timesheet rule. Only ends move forward, so order is never disturbed. Three things are deliberately left alone: a running task, a task already sitting exactly on a 15 minute boundary, and any task under a minute long, so a line you just closed does not balloon into a fake quarter hour charge.

Close Gaps

Stretches each finished task forward until it meets the start of the next one, so untracked minutes stop leaking out of the day. Ends only ever move forward, tasks that already overlap are left alone, and the last task has nothing to meet so it stays put.

Trim Overlaps

The inverse. When a task runs past the start of the next one, its end is pulled back so two tasks never claim the same minute. Useful before invoicing, when double-counted time is worse than lost time.

Flatten Overlaps

Also removes overlaps, but by pushing the later task forward instead of shortening the earlier one, so every logged duration survives intact. Gaps between tasks are left where they are. This is the one to reach for when the durations are right and only the sequence is wrong.

Distribute Gaps

Grows every finished task in proportion to its own length until the tasks fill the whole stretch from the first start to the last end. The longest task absorbs the most idle time. It does nothing if there is no idle time to spread.

Remove Line Breaks

Deletes blank rows so entries sit against each other. Times, durations, and order are untouched. This one applies straight away, since there is no time change to preview.

Sessions and folders

Sessions

A session is one document: a day, a project, a meeting, whatever suits you. Press ⌘N to make one in whichever bucket you are viewing. If that bucket already holds an untouched blank session, Strimu selects that one instead of piling up empties.

A session's name in the list is its first line of text, with any formatting markers stripped. Rename a session by editing that line.

Folders

⇧⌘N creates a folder immediately with a default name, ready to rename. Folders are one level deep. Drag sessions onto a folder to file them, and drag them onto the top Sessions item to unfile them again. Each folder shows a count of the sessions inside it.

Right-click a folder to rename or delete it. Deleting a folder does not destroy its sessions: they move to Recently Deleted, where you can restore them.

Search

The search button at the top right of the window searches titles and body text. Search is global: as soon as you type, it spans your whole library rather than the folder you happen to have selected. Searching while Recently Deleted is selected searches the trash instead.

Recently Deleted

Deleted sessions go to Recently Deleted and stay there until you act on them. Right-click one to Restore it to its old home, or Delete Permanently, which asks for confirmation first. Dragging a session out of the trash and onto a folder restores it there.

Formatting

Strimu supports a small, deliberate subset of Markdown. Markers stay visible as you type, in the style of Bear or iA Writer, and the app never rewrites your text. What you typed is exactly what gets exported.

The space is what separates the two hash uses: # tag with a space is a heading, while #tag glued to the word is a tag.

Export and print

Any session exports from File › Export, or from the right-click menu on a session in the list. Both formats group each timestamped line with the unstamped lines beneath it, exactly as the entries read on screen.

CSV

Four columns, ready for a spreadsheet or an invoicing tool:

Date,Time,Duration,Entry
2026-09-04,09:00,15m,Standup
2026-09-04,09:15,45m,Code review
2026-09-04,10:00,1h 20m,Write proposal

Dates are yyyy-MM-dd and times are 24-hour, so sorting works everywhere. A task that is still running exports with an empty duration.

Markdown

A readable write-up: the session title, its date range, then each entry under a bold stamp with its duration. Good for pasting into a client update or a project log.

Print

⌘P lays the session out as a timesheet: title, date range, and one row per entry with time, task, and duration. Formatting markers are stripped for the printout, and long sessions paginate on their own.

Settings and layout

Settings (⌘,)

• Automatically sort entries by time. On by default. Keeps entries in chronological order, so an edited timestamp moves its entry to the right place.
• Pulse the running task's duration. On by default. A slow breath on the live duration so you can tell at a glance that the clock is running.
• Editor font. System, Helvetica Neue, Avenir Next, Verdana, Menlo, or Courier, at 11 to 28 pt. The rails stay in the system font so the columns stay tidy.
• Purchase. Your licence status, plus Restore Purchases.

View menu

• Layout. Three columns to choose from: editor only, sessions and editor, or folders, sessions, and editor.
• Timestamps and Duration. Hide either rail. The text reclaims the space, which is handy when you want to read a session as plain notes.
• Zoom. ⌘+, ⌘-, and ⌘0 to return to your configured size. Text and both rails scale together.

Strimu follows your system appearance, so dark mode needs no setting of its own.

Keyboard shortcuts

Trial and purchase

Strimu is free for 14 days, fully unlocked, with no account and no card. The Settings window shows how many days are left.

Strimu 1 is a one-time purchase, not a subscription. Buy it from Strimu › Purchase Strimu 1 in the menu bar or from the Purchase section of Settings. Already bought it on another Mac? Use Restore Purchases in Settings.

If the trial ends without a purchase, nothing is deleted and nothing is held hostage. The app becomes read-only: your sessions stay exactly as they were, and you can still read, search, print, and export them. Buying at any point unlocks editing again.

Your data

Sessions are stored locally on your Mac and saved as you type. There is no Save command, no Open dialog, and no document to misplace.

There is no account, no server, and no analytics watching what you write. Strimu has no idea what is in your sessions. When you want the data elsewhere, CSV and Markdown export are one menu item away, in formats any other tool can read.

Troubleshooting