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Ask HN: How can I analyze my own browsing behavior with only local tools?

11 points by rambojazz 8y ago

How can I analyze and make statistics of my own web browsing behavior using only local software, and without giving out my personal browsing history to any 3rd party?

rambojazz 8y ago
Edit: I meant with free/opensource software and possibly on linux.
kalmi10 8y ago
https://timingapp.com https://timingapp.com seems to fit the bill, it’s a local app for os x with optional sync capabilities
- dyeje 8y ago
  I used the free trial when it first came out, it's pretty slick.
hedgew 8y ago
ManicTime and Leechblock are two solutions that work entirely locally, on Windows.
sprobertson 8y ago
If you use Firefox, there's a local file called places.sqlite that stores history, queries, bookmarks, etc.: http://kb.mozillazine.org/Places.sqlite http://kb.mozillazine.org/Places.sqlite
adkwo 8y ago
I use https://github.com/Naereen/uLogMe https://github.com/Naereen/uLogMe (it's a fork of a tool Andrej Karpathy wrote a few years ago: http://karpathy.github.io/2014/08/03/quantifying-productivity http://karpathy.github.io/2014/08/03/quantifying-productivit...). It collects data on your general computer usage by measuring the active time and amount of keystrokes per window. It has two parts: some scripts to collect the data and a web interface to visualize the data. The main drawback of such tools is that most ot them seem to require X11 and won't work with wayland. Similar tools: https://github.com/ActivityWatch https://github.com/ActivityWatch https://flowdash.co https://flowdash.co
firebones 8y ago
On OSX, I wrote an installable startup daemon that logs the current window, and for browsers, captures the URL from the address bar, and logs it to a file. The sampling can be whatever period you decide, but you have to write your own analytics. I haven't made it generally available, but it was a pretty quick project to capture the basic data. Here's the basic outline: * Bash script that uses lsappinfo front to figure out what has focus * log the time, the app name, and other useful data * If the current app is a browser, then branch on the browser type and "return URL of" the front tab or current document depending on the browser * Echo whatever you want to capture to STDOUT Then write up a startup .plist file to install and log the output.

11 points by rambojazz 8y ago

How can I analyze and make statistics of my own web browsing behavior using only local software, and without giving out my personal browsing history to any 3rd party?

rambojazz 8y ago

Edit: I meant with free/opensource software and possibly on linux.

kalmi10 8y ago

https://timingapp.com https://timingapp.com seems to fit the bill, it’s a local app for os x with optional sync capabilities

dyeje 8y ago
I used the free trial when it first came out, it's pretty slick.

hedgew 8y ago

ManicTime and Leechblock are two solutions that work entirely locally, on Windows.

sprobertson 8y ago

If you use Firefox, there's a local file called places.sqlite that stores history, queries, bookmarks, etc.: http://kb.mozillazine.org/Places.sqlite http://kb.mozillazine.org/Places.sqlite

adkwo 8y ago

I use https://github.com/Naereen/uLogMe https://github.com/Naereen/uLogMe (it's a fork of a tool Andrej Karpathy wrote a few years ago: http://karpathy.github.io/2014/08/03/quantifying-productivity http://karpathy.github.io/2014/08/03/quantifying-productivit...). It collects data on your general computer usage by measuring the active time and amount of keystrokes per window. It has two parts: some scripts to collect the data and a web interface to visualize the data. The main drawback of such tools is that most ot them seem to require X11 and won't work with wayland. Similar tools: https://github.com/ActivityWatch https://github.com/ActivityWatch https://flowdash.co https://flowdash.co

firebones 8y ago

On OSX, I wrote an installable startup daemon that logs the current window, and for browsers, captures the URL from the address bar, and logs it to a file. The sampling can be whatever period you decide, but you have to write your own analytics. I haven't made it generally available, but it was a pretty quick project to capture the basic data. Here's the basic outline: * Bash script that uses lsappinfo front to figure out what has focus * log the time, the app name, and other useful data * If the current app is a browser, then branch on the browser type and "return URL of" the front tab or current document depending on the browser * Echo whatever you want to capture to STDOUT Then write up a startup .plist file to install and log the output.