diff --git a/src/timekeep/parser.test.ts b/src/timekeep/parser.test.ts
index b2c97a6..8633db1 100644
--- a/src/timekeep/parser.test.ts
+++ b/src/timekeep/parser.test.ts
@@ -152,6 +152,15 @@ describe("loading timekeep", () => {
 		expect(errorResult.error).toBe("Failed to parse timekeep JSON");
 	});
 
+	it("should tolerate a timekeep with leading or trailing whitespaces", () => {
+		const input = `
+		      \`\`\`timekeep
+		 \`\`\` 
+		`;
+		// Start not code fences
+		replaceTimekeepCodeblock({ entries: [] }, input, 1, 2);
+	});
+
 	it("should give error on invalid timekeep (validation)", () => {
 		const data = `{"entries":[{"startTime":"2024-03-17T01:33:51.630Z","endTime":"2024-03-17T01:33:55.151Z","subEntries":null}]}`;
 
diff --git a/src/timekeep/parser.ts b/src/timekeep/parser.ts
index 788409e..c5f3c4b 100644
--- a/src/timekeep/parser.ts
+++ b/src/timekeep/parser.ts
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ export function extractTimekeepCodeblocks(value: string): Timekeep[] {
 		const startLine = lines[i];
 
 		// Skip lines till a timekeep block is found
-		if (!startLine.startsWith("```timekeep")) {
+		if (!startLine.trim().startsWith("```timekeep")) {
 			continue;
 		}
 
@@ -108,7 +108,7 @@ export function replaceTimekeepCodeblock(
 	const lines = content.split("\n");
 
 	// Sanity checks to prevent overriding content
-	if (!lines[lineStart].startsWith("```")) {
+	if (!lines[lineStart].trim().startsWith("```")) {
 		throw new Error(
 			"Content timekeep out of sync, line number for codeblock start doesn't match: " +
 				content[lineStart]