Let’s talk about the unpaid second job every freelance developer has. You finish a week of deep work, your code is clean, and the client is happy. Then comes the real task: piecing together what you actually did. You sift through browser history, half-stopped timer apps, and calendar appointments, trying to reconstruct your hours to justify an invoice. It’s frustrating, error-prone, and eats into time you could be spending on actual development or, you know, living your life.

I’ve been there. After years as a contractor, I realized my most valuable asset-my time-was also my biggest administrative headache. The tools available were either too simple, treating time tracking as a mere stopwatch, or too complex and expensive, designed for massive teams. As a solo developer or a small shop, you’re stuck in the middle. You need clarity, not complexity; insight, not intrusion.

So, I did what many of us do when we can't find the right tool: I built my own. Over three years of nights and weekends, I developed a system just for this purpose. I call it Ceki. It’s not a venture-capital-funded behemoth. It’s a practical, focused tool created by one developer for others in the same boat. And its core principle is simple: It helps you track time and money seamlessly, and it doesn’t charge you a cent for the privilege.

The Disconnect: When Your Tools Work Against You

The problem isn't a lack of tools. It's a lack of connection between them. Think about your typical workflow:

Time Tracking: One app (like Toggl or a notepad).

Task Management: Another (Jira, Trello, or GitHub issues).

Communication & Scheduling: Yet another (Email, Calendly, Slack).

Invoicing & Finance: A separate system entirely (QuickBooks, a spreadsheet).

You become the human API, manually transferring data from one silo to another. This isn't just inefficient; it's risky. How accurate was that time log? Did you remember to bill for that quick bug fix? Are you accidentally going over budget because you have no real-time view of hours spent versus hours quoted?

This disconnect creates what I call "profit leakage." You might be doing great work, but the administrative friction and guesswork slowly erode your actual earnings and your peace of mind.

Building a Unified Ledger: The Philosophy Behind the Code

When I started coding Ceki, I set non-negotiable rules for myself:

The Core Must Be Truly Free: Freelancers shouldn't pay a monthly tax just to measure and bill for their work. The essential functions-tracking time against projects, managing contracts, generating invoices-would have no paywall.

Time Must Equal Money, Instantly: Every hour logged must be directly linked to a specific client contract and a financial budget. This turns abstract "hours worked" into a clear "value delivered" and "revenue earned."

Transparency is Everything: The system should provide a single, unambiguous source of truth for you and, if you choose, your client. No more confusion about scope or billing.

Built for Focus, Not Distraction: The interface must be clean and fast. Starting a timer or logging time should take one click, not a context-switching expedition.

A Peek Under the Hood: A Solo-Dev Stack

As a one-person team, technology choices are critical. I needed a stack that was robust, efficient, and a joy to work with for the long haul.

Backend - Laravel (PHP): I chose Laravel for its elegant syntax and "batteries-included" philosophy. Its built-in features for authentication, database management (via Eloquent ORM), and clean MVC structure let me focus on business logic instead of boilerplate code. Handling the complex relationships between users, projects, time entries, and invoices is straightforward with Eloquent.

Frontend - Vue.js with Quasar: For a dynamic, dashboard-heavy app, Vue's reactive components are perfect. I paired it with the Quasar Framework, which provided a comprehensive set of high-quality, responsive UI components. This allowed me to build a professional, app-like interface quickly without getting bogged down in endless CSS.

Database - PostgreSQL: For any system dealing with financial data and complex queries, reliability is key. PostgreSQL’s stability and powerful features made it the only serious choice.

This stack isn't about chasing hype; it's about productivity and longevity. It allowed a solo developer to build something solid and maintainable.

How It Works in Practice: From Code to Cash

Let's make this concrete. Here’s how a typical freelance engagement flows in this system:

Phase 1: The Foundation – The Smart Contract You don't just start coding. You create a digital contract in the system with your client for "Mobile App Backend Development." Here, you set the crucial parameters: the hourly rate and, most importantly, the project budget in hours (e.g., 50 hours). This contract is your shared anchor for scope.

Phase 2: The Work – Tracking Against the Budget As you work on the "Design User Authentication API" task, you start the integrated timer. Instantly, the contract dashboard updates: "32 of 50 hours used. Budget Remaining: 18 hours." You're no longer just tracking time; you're actively managing a financial resource. This real-time visibility prevents nasty surprises at the end of the project.

Phase 3: The Invoice – An Automatic Report When it's time to bill, the chaos is gone. You go to the completed contract. The system already has a precise, tamper-proof log of every time entry, with your notes. You click "Generate Invoice." It instantly creates a clean, professional PDF listing all work, totaling the hours, applying the rate, and calculating the amount due. What was once a half-day chore is now a two-minute task.

Phase 4: The Portfolio – Proof, Not Promises With a client's agreement, completed contracts can be showcased on a public profile. This becomes a verifiable track record: "Built a secure backend for X app within a 50-hour budget." For winning new business, this proof-of-work is far more compelling than a list of self-described skills.

The "Free" Question: How Does This Last?

It's a fair question. The model is inspired by open-core principles, aligned with the indie developer ethos.

The Core Engine Stays Free: Time tracking, contract/budget management, invoicing, and public profiles will remain free for individual developers and small teams. Period.

Sustainable Growth Through Added Value: Future development will focus on advanced features that larger teams or agencies need and are willing to pay for: sophisticated analytics, multi-tier client dashboards, white-labeling, and deep API integrations. The free core remains untouched and fully capable.

The goal is to build an essential utility for the community. Success is measured by how many developers it helps, not by how much it extracts from them.

A Challenge for Your Next Sprint

If you bill by the hour, do a quick audit. This week, note:

The minutes lost daily to switching apps to track time.

The hours spent at week's end compiling data for invoicing.

The mental energy spent estimating if you're on budget.

That's pure overhead. That's the tax a fragmented system imposes on your business. A unified ledger isn't a luxury; it's infrastructure that pays for itself by giving you back your most finite resources: time and focus.

The Bottom Line: Own Your Process

We are builders. We automate tasks for our clients every day. It's time we applied that same engineering mindset to the business side of our own work. You deserve a system that connects the dots from the first line of code to the final payment, providing clarity and control.

Ceki is my attempt at building that system. It’s the tool I needed, built with a stack I trust, and shared with a community I understand. It’s available now at https://ceki.me. Stop letting administrative friction be your biggest technical debt. Start working with a ledger that puts time and money on the same page, where they belong.