HumbleBee

Data and backups

HumbleBee stores your work time locally. You own the database, so you should also know how to back it up.

HumbleBee stores data in a local SQLite database. There is no required cloud account for the core workflow.

Default database path

By default, HumbleBee writes to:

~/.humblebee/humblebee.db

You can override the base directory with HUMBLEBEE_HOME:

HUMBLEBEE_HOME="$PWD/.humblebee-test" humblebee doctor

With that variable, the database path becomes:

$HUMBLEBEE_HOME/humblebee.db

Back up the database

Quit the GUI and stop any running timer before copying the database.

cp ~/.humblebee/humblebee.db ~/humblebee-backup.db

For regular backups, include the HumbleBee database in your normal computer backup system.

Switch databases in the GUI

The GUI includes database switching. Use it when you want to open a different local database file or create a new local workspace.

Switching Databases

Switch databases for CLI commands

Use HUMBLEBEE_HOME when you want a separate CLI workspace:

mkdir -p "$HOME/humblebee-client-a"
HUMBLEBEE_HOME="$HOME/humblebee-client-a" humblebee init
HUMBLEBEE_HOME="$HOME/humblebee-client-a" humblebee report

If the database is locked

A locked SQLite database usually means another process still has the file open, a previous app run did not close cleanly, or the database is on storage with unusual locking behavior.

Try this order:

  1. Quit all HumbleBee windows and terminals running HumbleBee.
  2. Wait a few seconds and open HumbleBee again.
  3. Run humblebee doctor.
  4. Back up the database before trying repair actions.

Avoid putting the active database directly in a sync folder that may lock or rewrite files while HumbleBee is running.