DCT-OS

Daily cost tracking, done right.

No AI. No cloud. Your numbers never leave your laptop — by design.

DCT-OS is a cost tracking platform built for civil engineering — project managers, site engineers, and contractors who need to track daily costs without fighting enterprise software. SQLite-backed, self-hostable, and ready to deploy.

Features

• Project and cost code management
• Daily docket entry with resource rate lookups
• PDF-assisted manual entry (PDF viewer + form side-by-side)
• Project summary, cost code breakdown, and supplier spend reports
• Cost code budget tracking with burn-rate visuals
• Rate review at invoice time — confirm rates in the summary report and your resource rates stay current automatically
• Shared databases — open a .db file on a network drive, SharePoint, or OneDrive, and see who else has it open
• One-click backups, plus automatic rotating backups
• CSV and Excel export, CSV import
• REST API for all operations (documented)
• pip install dct-os — runs on Windows, macOS, and Linux

Installation (Windows)

You only need to do this once. After that, DCT-OS starts automatically every time you turn on your computer.

Option A: Let Claude install it for you

The easiest way if you'd rather not touch a command line. Claude Desktop can do the whole install for you — install it from that link, open it, and paste this:

Install the DCT-OS cost tracker on this Windows PC for me. Run: pip install
dct-os, then run: dct-os install. If Python isn't installed, download it from
python.org first (tick "Add Python to PATH"). When it's done, run: dct-os to
start it and open my browser.

Claude Desktop carries out each step for you (you'll okay the actions as it goes). Once it's finished, bookmark http://localhost:5000 and you're set.

No Claude Desktop? Paste the same prompt into claude.ai or the Claude phone app and it'll talk you through it step by step. Developers can paste it straight into Claude Code.

Option B: Do it yourself

Step 1: Install Python

1. Go to python.org/downloads
2. Click the big yellow Download Python button
3. Run the installer
4. Important: Tick the box that says "Add Python to PATH" at the bottom of the first screen
5. Click Install Now and wait for it to finish

Step 2: Install DCT-OS

1. Press the Windows key, type cmd, and press Enter to open a command prompt
2. Type the following and press Enter:

pip install dct-os

Wait for it to finish (you'll see some download progress, then it returns to the blinking cursor).

3. Type the following and press Enter:

dct-os install

You'll see a confirmation message. That's it. You're done with the command prompt and can close it.

Step 3: Start DCT-OS

Type the following and press Enter:

dct-os

Your browser will open to DCT-OS with demo data loaded. Have a click around.

From now on, DCT-OS starts automatically when you log in to Windows. No command prompt needed. Just open your browser and go to:

http://localhost:5000

Tip: Bookmark that address. It's your DCT-OS.

Updating

When a new version is available, a banner will appear at the top of DCT-OS. To update:

1. Open a command prompt (Windows key, type cmd, Enter)
2. Type:

pip install --upgrade dct-os

3. Close the command prompt. DCT-OS will use the new version next time it starts.

Your data is never touched during updates.

Uninstalling

To stop DCT-OS from starting automatically (your data is kept):

dct-os uninstall

To fully remove:

pip uninstall dct-os

Your database stays in your user folder at %LOCALAPPDATA%\DCT-OS\ unless you delete it manually.

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Installation (macOS / Linux)

pip install dct-os
dct-os

Your browser opens to http://localhost:5000. That's it.

Auto-start on login (dct-os install) is Windows-only for now — on Mac/Linux just run dct-os when you need it, or add it to your own startup mechanism.

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Sharing a database with your team

DCT-OS stores everything in a single .db file, and you can put that file anywhere — including a shared network drive, a SharePoint document library, or a synced OneDrive folder.

1. Click the database indicator in the header (the dot + filename next to the logo)
2. Browse to the shared folder and open the .db file — or create a new one there
3. Everyone on the team does the same. The indicator shows who else currently has the file open.

The honest fine print: SQLite (the database engine inside DCT-OS) is designed for one writer at a time. Two people reading is fine. Two people entering dockets at the same moment can collide — DCT-OS warns you with a banner when someone else has the file open, so coordinate who's entering data. For genuinely concurrent multi-user entry, a shared file isn't the right tool — that's what client-server databases are for.

Also note: sync services (OneDrive/SharePoint) sync the file between edits, not live. Best practice is one person entering at a time, and let the file sync before the next person starts.

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Quick Start (for developers)

pip install dct-os
dct-os

Your browser opens automatically to http://localhost:5000. Demo data loads on first run.

API reference: docs/API.md

Auto-start on Windows

dct-os install     # creates a silent startup entry
dct-os uninstall   # removes it (keeps your data)

Install from source

git clone https://github.com/h3ylis/dct-os.git
cd dct-os
pip install -e .
dct-os

Options

Environment variable	Default	Description
DCT_PORT	5000	Server port
DCT_HOST	127.0.0.1	Bind address
DCT_DATA_DIR	. (current dir)	Where to store the database
DCT_NO_SEED	unset	Set to 1 to start with an empty database

Optional: remote log reporting (self-hosted)

If you run several DCT-OS instances (site laptops, office PCs) you can have them report health and errors to a log collector that you operate — there is no built-in destination and DCT-OS sends nothing anywhere by default.

Environment variable	Default	Description
DCT_OS_LOG_URL	unset (feature off)	Base URL of your collector
DCT_OS_LOG_KEY	unset	Optional API key (X-ABLog-Key header)
DCT_OS_LOG_APP	dct-os	Name this instance reports as
DCT_OS_LOG_INTERVAL	300	Heartbeat seconds (0 = no heartbeat)

When enabled, DCT-OS POSTs JSON to {url}/api/v2/log (startup, unhandled errors with traceback, upgrade results) and {url}/api/v2/heartbeat (liveness). The schema is in dct_os/log_webhook.py — a few lines of Flask or any webhook receiver can accept it. Reporting is fire-and-forget and never affects the app if the collector is down.

Licence and Use

DCT-OS is released under the Business Source License 1.1.

What this means:

• Free for internal use — engineers, contractors, and organisations running it for their own cost tracking. Modify it, deploy it internally, use it on every project. No cost, no limits, no phone-home.
• Commercial licence required for hosted or embedded use — if you're offering DCT-OS to third parties as a service, bundling it into a product you sell, or reselling it, you need a commercial licence.
• Converts to Apache 2.0 after four years per release — every version eventually becomes fully open under the Apache Licence.

See LICENSING.md for the full breakdown of what's free and what needs a commercial licence.

For commercial licensing enquiries: commercial@dct-os.com

Contributing

We welcome contributions. All contributions require a signed Contributor License Agreement — the CLA bot prompts you automatically on your first pull request, and signing is a one-time comment.

See CONTRIBUTING.md for details.

Contact

• Commercial licensing: commercial@dct-os.com
• Bug reports and feature requests: GitHub Issues