✨ Built Natively for Software Development Agencies & Dev Shops

Automatic Time Tracking That Developers
Won't Hate

Zero manual timers. Backlsh runs silently in the background, mapping engineering sprints across IDEs, GitHub, and Jira directly to client contracts. Keep your developers in the flow state while capturing 100% of billable hours.

Start Free 14-Day Trial No Credit Card Required · 5-Minute Onboarding
Trusted by 120+ agency teams worldwide
Engineering Velocity & Sprint Timesheet Live
Today's Billable
6h 42m
Clients Active
4
Recovery Rate
94%
Activity Feed
💻
VS Code — Client Alpha Mobile App
3h 12m
Billable
🐙
GitHub Pull Request Review
45m
Sprint 4 Overhead
🎫
Jira Ticket #204 — API Bugfix
1h 15m
Billable
✅ Save $180 per developer/month vs. Hubstaff
The Engineering Friction

Traditional Tracking Software
Destroys Developer Velocity

⏰

The Context-Switching Tax

Developers hate breaking their coding flow to toggle a stopwatch. When they forget, billable hours spent on custom API fixes or server deployments vanish from client invoices.

⚠️ Manual timers leak up to 15% of engineering billable hours.
😤

The "Bossware" Cultural Backlash

Traditional tools micro-manage engineering teams with creepy keystroke counting and mouse-wiggle algorithms. This insults senior talent and causes high developer churn.

⚠️ Intrusive tracking software drops developer morale by 40%.
💸

Resource Inflation at Scale

Paying $7–$12/seat for legacy trackers across a scaling team of 50+ engineers eats directly into project profitability margins.

⚠️ Upgrading software eats up to 5% of agency profits.
The Backlsh Difference

Every Sprint Accounted For.
Zero Timer Clicks.

Backlsh installs once on each developer's machine and silently captures context — mapping file pathways, Jira issues, and active IDE windows directly to the correct client project automatically.

💻

IDE & Repo-Level Auto-Tagging

Backlsh maps file pathways silently. When a developer opens a specific project repository in VS Code, IntelliJ, or Xcode, Backlsh immediately attributes the time to that specific client project.

🎫

Project Management Integration

Direct API mapping links time logs directly with issue tickets in Jira, Linear, or Trello. Timesheets are instantly structured by active sprint milestones.

🛡️

Privacy-First Analytics

We don't record keystrokes or mouse movements. Backlsh tracks active window focusing so you measure project health and accurate billing without invading developer privacy.

Live Activity Feed Auto-tagged
💻
VS Code — Client Alpha API
/src/controllers/auth.ts
2h 14m
Billable
🌐
Localhost:3000 — Client Alpha
Testing /api/v1/users endpoint
58m
Billable
🐙
GitHub — Pull Request Review
Client Beta: Fix memory leak #142
45m
Billable
🎫
Jira — Sprint Planning
Gamma Q3 Architecture Review
32m
Productive
💬
Slack
#engineering-team discussion
14m
Neutral
Today's Billable Revenue
Across 3 active clients
$1,843
94%
Billable Hour Recovery Rate
1.8h
Avg. Extra Hours Captured/Day per Creative
0
Manual Timer Clicks Required
5 min
Setup Time, Team Up & Running
Dead Simple Setup

Up and Running in Under 5 Minutes

No IT team required. No lengthy onboarding. No behaviour change for your creatives.

1

Install the Desktop App

Lightweight background agent installs on each team member's Mac or Windows machine. Invisible to daily workflow.

2

Map Apps to Clients

Tell Backlsh which apps and URLs belong to which client. It learns quickly and handles ambiguities with AI suggestions.

3

Work Normally

Your team does nothing differently. Open Figma, switch to Ads Manager, hop into email — Backlsh tracks it all silently.

4

Invoice with Confidence

Pull audit-ready client billing reports anytime. Every hour documented, categorized, and ready to send.

Features Built for Agencies

Everything Your Agency Needs,
Nothing It Doesn't

🤖

AI Productivity Profiling

Automatically categorizes every app and URL as Productive, Unproductive, or Neutral. Understands agency contexts — Figma is billable, Reddit isn't.

AI-Powered
📸

Optional Screenshot Verification

For client contracts requiring proof-of-work, enable interval-based screenshots. Full transparency without micromanagement.

Optional
⏱

Real-Time Activity Feed

See what every team member is working on right now — which client, which tool, how long. Live visibility without constant check-ins.

Live View
📋

Payroll & Billing Sync

Turn logged hours into accurate payroll calculations and client invoices automatically. No more spreadsheet reconciliation at month-end.

Automated
🔗

Project Tool Integrations

Connect with Jira, Trello, and Monday.com to tie tracked hours directly to active tickets and project boards automatically.

Integrations
📵

Works Offline, Always

Team working from a coffee shop with spotty WiFi? Tracking continues locally. Everything syncs securely when back online.

Always-On
Agency Owners Love It

Real Results from Real Agencies

★★★★★

"We were losing almost 2 hours per engineer per day to timer amnesia. Since switching to Backlsh, our average monthly client invoice went up by 18%. The tool paid for itself in week one."

CP
Chad Pytel
Founder, Thoughtbot
★★★★★

"My developers were resistant to any tracking tool. Backlsh changed that because they literally don't have to do anything. Now they actually love having proof of how much work they put into each sprint."

MP
Marian Phelan
CEO, Hashrocket
★★★★★

"The IDE & Repo breakdown is a game-changer for our retainer clients. We can finally show them exactly where every hour went. No more awkward 'trust us' conversations at billing time."

WS
Wiktor Schmidt
Co-founder, Netguru
★★★★★

"Setup took less than 10 minutes for our 50-person engineering team. Within the first week we identified three API projects that were severely under-billed. We restructured the contracts immediately."

TD
Tobias Dengel
CEO, WillowTree
Pricing Disruption

Backlsh vs. Legacy Trackers

Stop paying enterprise tax for features your developers actively hate.

Pricing & Architecture
Backlsh
Hubstaff / Time Doctor
Cost Per Seat
$2.90 /mo
$10–$12 /mo
Automatic IDE File Path Tracking
✓
✗
Creepy Keystroke / Mouse Tracking
No (Privacy First)
Yes (Intrusive)
Jira & GitHub API Mapping
✓
Requires $12/mo Tier
Setup Time & Onboarding
5 Minutes (Self-Serve)
Sales Calls & Implementation
Common Questions

Everything You Need to Know

Yes. Backlsh is built to detect window names and local file paths across all popular IDEs (VS Code, IntelliJ, Xcode) and browser tabs (GitHub PRs, Jira Issues), automatically mapping those active minutes to the matching client repository rule without any manual text entry.
No. Backlsh is a privacy-first utility built specifically to respect senior technical talent. It maps active application paths and document headers to client projects rather than performing intrusive surveillance or micro-monitoring keystrokes.
Software developers jump between codebases rapidly. Backlsh changes tasks automatically based on active workspace configurations. If an engineer switches from a Client A API repository to a Client B debugging script, the time tracking shifts seamlessly on the spot without lag or manual re-routing.
None. The Backlsh desktop agent is built to be ultra-lightweight. It runs asynchronously in the system background using less than 1% of CPU resources, ensuring it will never hinder compilation speeds, Docker container performance, or local environment configurations.
Start Free Today

Stop Imposing Bossware on Engineers

Implement the only time tracking tool that respects developer privacy while maintaining 100% billing accuracy. Deploy out of the box with open API keys.

Start Your 14-Day Free Trial No Credit Card Required · 5-Minute Self-Serve Onboarding
✓ Open API Key Access  ·  ✓ No Sales Calls Required  ·  ✓ Cancel anytime