
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 1.50.3.   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-1.50.3               November 2025                  HLEDGER-WEB(1)
