Todoist is one of the most popular task managers in the world — but it has no built-in time tracking. Tidst fills that gap by turning your completed Todoist tasks into billable time entries, automatically.

The problem with tracking time in Todoist

Most freelancers and consultants who use Todoist run into the same problem: they finish a day of client work, and they have no idea how many hours to invoice. They know they completed a dozen tasks — but were those tasks 15 minutes each, or an hour?

The common fixes all have the same flaw. Browser extensions that add timers to Todoist only work in the browser — not on your phone or Apple Watch. Separate apps like Toggl require you to remember to start and stop timers before and after every task, which nobody actually does consistently. And manual time logging at the end of the day relies on memory, which is unreliable.

The result: billable time is lost. Research suggests freelancers lose between 10 and 20 percent of billable work due to incomplete tracking. For someone billing $75/hour, that's over $1,000 a month left on the table.

How Tidst tracks time in Todoist

Tidst connects to your Todoist account via the official Todoist API. When you complete a task in Todoist — on any device, in any app — that task automatically appears in Tidst's Queue. The Queue is a focused inbox of your completed work, ready for you to review and log time against.

You don't change how you work. You don't start timers. You just use Todoist as you normally would. At the end of the day (or whenever you want), you open The Queue, glance at what you completed, add the hours, and you're done. It takes about two minutes.

The integration reads your task completions in real time, so even tasks completed on your iPhone or Apple Watch appear in The Queue. There's no browser extension involved — it works through the API, not the Todoist interface.

Label tracking: log time without opening Tidst

If you want to go even faster, you can use time labels. Create Todoist labels named @15min, @30min, @60min, or @90min. Add the appropriate label to a task before you complete it, and when that task lands in The Queue, the duration is already filled in.

This means you can track billable time entirely from within Todoist. Write a task, add a time label, complete it, and the hours are logged — you never need to open Tidst at all. It's the fastest possible workflow for anyone who already lives in their task manager.

Label tracking works on every platform Todoist supports: web, iOS, Android, Apple Watch. Any device where you can add a label and complete a task is a device where you can track time.

How to get started

Create a Tidst account at tidst.com. No credit card required — there's a 14-day free trial.
Connect your Todoist account via OAuth. This takes under a minute and requires no API keys. Tidst will ask for read/write access to your tasks.
Select which projects to track time on. You can choose specific client projects and leave personal projects out.
Complete tasks in Todoist as you normally would. Optionally add time labels for pre-filled durations.
Open The Queue to review completed tasks, add hours, and approve entries.
Export reports as PDF or CSV for invoicing.

What Tidst tracks

Tidst tracks every task you complete in Todoist across the projects you've enabled. Each entry in The Queue shows the task name, the project it belongs to, and the date it was completed. You add the time, and Tidst records the billable entry.

You can set different hourly rates per project — so client A might be billed at $80/hour while client B is at $120/hour. Reports show total hours and revenue per project, with export options for both PDF and CSV.

You can also set monthly budget goals per project: either an hour budget ("I want to spend no more than 20 hours on this client per month") or a revenue target ("I want to earn $2,000 from this project this month"). Tidst tracks your progress against those goals in real time.

Who is Tidst for?

Tidst is built for individuals, not teams. It's specifically designed for:

Freelancers who bill clients by the hour and use Todoist to manage their work
Consultants who work across multiple client projects and need to track hours per engagement
Solopreneurs who want to understand where their time goes across different business areas
Anyone who has tried Toggl or Clockify and found them too complex or too expensive for solo use

Frequently asked questions

Does Tidst work with all Todoist plans?

Yes — Free, Pro, and Business plans are all supported.

What does Tidst cost?

$3/month. There's a 14-day free trial and no credit card is required to start.

Can I edit time entries after logging them?

Yes. All entries can be edited at any time — even days after the fact.

Do I need to install a browser extension?

No. Tidst connects through the Todoist API, not a browser extension. It works regardless of which device you use to complete tasks.

What currencies are supported?

USD, EUR, GBP, JPY, AUD, CAD, CHF, SGD, DKK, SEK, and NOK.

Learn more about automatic vs manual time tracking or see how the Todoist integration works in detail.

How to track time in Todoist (automatically)