Developer Tarun Nayaka built TakaTime, a free, open-source alternative to WakaTime that runs on Go and MongoDB. The tool tracks coding activity in VS Code and Neovim without sending data to third-party servers, addressing privacy and cost concerns.

The architecture separates editor plugins from a background Go process, ensuring zero latency in the IDE. Editor extensions written in TypeScript and Lua only detect save events or keystrokes, passing minimal data to the core binary asynchronously.

Setup takes under two minutes with automatic binary downloads. Users can generate GitHub profile stats via CLI and scheduled workflows. Future plans include a web dashboard and support for JetBrains IDEs. MongoDB Atlas provides free, personal data storage with 512MB capacity.

This self-hosted approach gives developers full control over their metrics data. For privacy-conscious coders dissatisfied with existing solutions, TakaTime offers a compelling, community-driven alternative worth trying immediately.