Resources · Make integration

RescueTime Make integrationAutomate RescueTime with Make.

What if your time data moved on its own instead of waiting in a dashboard? The RescueTime Make integration gives you 10 modules: 4 scheduled triggers and 6 actions. This guide is for anyone who tracks focus with RescueTime and wants to connect an account, then build a first working scenario.

Try the RescueTime integration on MakeSee the 10 modules

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What you can automate

What can the RescueTime Make integration do for you?

The RescueTime Make integration links your RescueTime account to Make, a no-code tool where you chain steps into a scenario, the automation you build. Each step is a module: a trigger that watches RescueTime or an action that writes to it. You pick modules from a list and fill in forms, without writing code.

Complete your week with the hours away from the screen. RescueTime only sees what happens on your devices. When a client call ends in another app, a scenario can run Create an Offline Time Record so that time shows up next to the rest.

Send the day's numbers where your team reads them. Watch Daily Summary Reports picks up each new summary, and the next module can post it in a chat tool or add a row to a sheet. For deeper cuts, Generate an Analytic Report pulls data with the scope you choose.

Protect deep work from other tools. On a Premium account, Start a FocusTime Session and End a FocusTime Session let another event open or close a focus block, while Watch FocusTime Sessions tells the rest of your stack when one begins or ends.

A few limits are worth knowing. Watch Alerts, Watch FocusTime Sessions, Watch Highlight Events and three of the actions are reserved for RescueTime Premium users. All four triggers are scheduled, so Make checks RescueTime at intervals rather than hearing from it the moment something happens. The same app often exists in n8n as well; the n8n vs Make comparison lays out the differences, and the Make review or Make training help you judge Make itself.

Connect

How do you connect RescueTime to Make?

  1. 01

    Add a RescueTime module

    In a new scenario, click the +, search for RescueTime and pick any module. Then click Create a connection. A connection is your RescueTime account linked to Make once and reused by every RescueTime module afterward.

  2. 02

    Name the connection

    Give the connection a name if you like, such as the account owner's name. This step is optional, yet it helps later when several people or several RescueTime accounts share the same Make organization.

  3. 03

    Authorize and save

    Follow what RescueTime asks for: approve Make on the RescueTime page that opens, or paste the key RescueTime gives you. Click Save, and the module can now read and write your RescueTime data.

First scenario

Build your first scenario: log offline time from another app

GoalWhen a meeting or call is recorded in another app, Make adds it to RescueTime as offline time.

  1. 01

    Create the scenario

    Open the Scenarios page, create a new scenario and click the + to add the first module. This first module is where the scenario starts.

  2. 02

    Pick the starting app

    Choose the app that knows about your meetings or calls, pick its trigger and create its connection. Each item it passes on is a bundle, one record handed to the next module.

  3. 03

    Add the RescueTime action

    Click the + to the right of that module, search for RescueTime and choose Create an Offline Time Record. Connect your account, then map the data from the first module into the fields Make displays.

  4. 04

    Test with Run once

    Click Run once to execute the scenario a single time. Open the bubble above each module to read the bundles it received, then check that the record appears in RescueTime.

  5. 05

    Schedule and switch on

    Set the schedule on the first module; a new scenario runs every 15 minutes by default. Switch the scenario on. Each module run on each bundle counts as one operation on your Make plan.

Triggers

What can start a RescueTime scenario?

4 modules start a scenario when something happens in RescueTime. A scheduled trigger is checked by Make on the scenario's schedule; an instant one is called by RescueTime as soon as it happens.

RescueTime1Watch Alerts

Watch Alerts

Scheduled trigger

In Make“Triggers by user defined alerts. Only for RescueTime Premium users.”

This trigger turns the alerts you defined in RescueTime into the start of a scenario, so a goal you set for yourself can lead to an action elsewhere, like a message to a teammate or a line in a tracking sheet.

How it fires
scheduled, so Make checks RescueTime on the scenario's schedule and collects the alerts raised since the last check.
When to use it
you already rely on RescueTime alerts and want them to reach a place you look at more often than the RescueTime app.
Watch out
the doc reserves it for RescueTime Premium users, so check the account plan before you build on it.
RescueTime2Watch Daily Summary Reports

Watch Daily Summary Reports

Scheduled trigger

In Make“Triggers by new daily summary report.”

Each new daily summary report becomes a bundle you can send, store or reshape, which gives you a written trace of every tracked day outside RescueTime without copying anything by hand.

How it fires
scheduled; Make checks RescueTime on the scenario's schedule and passes along any summary it has not seen yet.
When to use it
you want each day's figures archived in a spreadsheet or posted to a channel where a manager or coach reads them.
Watch out
it is the only trigger the doc does not reserve for Premium users, which makes it the likely starting point on a free RescueTime account.
RescueTime3Watch FocusTime Sessions

Watch FocusTime Sessions

Scheduled trigger

In Make“Triggers by started or ended FocusTime sessions. Only for RescueTime Premium users.”

You learn inside Make when a FocusTime session starts or ends, which lets the rest of your tools follow your focus: a status that changes, a notification that pauses, a log entry that records the block.

How it fires
scheduled, which means Make polls RescueTime on the scenario's schedule and picks up sessions started or ended since its previous pass.
When to use it
you want colleagues or other apps to know you are heads down without announcing it yourself.
Watch out
reserved for RescueTime Premium users, and a session may be noticed a little after it begins, depending on the schedule.
RescueTime4Watch Highlight Events

Watch Highlight Events

Scheduled trigger

In Make“Triggers by new highlighted events. Only for RescueTime Premium users.”

Every new highlight event recorded in RescueTime reaches your scenario as a bundle, so it can feed a journal, a team update or a shared progress document without any copying.

How it fires
scheduled; on the scenario's schedule, Make asks RescueTime for highlights added since the last run.
When to use it
you write highlights as a record of progress and want them gathered somewhere your team or client can read.
Watch out
only RescueTime Premium users can use it, and if you also create highlights through Make, avoid sending them back into the same scenario.
Modules

What can Make do in RescueTime?

RescueTime gives you 6 modules. For each one: what it does for you, when to reach for it, and what to watch out for.

RescueTime1

Create a Highlight Event

Action

In Make“Creates a highlight event. Only for RescueTime Premium users.”

Your scenario writes a highlight into RescueTime, so a finished milestone recorded in another tool also lands in your time history, next to the hours that produced it.

When to use it
a task is closed in your project tool and you want that win visible when you review your day.
Watch out
RescueTime Premium users only, and pairing it with Watch Highlight Events in one scenario would feed it its own output.
RescueTime2

Create an Offline Time Record

Action

In Make“Creates an offline time record.”

Time spent away from your devices gets added to RescueTime, so calls, workshops or site visits count alongside screen time instead of leaving holes in the day.

When to use it
a meeting ends in your calendar or a call is logged in your phone system, and you want that time tracked without typing it in.
Watch out
make sure the same event cannot reach this module twice, or the time is counted twice.
RescueTime3

End a FocusTime Session

Action

In Make“Ends a FocusTime session. Only for RescueTime Premium users.”

This action closes a running FocusTime session from Make, so the focus block stops as soon as another tool says it should, not when you remember to click.

When to use it
a meeting is about to start or a support ticket arrives, and you want focus to stop without reaching for the RescueTime app.
Watch out
reserved for RescueTime Premium users, so check the account plan before you build around it.
RescueTime4

Generate an Analytic Report

Action

In Make“Generates an analytic report with various scopes of data.”

You get RescueTime data back as a report whose scope you choose, ready for the next module to write into a sheet, send by email or pass to a dashboard tool.

When to use it
the daily summary is too coarse and you need a detailed view for a client invoice, a retrospective or your own analysis.
Watch out
the content depends on the scope you pick, so test with Run once and inspect the bundles before mapping them into another app.
RescueTime5

Make an API Call

Action

In Make“Performs an arbitrary authorized API call.”

When none of the listed modules covers your need, this one calls any endpoint of the RescueTime API while reusing the connection you already set up, so you avoid handling keys yourself.

When to use it
you know the RescueTime API offers something the other nine modules do not, and you are comfortable reading its documentation.
Watch out
you build the request yourself, so check the RescueTime API docs for the path and the data it expects.
RescueTime6

Start a FocusTime Session

Action

In Make“Starts a FocusTime Session. Only for RescueTime Premium users.”

This action opens a FocusTime session from Make, so another tool can put you into a focus block without you opening RescueTime at all.

When to use it
a writing block begins in your calendar, or you move a card to an "in progress" column, and focus should follow automatically.
Watch out
RescueTime Premium users only, and a scenario that also watches FocusTime sessions should not restart a session each time it sees one.
Need help

Need help automating RescueTime with Make?

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FAQ

RescueTime and Make: frequent questions

01Is the RescueTime Make integration free?
Yes, on the Make side. RescueTime is a standard app, available from the Make Free plan. That plan allows 2 active scenarios, a minimum of 15 minutes between scheduled runs, up to 5 minutes of execution per run, files up to 5 MB and 512 MB of data transfer. Paid plans lower the interval to 1 minute and remove the cap on active scenarios. On the RescueTime side, several modules require a Premium account: the alert, FocusTime and highlight triggers and the highlight and FocusTime actions.
02What do you need to connect RescueTime to Make?
You need a RescueTime account and a Make account. The Make documentation lists no other prerequisite for this app. You add any RescueTime module, click Create a connection, optionally name it, then approve Make on the RescueTime page or paste the key RescueTime provides, and click Save. The connection is created once and reused by every RescueTime module in your scenarios. If you plan to use FocusTime, alerts or highlights, check that the account is on RescueTime Premium.
03Do RescueTime triggers in Make fire instantly?
No. All four RescueTime triggers are scheduled, which means Make checks RescueTime on the scenario's schedule rather than being called by RescueTime when something happens. A new scenario runs every 15 minutes by default. On the Free plan, 15 minutes is also the shortest interval; paid plans can go down to 1 minute. Keep that delay in mind for FocusTime scenarios, where a session may be picked up some time after it starts.
04What if the RescueTime module you need is missing in Make?
Use Make an API Call. It exists for RescueTime and lets a scenario reach any endpoint of the RescueTime API with the same connection as the other modules. You write the request yourself, so the RescueTime API documentation becomes your reference. The Make documentation gives no numeric limit for this app. If the gap comes from your RescueTime plan rather than from Make, for example a Premium-only feature, the API call will not bypass it.
05Should you use Make or n8n for RescueTime?
It depends on the tool your team already works in. The same app often has an n8n node, so both can usually connect RescueTime to the rest of your stack. On Make, you get 10 ready modules, including 4 scheduled triggers and Make an API Call for anything else. Compare which modules and triggers each side offers for your use case, and choose the platform where your other scenarios already live, so your automations stay in one place.
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