rust_ledger

command line accounting tool

As a former CPA, I could not resist building my own accounting system.

PRs and issues are certainly welcome. I use this tool to keep track of my personal finances but would sincerely appreciate feedback on how to make it more useful for others.

Summary

• Spiritual port of ledger
• Uses double-entry accounting paradigm
• Small feature set based on typical use cases
• Uses yaml files as data store
• Includes a tool to convert csv files to yaml format

Use

• install via cargo - cargo install rust_ledger
• this command will install the binary at ~/.cargo/bin/
• copy the rust_ledger binary to your path: /usr/bin

Alternatively, clone this repo and do the following:

• if Rust is not installed on your machine, follow the instructions on how to do that here: https://www.rust-lang.org/tools/install
• run cargo build --release to compile the binary
• go to /target/release and copy the rust_ledger binary in your path: /usr/bin
• run rust_ledger run LEDGER_FILE_PATH COMMAND OPTION where the following:
  • LEDGERFILEPATH - relative path to location of yaml ledger file
  • COMMAND - ledger command (accounts, balance, register, or csv)
  • OPTION - allows you to filter the output of the register command by account type. For example, if you wish to only see "expense" transactions in the output, you would pass in expense as the option here.

Test

• cargo test

API

• accounts
  • lists accounts
  • example output:

account | account_type checking | asset savings | asset credit_card | liability equity | equity expense_auto | expense expense_computer | expense expense_food | expense expense_gasoline | expense expense_pets | expense expense_amazon | expense expense_home | expense expense_general | expense income_general | income

• balance
  • lists account balances to date
  • example output:

account_type | account | balance asset | checking | 1,500 asset | savings | 2,000 liability | credit_card | -456 equity | equity | -3,500 expense | expense_auto | 455 expense | expense_computer | 1 expense | expense_food | 0 expense | expense_gasoline | 0 expense | expense_pets | 0 expense | expense_amazon | 0 expense | expense_home | 0 expense | expense_general | 0 income | income_general | 0 check | 0 0

• register
  • lists general ledger transactions to date
  • can filter output by account via optional parameter
  • example output:

date | debit | acct_name | acct_offset_name | acct_memo 11/4/2019 | 455 | expense_auto | credit_card | car maintenance 11/4/2019 | 1 | expense_computer | credit_card | raspberry pi

• csv
  • converts csv files to yaml format expected by rust_ledger
  • most financial institutions (banks, credit unions and credit card companies) will provide exports of transaction history in csv format
  • note - prior to importing your csv file into the tool, you must rename the columns in the first line of the csv file in the following schema: "date","transaction","name","memo","amount"

rust_ledger yaml file format

• rust_ledger utilizes yaml files in the following format:

```yaml owner: test_owner currencies: id: $ name: US Dollar alias: USD note: Currency used in the United States

accounts: - id: 0 acctname: checking accttype: asset debitcredit: 1500 - id: 1 acctname: savings accttype: asset debitcredit: 2000 - id: 3 acctname: creditcard accttype: liability debitcredit: 0 - id: 4 acctname: equity accttype: equity debitcredit: -3500 - id: 5 acctname: expenseauto accttype: expense debitcredit: 0 - id: 6 acctname: expensecomputer accttype: expense debitcredit: 0 - id: 7 acctname: expensefood accttype: expense debitcredit: 0 - id: 8 acctname: expensegasoline accttype: expense debitcredit: 0 - id: 9 acctname: expensepets accttype: expense debitcredit: 0 - id: 10 acctname: expenseamazon accttype: expense debitcredit: 0 - id: 11 acctname: expensehome accttype: expense debitcredit: 0 - id: 12 acctname: expensegeneral accttype: expense debitcredit: 0 - id: 13 acctname: incomegeneral accttype: income debit_credit: 0

transactions: - date: 11/4/2019 debitcredit: 455 acctoffsetname: creditcard name: car maintenance accttype: expense acctname: expenseauto - date: 11/4/2019 debitcredit: 1 acctoffsetname: creditcard name: raspberry pi accttype: expense acctname: expensecomputer ```