Personal Expense Tracker (Python)

A simple Python-based personal expense tracker that helps you manage and track your daily expenses. This project uses SQLite for data storage and provides a command-line interface for adding, viewing, and managing expenses.

Features

• Add new expenses with details (amount, category, date, description)
• Simple and easy-to-use CLI
• Data stored locally using SQLite

Project Structure

Personal-Expense-Tracker-Python/
├── db.py                  # Database connection and operations
├── main.py                # Main application logic and CLI
├── Personal_Expense.sql   # SQL schema for initializing the database

Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Python 3.x

Installation

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/GODSROBOT/Personal-Expense-Tracker-Python.git
   cd Personal-Expense-Tracker-Python

2. (Optional) Create and activate a virtual environment:

   python -m venv venv
   .\venv\Scripts\activate

3. Install required packages (if any):

   pip install -r requirements.txt

   (Note: If there is no requirements.txt, dependencies are likely standard library only.)

Database Setup

• The database will be created automatically when you run the application for the first time.
• If needed, you can use Personal_Expense.sql to initialize or reset the database schema.

Usage

Run the main application:

python main.py

Follow the on-screen prompts to add, view, or filter your expenses.

Build as Windows Executable (.exe)

If you want to create a standalone Windows executable (.exe) for this app, use PyInstaller:

Step-by-step: How to convert this Python app to .exe

1. Open a terminal or command prompt in the project directory.
2. (Optional but recommended) Activate your virtual environment if you have one:

   .\venv\Scripts\activate

3. Make sure all dependencies are installed:

   pip install -r requirements.txt

4. Install PyInstaller if not already installed:

   pip install pyinstaller

5. Run PyInstaller to build the executable:

   pyinstaller --onefile --windowed main.py

   • The --onefile flag bundles everything into a single .exe file.
   • The --windowed flag prevents a console window from appearing (for GUI apps).
6. After the process completes, find your .exe file in the dist folder:

   dist\main.exe
   

7. You can now copy or share this .exe file. It will run on any Windows machine without needing Python installed.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.

Author

GODSROBOT