Synchronization between devices

ErikBjare · March 26, 2019, 1:59pm

The long-awaited feature, see the GitHub issue for more details:

Syncing

opened 11:16PM - 18 Mar 17 UTC

backlog improves: ux phase: planning size: large

**Vote on this issue on [the forum](https://forum.activitywatch.net/t/synchroniz…ation-between-devices/264)!** ----- There are two usage issues with ActivityWatch at the moment to which syncing is a solution: - If you use more than one device, you need to check every device individually, or run one centralized instance of aw-server (not recommended!) - If a machine is lost, so is the data (the user could have exported it, but data stored after the export would still be lost). While ActivityWatch cannot replace a proper backup system, syncing could help by storing copies of the data across devices. I know of two interesting solutions to this problem: - Centralized server which stores all data encrypted (the server is unable to decrypt) - Issues: Centralized, single point of failure - Done by @StandardNotes - P2P synchronization (encrypted, possibly including relays) - Done by @Syncthing very well, perhaps we could use it in some way. Also: MPL2 licensed and written in Go. - Downside: Clients must be online at the same time for sync. - They have the ability to set some folders to "read only", useful when you want to ensure the data stays intact in its source. - Implementing it ourselves would be an enormous effort, I assume. <bountysource-plugin> --- Want to back this issue? **[Post a bounty on it!](https://www.bountysource.com/issues/43187921-syncing?utm_campaign=plugin&utm_content=tracker%2F35920020&utm_medium=issues&utm_source=github)** We accept bounties via [Bountysource](https://www.bountysource.com/?utm_campaign=plugin&utm_content=tracker%2F35920020&utm_medium=issues&utm_source=github). </bountysource-plugin>

wsdookadr · October 20, 2021, 11:42pm

Hello Erik,

I’ve skimmed through the issue on github. I will outline my use-case summary here:
Suppose I run a remote server with activitywatch at home, and I expect this server to be the single source of truth regarding all activitywatch data.
I may go away from home for some periods of time carrying only one/two laptop(s) both running activitywatch, however when I do return home, I am interested to have all my data sync-ed with the remote server at home (because that’s where I do most of my work).
I am thinking that this requires the two devices to be labelled with some unique identifier, so we have a way of knowing where the events came from.

I’ve read through [2] but saw many people there suggesting generic file synchronization tools, then about generic sqlite sync tools (rqlite).
I liked the discussion here [1] much more because it talks about the core of the problem, in the actual context of Activitywatch, where you have multiple databases with events, and the events have to be merged. I think it has to be sqlite-specific. Also [1] talks about overlapping events, but honestly if the machines involved have a label, I don’t think there will be any such overlapping events.

I believe if this feature will be implemented, it will allow users to easily merge their activitywatch databases, I think it would be a very useful feature.

Regarding the discussions I’ve read so far I think sometimes there is a tendency that we want something very general that solves a very wide problem domain, but really if we have something small that works well, that can bring a lot of value and later on extensions/generalizations/customizations/tweaks will be possible.

Best regards,
Stefan

[1] https://github.com/ActivityWatch/aw-core/issues/78
[2] https://github.com/ActivityWatch/activitywatch/issues/35

James_Brown · January 19, 2024, 2:38am

Bumpity bump

Thanks for the great foss app!

Sorry I am still learning and can’t add anything here.
Found this because I have recently installed AW on three systems (windows 11 & Ubuntu dual boot) and phone (LineageOS) and was looking up syncing options. So thought I’d give this a bump

And again, big thanks to everyone who volunteered time and expertise to get AW to where it is