Plan Folder

Plan Folder

Everything about your plan lives in one folder that you own. The code never stores your data anywhere else.

Contents

• Layout
• Creating one
• The config folder
• Splitting or combining config files
• Editing by hand
• The data folder
• App state
• Which plan opens
• Backing up and moving

Layout

MyFinancialPlan/
  config/                  # settings (YAML)
    config.yaml            # plan, household, savings, investments, assumptions
    sources.yaml           # CSV sources and their columns
    categories.yaml        # categories
    rules.yaml             # categorization rules
  data/                    # your CSV exports
  .financial_planner/
    state.json             # planner edits and saved scenarios
  pixi.toml                # optional, see Installation

Creating one

pixi run financial_plan init ~/MyFinancialPlan          # blank starter (commented YAML)
pixi run financial_plan init ~/DemoCopy --demo          # a copy of the fictional demo

start also creates ~/FinancialPlan automatically the first time if there's no plan to open (see Which plan opens).

The config folder

Every *.yaml / *.yml file in config/ is read. Each file is a mapping of sections (plan, household, sources, rules…), and the sections from all files are merged. The full list of sections and fields is in the Config Reference.

Splitting or combining config files

Use whatever layout you like:

• One file: everything in config/config.yaml.
• Split (what init creates): config.yaml, sources.yaml, categories.yaml, rules.yaml.
• Your own split: e.g. config/people.yaml holding household, config/money.yaml holding savings and investments.

The one rule: a section can only be in one file. If two files both have rules:, the app tells you which two.

When the Settings Editor saves a section it writes it back to the file it came from, keeping your comments and formatting. New sections go to sources.yaml, categories.yaml, rules.yaml or config.yaml as appropriate.

Editing by hand

Any text editor works. Save, then reload the page; no restart needed. If something is wrong the app shows a banner with the exact problem (e.g. plan.months: Input should be greater than or equal to 1) and opens Settings so you can fix it. financial_plan validate checks from the command line.

Typos in field names are errors (not silently ignored), so mistakes surface quickly.

The data folder

Put CSV exports here (subfolders are fine). Each data source says which files are its own, using names or patterns like data/visa*.csv. Files that no source matches are ignored. You can also upload files from Settings › Data sources.

App state

.financial_planner/state.json keeps what you change on the page (planner amounts, sliders, toggles) and your saved scenarios. Delete it to start fresh. It's separate from config/ so your settings stay clean.

Which plan opens

financial_plan start with no folder opens, in order:

1. the current folder, if it has a config/ folder;
2. the last plan you opened (remembered in ~/.financial_planner.json);
3. ~/FinancialPlan, created from the blank template if needed.

Backing up and moving

Copy the whole folder. It's self-contained: config, data, state and scenarios move together. Keep backups private (Privacy and Safety).