actual budget cli

CLI for working with Actual Budget.

Install

Install globally with npm:

npm install -g abctl

Or run it without installing:

npx abctl --help

Usage

Usage: abctl [options] [command]

Actual budget helper commands.

Options:
  -h, --help                    display help for command

Commands:
  budgets                       List budgets and their sync ids.
  accounts                      List accounts and their current balances.
  uncategorized                 List uncategorized transactions across all accounts.
  make-transfer|transfer [options]
                                Find uncategorized transfer pairs and link them.
  find <payee> <txn-date>       Find transactions by exact payee name and ISO date (YYYY-MM-DD).
  split [options] <entries...>  Split a transaction into sub-transactions.
  report [options] <name>       Render a custom report by name.
  qif-import [options] <account> <qif-path>
                                Import a QIF file into an Actual account.
  st-george-import [options] <account> <csv-path>
                                Import a St.George CSV into an Actual account.
  help [command]                display help for command

Environment:
  ACTUAL_PASSWORD        Required.
  ACTUAL_SYNC_ID         Optional. Budget name, groupId, or cloudFileId. Defaults to the first available budget.
  ACTUAL_SERVER_URL      Optional. Defaults to http://localhost:5007
  ACTUAL_DATA_DIR        Optional. Defaults to /tmp/actual

For split, express <entries...> as repeated triplets:

<notes> <category> <amount> [<notes> <category> <amount> ...]

Example:

abctl split --transaction-id abc123 "Groceries run" "Food" -45.60 "Petrol" "Transport" -30

If the split amounts do not add up, you can append the exact remainder as one extra split using the parent transaction category:

abctl split --add-remainder-split --transaction-id abc123 "Agent fees" "Expenses" -90

Make Transfer

Preview uncategorized transfer candidates without writing:

abctl make-transfer --dry-run

Link all unambiguous uncategorized transfer pairs:

abctl make-transfer

The command only links pairs when there is exactly one uncategorized inflow and one uncategorized outflow with the same date and absolute amount in two different accounts. Ambiguous groups are reported and skipped.

Split

Split by transaction id:

abctl split --transaction-id abc123 "Groceries run" "Food" -45.60 "Petrol" "Transport" -30

Split by exact payee and ISO date:

abctl split --payee "Example Store" --txn-date 2026-04-05 "Groceries run" "Food" -45.60

Each split entry is a repeated <notes> <category> <amount> triplet. Quote notes or category names when they contain spaces.

Use --add-remainder-split to append one extra split for any remaining difference. The extra split uses the parent transaction category, so it only works when the original transaction is already categorized.

St.George Import

Preview the mapped ImportTransactionEntity objects:

abctl st-george-import <account> path/to/st-george.csv --json

Preview Actual's reconciliation result without writing:

abctl st-george-import <account> path/to/st-george.csv --dry-run

Import the CSV into an account:

abctl st-george-import <account> path/to/st-george.csv

<account> may be either the Actual account id or account name. Matching prefers exact id, then exact name, then unique case-insensitive name, then a unique case-insensitive substring match. If the match is ambiguous, the command fails and asks you to use the id.

QIF Import

Preview the parsed transactions returned by Actual:

abctl qif-import <account> path/to/file.qif --json

Preview reconciliation without writing:

abctl qif-import <account> path/to/file.qif --dry-run

Import the QIF into an account:

abctl qif-import <account> path/to/file.qif

Optional flags:

• --import-notes keeps the QIF memo field as Actual notes.
• --swap-payee-and-memo uses the QIF memo field as the payee before optional note import.

<account> may be either the Actual account id or account name. Matching prefers exact id, then exact name, then unique case-insensitive name, then a unique case-insensitive substring match. If the match is ambiguous, the command fails and asks you to use the id.