
HLEDGER-WEB(1)               hledger User Manuals               HLEDGER-WEB(1)

NAME
       hledger-web  -  web  interface  and API for hledger, a robust, friendly
       plain text accounting app.

SYNOPSIS
       hledger-web [OPTS] [QUERY]
       or
       hledger web [OPTS] [QUERY]

DESCRIPTION
       This manual is for hledger's web interface, version 1.51.  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 ac-
       counting 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 from (and appends to) a journal file specified
       by   the    LEDGER_FILE    environment    variable    (defaulting    to
       $HOME/.hledger.journal);  or you can specify files with -f options.  It
       can also read timeclock files, timedot files, or any  CSV/SSV/TSV  file
       with a date field.  (See hledger(1) -> Input for details.)

       hledger-web can be run in three modes:

       o --serve-browse mode (the default): the app serves the web UI and JSON
         API,  and opens your default web browser to show the app if possible,
         and exits automatically after two minutes of inactivity (with no  re-
         quests received and no open browser windows viewing it).

       o --serve: the app just serves the web UI and JSON API.

       o --serve-api: the app just serves the JSON API.

       In all cases hledger-web runs as a foreground process, logging requests
       to stdout.

OPTIONS
       hledger-web provides the following options:

              Flags:
                   --serve --server       serve and log requests, don't browse or auto-exit
                   --serve-api            like --serve, but serve only the JSON web API,
                                          not the web UI
                   --allow=view|add|edit  set the user's access level for changing data
                                          (default: `add`). It also accepts `sandstorm` for
                                          use on that platform (reads permissions from the
                                          `X-Sandstorm-Permissions` request header).
                   --cors=ORIGIN          allow cross-origin requests from the specified
                                          origin; setting ORIGIN to "*" allows requests from
                                          any origin
                   --host=IPADDR          listen on this IP address (default: 127.0.0.1)
                   --port=PORT            listen on this TCP port (default: 5000)
                   --socket=SOCKET        listen on the given unix socket instead of an IP
                                          address and port (unix only; implies --serve)
                   --base-url=BASEURL     set the base url (default: http://IPADDR:PORT)
                   --test                 run hledger-web's tests and exit. hspec test
                                          runner args may follow a --, eg: hledger-web --test
                                          --help

       By  default  hledger-web listens only on IP address 127.0.0.1, which be
       accessed only from the local machine.

       To allow access from elsewhere, use --host to specify an externally ac-
       cessible address  configured  on  this  machine,  The  special  address
       0.0.0.0 causes it to listen on all of this machine's addresses.

       Similarly,  you can use --port to listen on a TCP port other than 5000.
       This is useful if you want to run multiple hledger-web instances  on  a
       machine.

       When  --socket  is  used,  hledger-web  creates  and communicates via a
       socket file instead of a TCP port.  This can be more  secure,  respects
       unix file permissions, and makes certain use cases easier, such as run-
       ning per-user instances behind an nginx reverse proxy.  (Eg: 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 hledger-web's hyperlinks.  This is useful eg when  inte-
       grating   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).  Note this affects url generation
       but not route parsing.

       hledger-web also supports many of hledger's general options:

              General input/data transformation flags:
                -f --file=[FMT:]FILE      Read data from FILE, or from stdin if FILE is -,
                                          inferring format from extension or a FMT: prefix.
                                          Can be specified more than once. If not specified,
                                          reads from $LEDGER_FILE or $HOME/.hledger.journal.
                   --rules=RULESFILE      Use rules defined in this rules file for
                                          converting subsequent CSV/SSV/TSV files. If not
                                          specified, uses FILE.csv.rules for each FILE.csv.
                   --alias=A=B|/RGX/=RPL  transform account names from A to B, or by
                                          replacing regular expression matches
                   --auto                 generate extra postings by applying auto posting
                                          rules ("=") to all transactions
                   --forecast[=PERIOD]    Generate extra transactions from periodic rules
                                          ("~"), from after the latest ordinary transaction
                                          until 6 months from now. Or, during the specified
                                          PERIOD (the equals is required). Auto posting rules
                                          will also be applied to these transactions. In
                                          hledger-ui, also make future-dated transactions
                                          visible at startup.
                -I --ignore-assertions    don't check balance assertions by default
                   --txn-balancing=...    how to check that transactions are balanced:
                                          'old':   use global display precision
                                          'exact': use transaction precision (default)
                   --infer-costs          infer conversion equity postings from costs
                   --infer-equity         infer costs from conversion equity postings
                   --infer-market-prices  infer market prices from costs
                   --pivot=TAGNAME        use a different field or tag as account names
                -s --strict               do extra error checks (and override -I)
                   --verbose-tags         add tags indicating generated/modified data

              General output/reporting flags (supported by some commands):
                -b --begin=DATE           include postings/transactions on/after this date
                -e --end=DATE             include postings/transactions before this date
                                          (with a report interval, will be adjusted to
                                          following subperiod end)
                -D --daily                multiperiod report with 1 day interval
                -W --weekly               multiperiod report with 1 week interval
                -M --monthly              multiperiod report with 1 month interval
                -Q --quarterly            multiperiod report with 1 quarter interval
                -Y --yearly               multiperiod report with 1 year interval
                -p --period=PERIODEXP     set begin date, end date, and/or report interval,
                                          with more flexibility
                   --today=DATE           override today's date (affects relative dates)
                   --date2                match/use secondary dates instead (deprecated)
                -U --unmarked             include only unmarked postings/transactions
                -P --pending              include only pending postings/transactions
                -C --cleared              include only cleared postings/transactions
                                          (-U/-P/-C can be combined)
                -R --real                 include only non-virtual postings
                -E --empty                Show zero items, which are normally hidden.
                                          In hledger-ui & hledger-web, do the opposite.
                   --depth=DEPTHEXP       if a number (or -NUM): show only top NUM levels
                                          of accounts. If REGEXP=NUM, only apply limiting to
                                          accounts matching the regular expression.
                -B --cost                 show amounts converted to their cost/sale amount
                -V --market               Show amounts converted to their value at period
                                          end(s) in their default valuation commodity.
                                          Equivalent to --value=end.
                -X --exchange=COMM        Show amounts converted to their value at period
                                          end(s) in the specified commodity.
                                          Equivalent to --value=end,COMM.
                   --value=WHEN[,COMM]    show amounts converted to their value on the
                                          specified date(s) in their default valuation
                                          commodity or a specified commodity. WHEN can be:
                                          'then':     value on transaction dates
                                          'end':      value at period end(s)
                                          'now':      value today
                                          YYYY-MM-DD: value on given date
                -c --commodity-style=S    Override a commodity's display style.
                                          Eg: -c '.' or -c '1.000,00 EUR'
                   --pretty[=YN]          Use box-drawing characters in text output? Can be
                                          'y'/'yes' or 'n'/'no'.
                                          If YN is specified, the equals is required.

              General help flags:
                -h --help                 show command line help
                   --tldr                 show command examples with tldr
                   --info                 show the manual with info
                   --man                  show the manual with man
                   --version              show version information
                   --debug=[1-9]          show this much debug output (default: 1)
                   --pager=YN             use a pager when needed ? y/yes (default) or n/no
                   --color=YNA --colour   use ANSI color ? y/yes, n/no, or auto (default)

       hledger-web  shows  accounts  with  zero  balances  by  default   (like
       hledger-ui,  and  unlike  hledger).  Using the -E/--empty flag will re-
       verse this behaviour.  If you see accounts which appear to have a  zero
       balance,  but  cannot  be  hidden  with  -E,  it's  because they have a
       mixed-cost balance, which  looks  like  zero  when  costs  are  hidden.
       (hledger-web does not show costs.)

       Reporting  options and/or query arguments can be used to set an initial
       query, which although not shown in the UI, will restrict the data shown
       (in addition to any search query entered in the UI).

       If you use the bash shell, you can auto-complete flags by pressing  TAB
       in  the  command line.  If this is not working see Install > Shell com-
       pletions.

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 users  on  the  local  machine
         only.

       o putting it behind an authenticating proxy, such as caddy or apache

       o putting it behind a firewall

       And  you  can restrict what the users reaching it can do, by specifying
       the --allow=ACCESSLEVEL option at startup.  ACCESSLEVEL is one of:

       o view - allows viewing the journal file(s)

       o add - also allows adding new transactions to the main journal file

       o edit - also allows editing,  uploading  or  downloading  the  journal
         file(s)

       o sandstorm  - (for the hledger-web Sandstorm app:) allows whichever of
         view, add, or edit are specified in the X-Sandstorm-Permissions  HTTP
         header

       The default access level is add.

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 in-
       cludes.

       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 un-
       til 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  un-
       derstanding, see the journal docs.  There is also a basic OpenAPI spec-
       ification.

       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 "ac-
       countTransactionsReport  ...".   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  en-
       try 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 main journal  file  to  use  when  not  specified  with
       -f/--file.  Default: $HOME/.hledger.journal.

BUGS
       We    welcome    bug    reports    in   the   hledger   issue   tracker
       (https://bugs.hledger.org),  or  on  the  hledger  chat  or  mail  list
       (https://hledger.org/support).

       Some known issues:

       Does not work well on small screens, or in text-mode browsers.



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-1.51                 December 2025                  HLEDGER-WEB(1)
