Quickstart

1. Download & install

Windows: download the .msi installer and run it.

macOS: open the .dmg and drag TimeCheese into Applications. The app is unsigned, so the first time you open it you may need to right-click the app and choose Open instead of double-clicking — macOS Gatekeeper otherwise blocks it.

2. Request access

First time? Click New here? Request access on the sign-in screen. Enter your email, then the 6-digit code that arrives, then choose a password. You’ll land on a waiting for admin approval screen — ping your admin, and once they approve you, click Check again to get in. After that, just sign in with your email and password. See Getting access for the full walkthrough.

3. Log an entry

Pick a project, a date, a description, and a start/end time. TimeCheese validates the entry against a few rules:

• Times must fall within 09:00–18:00.
• Entries on the same day can’t overlap.
• A day is capped at 8 worked hours — the 12:00–13:00 lunch hour doesn’t count toward the total.

4. Optional — enable Pro (Jira Assistant + Ask)

The Jira Assistant runs an AI CLI that’s already installed on your machine, on your own subscription — either Claude Code or OpenAI Codex. Install one, then add the Atlassian MCP server to it:

TimeCheese detects the CLI automatically — the Jira tab lights up once it’s found. Pick which one to use under Settings → Jira agent; the default, Auto, uses whichever is installed.

The Jira tab has its own Model dropdown: the CLI’s own default, a preset, or Custom… for any model name you type. It’s remembered per CLI. Codex publishes no model list, so its presets are empty — type the name under Custom…. After each run, a line under the answer shows the model, tokens, cost and rate-limit reset, as far as that CLI reports them.

Ask needs no CLI — it answers from your own archived entries.