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Every 30 minutes

Get warned about a timer left on too long

If a timer has been running more than four hours you get one email naming the entry, project and start time.

Runs
Every 30 minutes
Apps
Toggl Track
AI
Not needed
Access
read

Send this to your assistant

Create a ClickRuntime automation: every 30 minutes, check my running Toggl Track timer and email me if it has been going for more than 4 hours.

Paste it into your assistant. It tells you what it will send or change before it runs live.

First time? Adding ClickRuntime to your assistant takes about two minutes.

Why use it

Why teams use this automation

A Toggl timer left running overnight is one of the most common mistakes in time tracking. You start the clock for a client call, get pulled into something else, close the laptop and open it the next morning to find an entry of 19 hours. Now you have to guess when you actually stopped, edit the entry and hope the client was not billed from a report that went out already.

Every 30 minutes, this checks the timer currently running on your Toggl Track account. If its duration is beyond the limit you set, it emails you the description, project and start time so you can stop or correct it. Each entry triggers only one alert, however long it keeps running.

Hourly workers and agencies who bill from Toggl get the most from it.

What you get out of it

  • Overbilling avoided before it happens

    A 14-hour entry that slips into an invoice can mean a client dispute or a credit note. An alert after a few hours lets you cut the entry down while the real stop time is still easy to recall.

  • One email per forgotten timer

    The alert remembers which entry it already flagged, so you do not get a message every half hour. You hear about the problem once, with the details you need to fix it.

  • Context in the message itself

    The email includes the description, project and start time, so you know straight away which task the timer belongs to. You can act from your phone without opening Toggl to investigate.

  • Cleaner reports for the whole team

    Runaway entries distort project totals and budgets for everyone. Catching them the same day keeps utilization reports realistic, so managers do not make staffing decisions based on phantom hours. Reports then show hours people really worked.

  • Fewer awkward corrections later

    Editing an entry three days after the fact means guessing. A prompt the same afternoon turns a vague correction into a precise one and avoids a note to the client explaining a mistake.

How it works

What happens, step by step

  1. Every 30 minutes, ClickRuntime checks whether a Toggl Track timer is running and how long it has been on.

  2. If it has passed your limit, it emails you the entry's description, project and start time.

  3. It remembers which timer it already warned you about, so you get one email per forgotten timer, not one every half hour.

Before it runs live

  • Connect Toggl Track

What you get

RunsEvery 30 minutes
Get warned about a timer left on too longtoday, 9:00Succeeded
Email · Timer still runningClient call notes · Acme retainer Started 09:12 UTC, 4.3 h ago

Build your own

Need it to work differently?

This template is a starting point. Copy the prompt and change it, or describe a different automation from scratch, with your own conditions, more apps or an AI step. Your assistant writes it, tests it and runs it on ClickRuntime.
  • Your own rules

    Conditions, thresholds, filters and exceptions, written the way you'd explain them to a colleague.

  • Any number of apps

    One automation can read from one app and update several others. Over 248 apps are ready, and anything with an API works too.

  • AI where it helps

    Summaries, classification, extraction and drafts use ClickRuntime's built-in AI, with no extra key.

  • On a schedule or on each event

    Runs as often as every 5 minutes, or the moment an app sends an event, and keeps track of what it already handled.

Changes you can ask for

  • Run it at a different time, more or less often, or only on weekdays
  • Add an AI step, for example to summarize, sort or draft a reply
  • Add another app, for example also send it to Slack
  • Combine it with other Toggl Track steps into one automation

Under the hood

The code that runs this automation

This is the Python script that runs each time the automation starts. Your AI assistant writes it for you when you send the prompt, and you allow each step in your assistant. To change how the automation works, describe the change to your assistant and it updates the script for you. For every function it can use, see the script reference.
long_running_timer_alert.pyexample
from datetime import datetime, timezone
from clickruntime import on_trigger, credentials, http, state, notify

LIMIT_HOURS = 4

@on_trigger
def run(event):
    auth = (credentials.secret("TOGGL_API_TOKEN"), "api_token")
    entry = http.get("https://api.track.toggl.com/api/v9/me/time_entries/current", auth=auth).json()
    if not entry:
        return {"running": False}
    started = datetime.fromisoformat(entry["start"].replace("Z", "+00:00"))
    hours = (datetime.now(timezone.utc) - started).total_seconds() / 3600
    if hours < LIMIT_HOURS or state.get("alerted_id") == entry["id"]:
        return {"running": True, "hours": round(hours, 1)}
    project = "No project"
    if entry.get("project_id"):
        project = http.get(f"https://api.track.toggl.com/api/v9/workspaces/{entry['workspace_id']}"
                           f"/projects/{entry['project_id']}", auth=auth).json()["name"]
    notify.email_me("Toggl timer running over 4 hours",
                    f"{entry.get('description') or '(no description)'} · {project}\n"
                    f"Started {started:%H:%M} UTC, {hours:.1f} h ago")
    state.set("alerted_id", entry["id"])
    return {"alerted": entry["id"]}

FAQ

Common questions

How long counts as too long?
You choose the limit, for example three hours for a single entry. Some people use a lower limit for client work and ignore the alert for tasks like deep work blocks that really do run all day.
Will it alert me again if I keep ignoring it?
No. Once an entry has triggered an alert, its id is remembered and it stays quiet for that entry. A new timer that passes the limit will produce its own alert. Stopping an old entry is always left to you.
Does it stop the timer for me?
No, it only sends the email. Stopping or editing an entry changes billable data, so that stays your decision. You can ask for a variation that also stops the timer, but it would be shown to you for approval first.
What permissions does it need?
read. Nothing else in your accounts is used.
Does it need AI?
No. It runs without AI, so it doesn't use your plan's AI allowance.
How many runs does it use?
One run each time it runs (every 30 minutes). Checks that find nothing to do and stop right away aren't counted.
Can I change how it works?
Yes. Describe the change to your AI assistant, for example a different schedule, channel or filter. It updates the automation, tests it and tells you what changed.

Set up “Get warned about a timer left on too long” from your assistant

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