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Builders & Technical Leaders
Erik Bjäreholt
Founder & CEO |Superuser Labs
Creator of ActivityWatch (17k stars, open-source time tracker) and gptme (4.2k stars, terminal AI agent). Advocates privacy-first, local-first software.
Biography
Deep Research
Erik Bjäreholt is a Swedish open-source developer, founder of Superuser Labs, and creator of ActivityWatch and gptme. He started building ActivityWatch in 2014 out of frustration with RescueTime's closed-source model, lack of privacy, and limited extensibility. The project grew into the most popular free and open-source automated time tracker, with 17,000+ GitHub stars, 400,000+ downloads, and citations in 50+ academic papers. In 2023 he created gptme, one of the earliest terminal-based AI agent CLIs (now 4,200+ stars), positioning it as an open-source alternative to Claude Code and Cursor Agents. He holds an MSc in Computer Science from Lund University (LTH), where his thesis classified developer brain activity using EEG combined with ActivityWatch data. He was the first hire at Lovable (formerly GPT Engineer) but left in 2024 to return to Superuser Labs full-time. He also maintains uniswap-python (a DeFi library), eeg-notebooks (democratizing cognitive neuroscience), and the resource page 'Are Copilots Local Yet?'. Based in Lund, Sweden, he is a vocal advocate for local-first software, privacy-first architecture, and the power of individual open-source contributors augmented by AI.
Open-Source Time TrackingPrivacy-First SoftwareAI Agents & CLI ToolsLocal-First ArchitectureQuantified SelfBrain-Computer InterfacesLLM CopilotsAutonomous AI AgentsAlgorithmic Trading & DeFiDeveloper Productivity
Timeline
13 Research13 total
2025
2024
2023
2021
2017
2016
Key Contributions
ActivityWatch
The best free and open-source automated time tracker. Cross-platform, extensible, and privacy-focused with 17,000+ GitHub stars, 400,000+ downloads, and 50+ academic citations.
gptme
An open-source terminal-based AI agent that writes code, uses the terminal, browses the web, and supports vision. One of the earliest agent CLIs (Spring 2023), with 4,200+ GitHub stars.
Are Copilots Local Yet?
A curated resource tracking the frontier of local LLM copilots for code completion, project generation, and shell assistance. 590+ GitHub stars.
uniswap-python
A Python wrapper for Uniswap DEX smart contracts, grant-funded by Uniswap, enabling programmatic DeFi trading.
eeg-notebooks
Open-source neuroscience project democratizing cognitive neuroscience experiments using consumer EEG devices.
Bob (gptme-agent-template)
A 24/7 autonomous AI agent running on VM infrastructure, built on top of the gptme framework, with 1,000+ autonomous sessions completed.
Notable Quotes
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I started building ActivityWatch because I was frustrated with RescueTime.
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My data wasn't mine. RescueTime stores everything on their servers.
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A free, open-source, privacy-first time tracker that keeps your data on your device and lets you extend it however you want.
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It wasn't open source. When I found bugs — like Xbox controller input being tracked incorrectly — I couldn't fix them myself.
11 sources(click to expand)
ErikBjare (Erik Bjäreholt) - GitHub ProfileErik Bjäreholt - Personal WebsiteActivityWatch vs RescueTime - Why I Built a Free Open-Source AlternativeActivityWatch - Official Websitegptme - GitHub RepositorySuperuser LabsAre Copilots Local Yet? - GitHub RepositoryErik Bjäreholt - ResearchGate ProfileA User's Guide to Erik Bjäreholtgptme - MIT AI Agent IndexErik Bjäreholt - GitHub README Profile
Research generated March 19, 2026
Builders & Technical Leaders/Erik Bjäreholt
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