Regex with ^ doesn't work for title key

[istudyatuni]

• I am on the latest ActivityWatch version.
• I have searched the issues of this repo and believe that this is not a duplicate.

• OS name and version: NixOS unstable (nixpkgs 2025-05-25)
• ActivityWatch version: v0.13.2 (rust)

Describe the bug

When I create "Category" rule of type "Regular expression" which starts with ^, it doesn't match anything

To Reproduce

1. Go to settings
2. Add new rule
3. Write title of any not yet matched app and prepend it with ^ (so, if app name is "App Name", regex should be ^App Name), and set some color
4. Go to Timeline and see that app is not highlighted

Expected behavior

App is categorized

Documentation

There are no related logs in browser's console

Additional context

$ works

[github-actions]

Hi there!
As you're new to this repo, please make sure you've used an appropriate issue template and searched for duplicates (it helps us focus on actual development!). We'd also like to suggest that you read our contribution guidelines and our code of conduct.
Thanks a bunch for opening your first issue! 🙏

[BelKed]

Can't reproduce on my v0.13.2 (rust)

[istudyatuni]

What's your system?

[istudyatuni]

So, I tested more. I'm trying to write rules for aw-watcher-window. Regex, which starts with ^ works for app, but not for title

[BelKed]

Nope, you're very likely doing something incorrectly.
The OS doesn't matter, as the coloring categorisation is done on the server.
I'm on macOS though.

Ideally share exact RegEx-es you're using with the app name and title reported by AW.

[istudyatuni]

coloring categorisation is done on the server

Is it?

Example: regex ^lazyjj, report:

• app: Alacritty
• title: lazyjj

[istudyatuni]

Well...

// NOTE: this will not work/break category rules which reference `$` or `^`
return getCategoryColorFromString(e.data.app + ' ' + e.data.title);

[BelKed]

Ohh, sorry, I've confused it with something else :(
Great catch and thanks for finding the root cause :)