OpenProject Time Entry Logger

Summary

TL;DR

• Logs time entries in OpenProject via the API v3 — no browser needed.
• Two modes: interactive (guided prompts, session loop) and flag-based (scriptable, CI-friendly).
• Fetches projects, work packages and activities from the API — no IDs to memorise.
• Automatically skips weekends and dates that already have an entry.
• Dry-run mode lets you preview what would be logged before committing.
• Zero external dependencies — pure Python 3 stdlib.

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Modes

Interactive mode

Run the script with no required arguments. It will guide you through every step with menus and prompts, and let you log multiple entries in a single session without re-entering credentials.

python3 openproject_time_entry.py

Optional flags that also work in interactive mode:

python3 openproject_time_entry.py --monke      # enable fun theme
python3 openproject_time_entry.py --insecure   # skip SSL verification
python3 openproject_time_entry.py --monke --insecure

Flag-based mode

Pass all values as CLI flags. Useful for scripting or CI pipelines.

python3 openproject_time_entry.py \
  --base-url https://openproject.example.com \
  --api-key YOUR_API_KEY \
  --work-package-id 1296 \
  --date 2026-03-12

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Arguments

Connection

Flag	Environment variable	Description	Required
--base-url	OPENPROJECT_BASE_URL	Base URL of the OpenProject instance.	Yes
--api-key	OPENPROJECT_API_KEY	API access token. Get it from: My Account → Access tokens → API.	Yes
--insecure	OPENPROJECT_INSECURE=1	Skip SSL certificate verification. Use this for instances with a self-signed certificate.	No

Time entry details

Flag	Environment variable	Description	Default
--work-package-id	—	ID of the work package to log time against. Required in flag mode.	—
--user-id	—	User ID to log time for. Auto-detected from the API key if omitted.	Auto
--activity-id	—	Activity ID to associate with the entry.	3
--hours	—	Hours to log per day.	8.0
--comment	—	Comment to attach to each time entry.	(none)

Date selection

Exactly one of the following modes is required in flag mode. Interactive mode prompts for this.

Flag	Description
--date YYYY-MM-DD	Log a single date.
--start-date YYYY-MM-DD + --end-date YYYY-MM-DD	Log a date range (weekends are skipped automatically).

Other

Flag	Environment variable	Description	Default
--dry-run	—	Preview what would be logged without creating any entries. After the preview, the script offers to execute for real.	false
--monke	MONKE_THEME=1	Enable the monkey-themed output (bananas, emojis, jungle vocabulary). Plain output is the default.	false

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Environment variables

All connection options can be pre-set as environment variables to avoid typing them on every run:

export OPENPROJECT_BASE_URL=https://openproject.example.com
export OPENPROJECT_API_KEY=your_token_here
export OPENPROJECT_INSECURE=1   # optional, for self-signed certs
export MONKE_THEME=1            # optional, enable fun theme

In interactive mode, these values are used as defaults in the prompts. In flag-based mode, they are read directly — no flag needed.

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Examples

Interactive session (plain)

python3 openproject_time_entry.py

Interactive session (monke theme + self-signed cert)

python3 openproject_time_entry.py --monke --insecure

Single date, flag-based

python3 openproject_time_entry.py \
  --base-url https://openproject.example.com \
  --api-key YOUR_API_KEY \
  --work-package-id 1296 \
  --date 2026-03-12

Date range, flag-based

python3 openproject_time_entry.py \
  --base-url https://openproject.example.com \
  --api-key YOUR_API_KEY \
  --work-package-id 1296 \
  --start-date 2026-03-01 \
  --end-date 2026-03-31 \
  --hours 8 \
  --activity-id 3 \
  --comment "Development work"

Dry-run preview, then execute for real

python3 openproject_time_entry.py \
  --base-url https://openproject.example.com \
  --api-key YOUR_API_KEY \
  --work-package-id 1296 \
  --start-date 2026-03-01 \
  --end-date 2026-03-31 \
  --dry-run
# After the preview, the script will ask: "Looks good — execute for real?"

Using environment variables (no flags needed for connection)

export OPENPROJECT_BASE_URL=https://openproject.example.com
export OPENPROJECT_API_KEY=your_token_here

python3 openproject_time_entry.py \
  --work-package-id 1296 \
  --date 2026-03-12