How to automatically beemind not using my computer late at night

Tech
1

I want to beemind not using my computer late at night, say after 10 p.m. Do-Zero Goals Considered Harmful advises making a Do-More goal with a rate of one per day. How can I automatically supply the data to Beeminder for this?

Here is one idea. Make the deadline for the goal 5 a.m. and create a startup script that (1) schedules shutdown at 10 p.m. and (2) tells Beeminder I have failed if the time is between 10 p.m. and 4 a.m. That way my computer will automatically switch off at 10 p.m. and will alert Beeminder if I switch it back on before the next day.

Is there a better way to automate this goal? If not what would a script to tell Beeminder I have failed for that day look like?

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2

What you suggest sounds perfect.

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I agree, what you suggest sounds great. For sending data points to beeminder via a script, I use GitHub - lydgate/bmndr: Simple python CLI for beeminder.com which hasn’t been updated in a long time but still works perfectly for me. (Since you mention writing a script, I am assuming that you will know what to do with the above link, but if that assumption is unwarranted, I or others would be very willing to help answer questions or walk you through getting it set up.) I think there are a few other such tools floating around, maybe someone else will chime in if they have another suggestion.

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4

I use pyminder! Definitely recommended if you are comfortable with python.

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Thank you for your suggestions. I think bmndr and pyminder would be overkill; instead, I am using the following script.

#!/usr/bin/env python3
"""If the time is after the curfew derail the Beeminder goal therefor."""
import datetime

import requests

now = datetime.datetime.now()
if 19 <= now.hour or now.hour < 3:
    requests.post(
        "https://www.beeminder.com/api/v1/users/me/goals/curfew/datapoints.json",
        {"auth_token": "<redacted>", "value": -1},
    )

I hope this is the last time I comment at this hour (after 9 p.m. where I am)!

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