Expense Tracker CLI

A command-line application built with C# for tracking personal expenses. You can add, update, delete, list, summarize, budget, and export your expenses — all from the terminal.

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Requirements

• .NET 10.0 SDK or later

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Installation

git clone https://github.com/alchemistlowkey/ExpenseTrackerCli.git
cd ExpenseTrackerCli/ExpenseTrackerCli
dotnet build

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Usage

All commands follow this pattern:

dotnet run <command> [arguments]

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Add an Expense

Add a new expense with today's date:

dotnet run add "Groceries" 45.50 "food"

Add a new expense with a custom date:

dotnet run add "Groceries" 45.50 "food" --date "2026-07-26"

Valid categories: transport, food, entertainment, bills, other

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Update an Expense

Update an existing expense by its Id:

dotnet run update 1 "Grocery Shopping" 50.00 "food"

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Delete an Expense

Delete an expense by its Id:

dotnet run delete 1

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List Expenses

List all expenses:

dotnet run list

List expenses by category:

dotnet run list --category "food"

Example output:

Id  | Description                    | Amount     | Category        | Date
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1   | Groceries                      | 45.50      | food            | 2026-07-26
2   | BRT Ticket                     | 1.20       | transport       | 2026-05-26

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Summary

View total expenses across all time:

dotnet run summary

View total expenses for a specific month and year:

dotnet run summary --month 07 --year 2026

Example output:

Total expenses for July 2026: $45.50

Note: The month must be zero-padded, e.g. 05 for May, 07 for July.

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Set a Monthly Budget

Set a monthly spending limit. This is saved in a config.json file:

dotnet run set-budget 500

When adding a new expense, you will automatically be notified of your remaining budget or warned if you have exceeded it:

⚠️  WARNING: You have exceeded your monthly budget!
   Budget:  $500
   Spent:   $530
   Over by: $30

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Export to CSV

Export all expenses to a expenses.csv file in the project directory:

dotnet run export

Example output:

Data successfully exported to expenses.csv

The CSV file includes the following columns: Id, Description, Amount, Category, Date.

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Data Storage

File	Purpose
expenses.json	Stores all expense records
config.json	Stores the monthly budget setting
expenses.csv	Generated on export

Both JSON files are auto-created in the project directory on first use.

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Project Structure

ExpenseTrackerCli/
├── ExpenseTrackerCli/
│   ├── Program.cs       # CLI entry point and command handling
│   ├── ExpenseItem.cs      # Expense model
│   ├── expenses.json        # Auto-generated expense data file
|   ├── expenses.csv
|   ├── BudgetConfig.cs
|   └── config.json

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Date Format

All dates must follow the yyyy-MM-dd format, e.g. 2026-07-26.

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Inspiration

This project is based on the Expense Tracker project idea from roadmap.sh.