hledger/hledger-web/hledger-web.txt

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HLEDGER-WEB(1) hledger User Manuals HLEDGER-WEB(1)
NAME
hledger-web - robust, friendly plain text accounting (Web version)
SYNOPSIS
hledger-web [OPTIONS] # run temporarily & browse
hledger-web --serve [OPTIONS] # run without stopping
hledger-web --serve-api [OPTIONS] # run JSON server only
hledger web -- [OPTIONS] [QUERYARGS] # start from hledger
DESCRIPTION
This manual is for hledger's web interface, version 1.29.99. See also
the hledger manual for common concepts and file formats.
hledger is a robust, user-friendly, cross-platform set of programs for
tracking money, time, or any other commodity, using double-entry
accounting and a simple, editable file format. hledger is inspired by
and largely compatible with ledger(1), and largely interconvertible
with beancount(1).
hledger-web is a simple web application for browsing and adding trans-
actions. It provides a more user-friendly UI than the hledger CLI or
hledger-ui TUI, showing more at once (accounts, the current account
register, balance charts) and allowing history-aware data entry, inter-
active searching, and bookmarking.
hledger-web also lets you share a journal with multiple users, or even
the public web. There is no access control, so if you need that you
should put it behind a suitable web proxy. As a small protection
against data loss when running an unprotected instance, it writes a
numbered backup of the main journal file (only) on every edit.
Like hledger, it reads data from one or more files in journal, time-
clock, timedot, or CSV format. The default file is .hledger.journal in
your home directory; this can be overridden with one or more -f FILE
options, or the LEDGER_FILE environment variable. For more about this
see hledger(1).
hledger-web can be run in three modes:
o Transient mode (the default): your default web browser will be opened
to show the app if possible, and the app exits automatically after
two minutes of inactivity (no requests received and no open browser
windows viewing it).
o With --serve: the app runs without stopping, and without opening a
browser.
o With --serve-api: only the JSON API is served.
In all cases hledger-web runs as a foreground process, logging requests
to stdout.
OPTIONS
Command-line options and arguments may be used to set an initial filter
on the data. These filter options are not shown in the web UI, but it
will be applied in addition to any search query entered there.
Note: if invoking hledger-web as a hledger subcommand, write -- before
options, as shown in the synopsis above.
--serve
serve and log requests, don't browse or auto-exit after timeout
--serve-api
like --serve, but serve only the JSON web API, without the
server-side web UI
--host=IPADDR
listen on this IP address (default: 127.0.0.1)
--port=PORT
listen on this TCP port (default: 5000)
--socket=SOCKETFILE
use a unix domain socket file to listen for requests instead of
a TCP socket. Implies --serve. It can only be used if the
operating system can provide this type of socket.
--base-url=URL
set the base url (default: http://IPADDR:PORT). Note: affects
url generation but not route parsing. Can be useful if running
behind a reverse web proxy that does path rewriting.
--file-url=URL
set the static files url (default: BASEURL/static). hledger-web
normally serves static files itself, but if you wanted to serve
them from another server for efficiency, you would set the url
with this.
--capabilities=CAP[,CAP..]
enable the view, add, and/or manage capabilities (default:
view,add)
--capabilities-header=HTTPHEADER
read capabilities to enable from a HTTP header, like X-Sand-
storm-Permissions (default: disabled)
--test run hledger-web's tests and exit. hspec test runner args may
follow a --, eg: hledger-web --test -- --help
hledger input options:
-f FILE --file=FILE
use a different input file. For stdin, use - (default:
$LEDGER_FILE or $HOME/.hledger.journal)
--rules-file=RULESFILE
Conversion rules file to use when reading CSV (default:
FILE.rules)
--separator=CHAR
Field separator to expect when reading CSV (default: ',')
--alias=OLD=NEW
rename accounts named OLD to NEW
--anon anonymize accounts and payees
--pivot FIELDNAME
use some other field or tag for the account name
-I --ignore-assertions
disable balance assertion checks (note: does not disable balance
assignments)
-s --strict
do extra error checking (check that all posted accounts are
declared)
hledger reporting options:
-b --begin=DATE
include postings/txns on or after this date (will be adjusted to
preceding subperiod start when using a report interval)
-e --end=DATE
include postings/txns before this date (will be adjusted to fol-
lowing subperiod end when using a report interval)
-D --daily
multiperiod/multicolumn report by day
-W --weekly
multiperiod/multicolumn report by week
-M --monthly
multiperiod/multicolumn report by month
-Q --quarterly
multiperiod/multicolumn report by quarter
-Y --yearly
multiperiod/multicolumn report by year
-p --period=PERIODEXP
set start date, end date, and/or reporting interval all at once
using period expressions syntax
--date2
match the secondary date instead (see command help for other
effects)
--today=DATE
override today's date (affects relative smart dates, for
tests/examples)
-U --unmarked
include only unmarked postings/txns (can combine with -P or -C)
-P --pending
include only pending postings/txns
-C --cleared
include only cleared postings/txns
-R --real
include only non-virtual postings
-NUM --depth=NUM
hide/aggregate accounts or postings more than NUM levels deep
-E --empty
show items with zero amount, normally hidden (and vice-versa in
hledger-ui/hledger-web)
-B --cost
convert amounts to their cost/selling amount at transaction time
-V --market
convert amounts to their market value in default valuation com-
modities
-X --exchange=COMM
convert amounts to their market value in commodity COMM
--value
convert amounts to cost or market value, more flexibly than
-B/-V/-X
--infer-market-prices
use transaction prices (recorded with @ or @@) as additional
market prices, as if they were P directives
--auto apply automated posting rules to modify transactions.
--forecast
generate future transactions from periodic transaction rules,
for the next 6 months or till report end date. In hledger-ui,
also make ordinary future transactions visible.
--commodity-style
Override the commodity style in the output for the specified
commodity. For example 'EUR1.000,00'.
--color=WHEN (or --colour=WHEN)
Should color-supporting commands use ANSI color codes in text
output. 'auto' (default): whenever stdout seems to be a color-
supporting terminal. 'always' or 'yes': always, useful eg when
piping output into 'less -R'. 'never' or 'no': never. A
NO_COLOR environment variable overrides this.
--pretty[=WHEN]
Show prettier output, e.g. using unicode box-drawing charac-
ters. Accepts 'yes' (the default) or 'no' ('y', 'n', 'always',
'never' also work). If you provide an argument you must use
'=', e.g. '--pretty=yes'.
When a reporting option appears more than once in the command line, the
last one takes precedence.
Some reporting options can also be written as query arguments.
hledger help options:
-h --help
show general or COMMAND help
--man show general or COMMAND user manual with man
--info show general or COMMAND user manual with info
--version
show general or ADDONCMD version
--debug[=N]
show debug output (levels 1-9, default: 1)
A @FILE argument will be expanded to the contents of FILE, which should
contain one command line option/argument per line. (To prevent this,
insert a -- argument before.)
By default the server listens on IP address 127.0.0.1, accessible only
to local requests. You can use --host to change this, eg --host
0.0.0.0 to listen on all configured addresses.
Similarly, use --port to set a TCP port other than 5000, eg if you are
running multiple hledger-web instances.
Both of these options are ignored when --socket is used. In this case,
it creates an AF_UNIX socket file at the supplied path and uses that
for communication. This is an alternative way of running multiple
hledger-web instances behind a reverse proxy that handles authentica-
tion for different users. The path can be derived in a predictable
way, eg by using the username within the path. As an example, nginx as
reverse proxy can use the variable $remote_user to derive a path from
the username used in a HTTP basic authentication. The following
proxy_pass directive allows access to all hledger-web instances that
created a socket in /tmp/hledger/:
proxy_pass http://unix:/tmp/hledger/${remote_user}.socket;
You can use --base-url to change the protocol, hostname, port and path
that appear in hyperlinks, useful eg for integrating hledger-web within
a larger website. The default is http://HOST:PORT/ using the server's
configured host address and TCP port (or http://HOST if PORT is 80).
With --file-url you can set a different base url for static files, eg
for better caching or cookie-less serving on high performance websites.
PERMISSIONS
By default, hledger-web allows anyone who can reach it to view the
journal and to add new transactions, but not to change existing data.
You can restrict who can reach it by
o setting the IP address it listens on (see --host above). By default
it listens on 127.0.0.1, accessible to all users on the local
machine.
o putting it behind an authenticating proxy, using eg apache or nginx
o custom firewall rules
You can restrict what the users who reach it can do, by
o using the --capabilities=CAP[,CAP..] flag when you start it, enabling
one or more of the following capabilities. The default value is
view,add:
o view - allows viewing the journal file and all included files
o add - allows adding new transactions to the main journal file
o manage - allows editing, uploading or downloading the main or
included files
o using the --capabilities-header=HTTPHEADER flag to specify a HTTP
header from which it will read capabilities to enable. hledger-web
on Sandstorm uses the X-Sandstorm-Permissions header to integrate
with Sandstorm's permissions. This is disabled by default.
EDITING, UPLOADING, DOWNLOADING
If you enable the manage capability mentioned above, you'll see a new
"spanner" button to the right of the search form. Clicking this will
let you edit, upload, or download the journal file or any files it
includes.
Note, unlike any other hledger command, in this mode you (or any visi-
tor) can alter or wipe the data files.
Normally whenever a file is changed in this way, hledger-web saves a
numbered backup (assuming file permissions allow it, the disk is not
full, etc.) hledger-web is not aware of version control systems, cur-
rently; if you use one, you'll have to arrange to commit the changes
yourself (eg with a cron job or a file watcher like entr).
Changes which would leave the journal file(s) unparseable or non-valid
(eg with failing balance assertions) are prevented. (Probably. This
needs re-testing.)
RELOADING
hledger-web detects changes made to the files by other means (eg if you
edit it directly, outside of hledger-web), and it will show the new
data when you reload the page or navigate to a new page. If a change
makes a file unparseable, hledger-web will display an error message
until the file has been fixed.
(Note: if you are viewing files mounted from another machine, make sure
that both machine clocks are roughly in step.)
JSON API
In addition to the web UI, hledger-web also serves a JSON API that can
be used to get data or add new transactions. If you want the JSON API
only, you can use the --serve-api flag. Eg:
$ hledger-web -f examples/sample.journal --serve-api
...
You can get JSON data from these routes:
/version
/accountnames
/transactions
/prices
/commodities
/accounts
/accounttransactions/ACCOUNTNAME
Eg, all account names in the journal (similar to the accounts command).
(hledger-web's JSON does not include newlines, here we use python to
prettify it):
$ curl -s http://127.0.0.1:5000/accountnames | python -m json.tool
[
"assets",
"assets:bank",
"assets:bank:checking",
"assets:bank:saving",
"assets:cash",
"expenses",
"expenses:food",
"expenses:supplies",
"income",
"income:gifts",
"income:salary",
"liabilities",
"liabilities:debts"
]
Or all transactions:
$ curl -s http://127.0.0.1:5000/transactions | python -m json.tool
[
{
"tcode": "",
"tcomment": "",
"tdate": "2008-01-01",
"tdate2": null,
"tdescription": "income",
"tindex": 1,
"tpostings": [
{
"paccount": "assets:bank:checking",
"pamount": [
{
"acommodity": "$",
"aismultiplier": false,
"aprice": null,
...
Most of the JSON corresponds to hledger's data types; for details of
what the fields mean, see the Hledger.Data.Json haddock docs and click
on the various data types, eg Transaction. And for a higher level
understanding, see the journal docs.
In some cases there is outer JSON corresponding to a "Report" type. To
understand that, go to the Hledger.Web.Handler.MiscR haddock and look
at the source for the appropriate handler to see what it returns. Eg
for /accounttransactions it's getAccounttransactionsR, returning a
"accountTransactionsReport ...". Looking up the haddock for that we
can see that /accounttransactions returns an AccountTransactionsReport,
which consists of a report title and a list of AccountTransactionsRe-
portItem (etc).
You can add a new transaction to the journal with a PUT request to
/add, if hledger-web was started with the add capability (enabled by
default). The payload must be the full, exact JSON representation of a
hledger transaction (partial data won't do). You can get sample JSON
from hledger-web's /transactions or /accounttransactions, or you can
export it with hledger-lib, eg like so:
.../hledger$ stack ghci hledger-lib
>>> writeJsonFile "txn.json" (head $ jtxns samplejournal)
>>> :q
Here's how it looks as of hledger-1.17 (remember, this JSON corresponds
to hledger's Transaction and related data types):
{
"tcomment": "",
"tpostings": [
{
"pbalanceassertion": null,
"pstatus": "Unmarked",
"pamount": [
{
"aprice": null,
"acommodity": "$",
"aquantity": {
"floatingPoint": 1,
"decimalPlaces": 10,
"decimalMantissa": 10000000000
},
"aismultiplier": false,
"astyle": {
"ascommodityside": "L",
"asdigitgroups": null,
"ascommodityspaced": false,
"asprecision": 2,
"asdecimalpoint": "."
}
}
],
"ptransaction_": "1",
"paccount": "assets:bank:checking",
"pdate": null,
"ptype": "RegularPosting",
"pcomment": "",
"pdate2": null,
"ptags": [],
"poriginal": null
},
{
"pbalanceassertion": null,
"pstatus": "Unmarked",
"pamount": [
{
"aprice": null,
"acommodity": "$",
"aquantity": {
"floatingPoint": -1,
"decimalPlaces": 10,
"decimalMantissa": -10000000000
},
"aismultiplier": false,
"astyle": {
"ascommodityside": "L",
"asdigitgroups": null,
"ascommodityspaced": false,
"asprecision": 2,
"asdecimalpoint": "."
}
}
],
"ptransaction_": "1",
"paccount": "income:salary",
"pdate": null,
"ptype": "RegularPosting",
"pcomment": "",
"pdate2": null,
"ptags": [],
"poriginal": null
}
],
"ttags": [],
"tsourcepos": {
"tag": "JournalSourcePos",
"contents": [
"",
[
1,
1
]
]
},
"tdate": "2008-01-01",
"tcode": "",
"tindex": 1,
"tprecedingcomment": "",
"tdate2": null,
"tdescription": "income",
"tstatus": "Unmarked"
}
And here's how to test adding it with curl. This should add a new
entry to your journal:
$ curl http://127.0.0.1:5000/add -X PUT -H 'Content-Type: application/json' --data-binary @txn.json
DEBUG OUTPUT
Debug output
You can add --debug[=N] to the command line to log debug output. N
ranges from 1 (least output, the default) to 9 (maximum output). Typi-
cally you would start with 1 and increase until you are seeing enough.
Debug output goes to stderr, interleaved with the requests logged on
stdout. To capture debug output in a log file instead, you can usually
redirect stderr, eg:
hledger-web --debug=3 2>hledger-web.log.
ENVIRONMENT
LEDGER_FILE The journal file path when not specified with -f.
On unix computers, the default value is: ~/.hledger.journal.
A more typical value is something like ~/finance/YYYY.journal, where
~/finance is a version-controlled finance directory and YYYY is the
current year. Or, ~/finance/current.journal, where current.journal is
a symbolic link to YYYY.journal.
The usual way to set this permanently is to add a command to one of
your shell's startup files (eg ~/.profile):
export LEDGER_FILE=~/finance/current.journal`
On some Mac computers, there is a more thorough way to set environment
variables, that will also affect applications started from the GUI (eg,
Emacs started from a dock icon): In ~/.MacOSX/environment.plist, add an
entry like:
{
"LEDGER_FILE" : "~/finance/current.journal"
}
For this to take effect you might need to killall Dock, or reboot.
On Windows computers, the default value is probably C:\Users\YOUR-
NAME\.hledger.journal. You can change this by running a command like
this in a powershell window (let us know if you need to be an Adminis-
trator, and if this persists across a reboot):
> setx LEDGER_FILE "C:\Users\MyUserName\finance\2021.journal"
Or, change it in settings: see https://www.java.com/en/down-
load/help/path.html.
FILES
Reads data from one or more files in journal, timeclock, timedot, or
CSV format. The default file is .hledger.journal in your home direc-
tory; this can be overridden with one or more -f FILE options, or the
LEDGER_FILE environment variable.
BUGS
-f- doesn't work (hledger-web can't read from stdin).
Query arguments and some hledger options are ignored.
Does not work in text-mode browsers.
Does not work well on small screens.
REPORTING BUGS
Report bugs at http://bugs.hledger.org (or on the #hledger chat or
hledger mail list)
AUTHORS
Simon Michael <simon@joyful.com> and contributors.
See http://hledger.org/CREDITS.html
COPYRIGHT
Copyright 2007-2023 Simon Michael and contributors.
LICENSE
Released under GNU GPL v3 or later.
SEE ALSO
hledger(1), hledger-ui(1), hledger-web(1), ledger(1)
hledger-web-1.29.99 April 2023 HLEDGER-WEB(1)