Automatic recognition of drilling activities based on daily reported operational codes includes obtaining a drilling report for a well. The drilling report includes codes. The method further includes obtaining a template comprising rules comprising a rule. The rule maps one or more codes of the multiple codes from the drilling report to an activity label of activity labels. Mapping the activity labels to the drilling report is performed using the rules to identify an occurrence of an activity from the drilling report with the activity label. An activity list is presented that includes the activity label with timing information for the activity at the well.