Ledgerline 1.6.0 - MIT
Plain-text ledgers in, reports out
A command-line tool that reads a folder of plain-text ledger files and writes a balance, an income statement and a monthly summary, as text or CSV. One binary, no database, no account. Install it, point it at the folder: ledgerline report balance ./ledgers
What it does
Four reports and a check
01
Reads a folder, not a file
Every file ending in .ledger below the folder you name, in the order the dates give, whatever you have called them.
02
Balance, income, monthly, by account
Four reports. Each one takes a date range and an account filter, and nothing else.
03
Writes text or CSV
Aligned columns for reading, CSV for the spreadsheet somebody will insist on.
04
Tells you when it does not balance
ledgerline check reports the file, the line and the amount that is missing, then exits non-zero.
05
Leaves your files alone
It opens them for reading and writes only to standard output or to the path you give it.
The limits
Things it will not do
This list is a commitment, not a roadmap. Each of these has been asked for and declined.
Connect to a bank
No. Importing statements means credentials, screen scraping and a support burden three people cannot carry. Convert your export to a ledger file with whatever script you like.
Handle several currencies
No. One ledger, one currency. Anything else needs exchange rates with dates and a policy for gains, which is a different and much larger tool.
Produce a tax return
No. It has no idea where you live and will not pretend to. Take the reports to somebody who does.
Give you an interface
No web interface, no editor, no daemon. It is a command that runs, prints and exits.
Invent a format
The file format is the one described on the install page and it has not changed since 1.0. It will not gain a plugin system.
Follow you around
No telemetry, no update check, no network access of any kind. The binary makes no outbound connections.
Ten minutes, start to first report
Download a binary, write four lines of ledger, run one command.