Use case
Before the users show up, the hours are the only progress there is.
Build Mode is a private, one button time tracker for Mac, made for solo founders and indie makers building a product before the revenue, users, or results arrive. It runs on macOS 14 or later, Apple Silicon or Intel, and keeps every hour in a local file on your Mac with no account. It is a one time purchase, not a subscription. It was built by a solo founder who used it to build it.
Press ⌘⌥B
Build the thing
Press again
Watch the proof add up
The long quiet stretch
Most of a product gets built before anyone is watching.
For months there is no revenue chart worth a screenshot, no user count, no launch day. The work is real, but nothing shows it, and that gap is where side projects go quiet. The one honest measure of progress in that stretch is the hours you actually put in. Build Mode exists to make those hours visible.
The home archetype
Made by a solo founder, while building it.
Build Mode’s founder built it for herself, tracking the hours that built the app inside the app. The loop is small on purpose: press ⌘⌥B to open a focused session, and watch the small clock in the MacBook notch while it runs. Press again to stop and jot a one line note. It counts active time only, pausing when you step away or the display sleeps, so the totals are hours you actually worked.
What it gives you
Four things that make the hours visible.
One shortcut, in and out
Nothing records until you start. Press ⌘⌥B when you sit down to build, press it again when you stop, and jot a one line note about what the session moved. No timer to babysit, no background process guessing at your day.
Modes for a founder’s real week
A solo founder’s week is four jobs wearing one hoodie. Modes, called skills in the app, cover them: Build, Design, Marketing, Writing, plus any you add, like Distribution or Support. Auto Mode suggests a mode from the name of the frontmost app, browsers stay unassigned by default, and you can turn it off.
A clock in the notch
While a session runs, a small clock shows in the MacBook notch. It is a quiet sign that the hour is spoken for, and on deep work days it is often the only interface you see.
Wrapped, your weekly proof
Hours accumulate into a dashboard and an hour wall, and each week becomes Wrapped, a visual recap you can keep private or share as an image. For a founder with nothing to launch yet, it is the progress update that already exists.
Private by structure
An unannounced product stays unannounced.
A founder’s session notes are a diary of the roadmap: the feature nobody has seen, the pivot you have not said out loud. In Build Mode they live in a local file on your Mac. There is no account, no cloud, and no networking code in the app at all, and it asks for zero macOS permissions. Nothing about what you are building can leave the machine, because nothing in the app can transmit.
That is a structure you can check yourself, not a promise you take on trust.
How a fully private time tracker worksBuilding in public
Share the week, keep the details.
If you build in public, Wrapped is the weekly update you did not have to write: your hours as an image, ready for the thread. Your one line notes stay on your Mac, so the world sees the effort without reading the roadmap. Nothing is shared unless you share it.
Owning it
A tool you buy, not a service you feed.
The download is free, and a license, paid once, unlocks it with a key sent by email and verified on your Mac. No subscription joins the pile of subscriptions your product already pays for. The product page shows the whole loop.
Common questions
Founder questions, answered plainly.
Does Build Mode do invoicing or client billing?
No. Build Mode is not a billing tool: no invoices, no timesheets, no client rates. It measures the hours going into the thing you are building. If part of your week is client work billed by the hour, keep a billing tool for that side.
Can I share progress without exposing what I’m building?
Yes. Wrapped is a visual recap of your week that you can keep private or share as an image. Your one line session notes stay in the local file on your Mac, and the app has no way to send anything anywhere. Sharing is always your move.
Can I use it on a work Mac and a personal Mac?
The data is per Mac. Everything lives in a local file, and there is no account, no cloud, and no sync between devices, so each Mac keeps its own record. That is the honest tradeoff of the zero network design. Most founders keep the record on the Mac where the building happens.
Do I need an internet connection?
No. The app contains no networking code and works offline. You need a connection only to download it and to receive your license key by email; the key is verified on your Mac, not on a server.
What are the requirements?
macOS 14 or later, Apple Silicon or Intel. License details live in the terms.
The users come later. The hours start now.