Add labels for worktime type in time tracker

[christophmatt1]

Feature Description

Currently, the time tracker in Gitea only records the duration of tracked work, but it does not provide a way to categorize or label the type of worktime (e.g. development, review, meeting, documentation).

I would like to propose adding a feature that allows labeling of time entries. This would make reporting and analytics much more meaningful.

Possible Implementation

From a database perspective, there are two possible approaches:

1. Add a new table (e.g. time_tracker_label)
   • Stores label definitions for different types of worktime.
   • tracked_time entries would then reference this table via a foreign key.
2. Extend the existing label table with an additional type enum
   • Define a new enum for label type (e.g. issue, pull_request, time_entry).
   • tracked_time entries would then be linked with the appropriate label via a new relation.

Screenshots

No response

[lafriks]

I don't think the new table is needed as only a single label could be added to specific time entry so need to add a new column to the tracked_time table that would reference label

[lafriks]

Also I don't think a issue/pull_request needs separate label definitions

[christophmatt1]

It might make sense to have a predefined set of categories that can be managed at different levels:

• Repository level: project-specific categories
• Organization level: shared categories across all repositories in an org
• Global level: instance-wide defaults available everywhere
• Combined view: when logging time, the user would see all available categories from Repo + Org + Global scope.

When tracking time, users could then select one or multiple categories (1-n) from this predefined set.
This would keep reporting consistent while still allowing project-specific flexibility.

[christophmatt1]

I don't think the new table is needed as only a single label could be added to specific time entry so need to add a new column to the tracked_time table that would reference label

Defining labels only once globally or reducing it to a single column would remove the flexibility many users need.
That would make it little more than a text field.
With a separate relation table, labels can be scoped (Repo/Org/Global), reused, and combined (1-n), so both simple and more flexible use cases are supported.

[vsysoev]

May be comment will be better for tracking time. For ex:
2h review #<num> and short summary of work.

[christophmatt1]

May be comment will be better for tracking time. For ex: 2h review #<num> and short summary of work.

Yes, if I was mainly looking for a worklog, comments would be fine. But what I actually need is proper reporting and the ability to transfer the tracked time into an invoice. Right now I still do this manually, but with a simple label it could be automated. I’ve built myself a workaround with comments, but of course that only works as well as you manage to keep the format consistent.