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How to Use Didon

Didon runs in the background and uses local AI to understand what you're working on from your screen activity. You don't need to press start or stop for each task — but a few habits make a big difference in the quality of your work logs.

Name your files and projects properly

To get the best tracking results, name your files and projects descriptively. The AI reads window titles and on-screen context to categorise your work. Generic names make that much harder.

Do:

  • Acme Corp — Q2 Marketing Report.docx
  • didon-landing-page-redesign.fig
  • client-billing-dashboard.tsx

Avoid:

  • Untitled
  • New Project
  • Document1
  • final-final-v2

Clear names help Didon group time by client, project, or activity and produce more useful daily logs.

Let automatic tracking do the work

Didon analyses your screen activity in real time using a local vision model. When you switch apps or documents, it infers what you're working on — no manual timers or project pickers required.

Keep these in mind for smooth tracking:

  1. Keep Ollama running while Didon is active so screenshots can be analysed locally.
  2. Grant Screen Recording permission so Didon can see active windows (see Installation).
  3. Use descriptive window titles in browsers and editors where you can (tab titles and file names show up in logs).

Accurate time without manual pauses

Didon includes Auto-Pause on Sleep and detects inactivity intelligently. It tracks productive time, not every second you're away from the desk — so your logs stay accurate without you babysitting a timer.

When your screen locks or your display sleeps, Didon pauses capture and excludes that time from your active work totals. For the most accurate results, set your Mac's lock screen timeout to less than 2 minutes:

System Settings → Lock Screen → Require password

Choose Immediately, After 1 minute, or another short option. A shorter lock timeout helps Didon separate real work from breaks when you step away, so your daily active time reflects what you actually did at the desk.

Review and export your logs

Didon automatically exports your work at the end of each day. You do not need to click anything — when a calendar day ends, the app writes:

  • Work log — ~/Documents/Didon/WorkLogs/YYYY-MM-DD.csv (every activity row for that day)
  • Daily report — a new row in ~/Documents/Didon/Daily-Reports.csv (summary, project/category breakdown, AI narrative)

If Didon was quit overnight or your Mac slept through midnight, the app catches up on the next launch and exports any missed days that still have activity data.

You can also pause tracking at any time to flush a partial work log for today (without waiting for midnight).

Open the CSV files to review how your time broke down by project and activity, or export for client billing, internal reporting, or personal productivity analysis.

Tips for better insights

  • Work in focused blocks — switching between unrelated tasks every few minutes produces fragmented logs.
  • Keep related work under one project name when possible so time rolls up cleanly.
  • Check your daily export to spot misclassified sessions early; better file names usually fix most issues.

Need help getting set up? See Installation. Running into issues? Check Troubleshooting.