agentbudget

Use agentbudget as the single interface to the budget database (local SQLite or Turso/libSQL remote).

Core conventions

• Internal storage: money is stored as integer minor units (e.g. cents).
• CLI input: commands accept major units for convenience:
  • 319 = RM319.00
  • 3.19 = RM3.19
  • Do not multiply by 100 when calling the CLI.
• Transaction sign convention: outflow = negative, inflow = positive.
• Inflow must be explicitly assigned to TBB using --envelope "To Be Budgeted".
• For agent calls, use --json.
  • success: { "ok": true, "data": ... }
  • error: { "ok": false, "error": { "message": "...", "code"?: "..." } }

JSON output units (IMPORTANT)

Most numeric money fields returned in --json responses are minor units (integer cents).

• Example: balance: 123456 means 1234.56 in the budget currency.
• To display to humans: divide by 100 and format to 2 decimals, using the returned currency (or the account currency).
• When comparing values, comparisons are safe in minor units (no float drift).

If unsure: when a number ends with ..00 suspiciously often or is 100× too big, treat it as minor units.

Major vs minor units (common failure mode)

If an amount looks off by exactly 100×, you mixed units.

• When a user says “23.50” (in the budget currency) → CLI amount is -23.50 (major units)
• If you see -2350, that is minor units (cents) and should usually be formatted as -23.50 (major units).

Rule of thumb for automation:

• Treat CLI flags like --amount, --statement-balance, targets, and moves as major units.
• Treat --json outputs (balances, budgeted/activity/available, cashflow, topSpending, etc.) as minor units unless the field name explicitly says otherwise.
• Treat database storage and any explicitly-named minor, minorUnits, *_minor fields as minor units.
• Exception: budget allocate --from-json allocations.json currently expects minor units in the JSON file (see note in Budget actions).

Output hygiene (so you don’t lie to the user):

• When you quote money to the user, always render as major units with 2 decimals (e.g. 23.50) and include/derive the currency from data (currency field or account currency).
• Sanity check: if an envelope “spent” is 2350, you should display it as 23.50 (major units), not 2350.

Workflow (recommended)

1) Initialize database config (choose one)

Local:

agentbudget init --local

Remote (Turso):

export TURSO_DATABASE_URL="libsql://..."
export TURSO_AUTH_TOKEN="..."
agentbudget init --remote

2) Bootstrap required system entities

Create the required system envelope To Be Budgeted (TBB):

agentbudget system init

3) Set budget currency (DB-backed)

agentbudget uses a single budget currency stored in the database (table: settings).

• Set it once per DB:

agentbudget currency set "RM" --json

• View it:

agentbudget currency show --json

Notes:

• You may store a symbol (e.g. RM, $) or a code (e.g. MYR, USD).
• This is DB-backed: if another machine points at the same DB, it will see the same currency.

4) Create reference data

Accounts:

agentbudget account create "Maybank" --type checking --json
agentbudget account list --json

Envelopes:

agentbudget envelope create "Groceries" --group "Living" --json
agentbudget envelope list --json

Payees (canonical list; transactions store both payeeId + payeeName):

agentbudget payee create "Grab" --json
agentbudget payee list --json

# Rename a payee (also updates linked transactions' payeeName)
agentbudget payee rename "GrabFood" "Grab" --json

# Merge variants into a canonical payee (updates tx.payeeId, then deletes source)
agentbudget payee merge "GRAB*FOOD" --into "Grab" --json

Payee rules (pattern matching → canonical payee; best for imports):

# When payee string contains "GRAB*FOOD", map it to canonical "Grab"
agentbudget payee rule add --match contains --pattern "GRAB*FOOD" --to "Grab" --json

agentbudget payee rule list --json

# Disable a rule
agentbudget payee rule archive payrule_... --json

Notes:

• Payee rules are applied when resolving --payee (tx add/import/update and schedules).
• When a rule matches, we store payeeName as the canonical payee name.

4) Ingest transactions

Transfers (between accounts; does not touch envelopes):

agentbudget tx transfer \
  --from-account "Checking" \
  --to-account "Savings" \
  --amount 250 \
  --date 2026-02-05 \
  --memo "move money" \
  --json

Single envelope:

agentbudget tx add \
  --account "Maybank" \
  --amount -23.50 \
  --date 2026-02-08 \
  --payee "Grab" \
  --memo "Food" \
  --envelope "Groceries" \
  --json

Notes:

• --payee "..." will resolve or auto-create a canonical payee and store both payeeId and payeeName on the transaction.

Split a transaction across envelopes:

agentbudget tx add \
  --account "Maybank" \
  --amount -120.00 \
  --date 2026-02-08 \
  --splits-json '[{"envelope":"Groceries","amount":-80.00},{"envelope":"Household","amount":-40.00}]' \
  --json

Batch import JSONL (one JSON object per line; each record can use envelope or splits):

agentbudget tx import --from-jsonl ./tx.jsonl --json
agentbudget tx import --from-jsonl ./tx.jsonl --dry-run --json

Query:

agentbudget tx list --from 2026-02-01 --to 2026-02-29 --json
agentbudget tx list --envelope "Groceries" --json

Update (basic patch + optional split replacement):

agentbudget tx update tx_... --memo "new memo" --json
agentbudget tx update tx_... \
  --amount -25.00 \
  --json
agentbudget tx update tx_... \
  --splits-json '[{"envelope":"Groceries","amount":-25.00,"note":"splitnote"}]' \
  --json

Delete (hard delete):

agentbudget tx delete tx_... --json

5) Budget actions

Targets/goals (major units):

agentbudget target set "Groceries" --type monthly --amount 800 --json
agentbudget target set "Groceries" --type needed-for-spending --amount 800 --json
agentbudget target set "Insurance" --type by-date --target-amount 1200 --target-month 2026-12 --start-month 2026-02 --json
agentbudget target list --json
agentbudget target clear "Groceries" --json

Underfunded (recommended funding amounts from targets):

agentbudget budget underfunded 2026-02 --json

Allocate (writes a matching TBB offset allocation automatically).

Note: allocation amounts in allocations.json are still minor units for now. (We can upgrade this later with a --major mode.)

agentbudget budget allocate 2026-02 --from-json allocations.json --json

Move budget between envelopes (major units):

agentbudget budget move 2026-02 --from "Groceries" --to "Fun" --amount 100 --json

6) Scheduled transactions (recurring templates)

Use schedules to represent recurring future transactions. Work flow:

• schedule create creates the template
• schedule due generates a list of un-posted occurrences in a date range
• schedule post <occurrenceId> converts an occurrence into a real transaction

Create (typed flags):

Monthly:

agentbudget schedule create "Rent" \
  --account "Checking" \
  --amount -2000 \
  --payee "Landlord" \
  --envelope "Rent" \
  --freq monthly \
  --interval 1 \
  --month-day 1 \
  --start 2026-03-01 \
  --json

Daily:

agentbudget schedule create "Coffee" \
  --account "Checking" \
  --amount -15 \
  --payee "Starbucks" \
  --envelope "Coffee" \
  --freq daily \
  --interval 1 \
  --start 2026-03-02 \
  --json

Weekly (single weekday or comma-separated list):

agentbudget schedule create "Gym" \
  --account "Checking" \
  --amount -50 \
  --payee "Gym" \
  --envelope "Gym" \
  --freq weekly \
  --interval 1 \
  --weekday mon,thu \
  --start 2026-03-02 \
  --json

Yearly:

agentbudget schedule create "Insurance" \
  --account "Checking" \
  --amount -1200 \
  --payee "Insurer" \
  --envelope "Insurance" \
  --freq yearly \
  --interval 1 \
  --month 2 \
  --month-day last \
  --start 2026-02-01 \
  --json

List schedules:

agentbudget schedule list --json

Update a schedule (by id or name; unspecified fields unchanged):

agentbudget schedule update sched_... \
  --freq weekly \
  --interval 1 \
  --weekday mon,thu \
  --end 2026-03-31 \
  --json

Archive a schedule (hides it from list/due):

agentbudget schedule archive sched_... --json

See what’s due (occurrences not yet posted):

agentbudget schedule due --from 2026-03-01 --to 2026-03-31 --json

End date (optional; inclusive):

agentbudget schedule create "Trial" \
  --account "Checking" \
  --amount -999 \
  --payee "Service" \
  --envelope "Subscriptions" \
  --freq daily \
  --interval 1 \
  --start 2026-03-01 \
  --end 2026-03-07 \
  --json

Post an occurrence (creates a real tx + split; marks as posted):

agentbudget schedule post occ_sched_..._2026-03-01 --json

7) Read current state

Month summary (includes rollover):

agentbudget month summary 2026-02 --json

Overview (dashboard: budget health, goals/underfunded, cashflow, net worth, accounts):

agentbudget overview --month 2026-02 --json

JSON shape highlights:

• budget.toBeBudgeted (renamed from older tbb)
• goals.underfundedTotal, goals.topUnderfunded[]
• schedules summary (local date window, next 7 days):
  • schedules.window.{from,to}
  • schedules.counts.{overdue,dueSoon}
  • schedules.topDue[]
• reports.cashflow uses LLM-friendly numbers: { income, expense, net } (income/expense positive)
• reports.topSpending[] grouped by envelope
• reports.topSpendingByPayee[] grouped by payee (outflows; excludes transfers)
• netWorth: { liquid, tracking, total }
• accounts.list[]

Account detail (balances, counts, recent tx; optional statement delta):

agentbudget account detail "Checking" --limit 10 --json
agentbudget account detail "Checking" --statement-balance 1234.56 --json

Reconcile (creates TBB adjustment if needed; marks cleared tx as reconciled):

agentbudget account reconcile "Checking" --statement-balance 1234.56 --date 2026-02-28 --json

Troubleshooting

• SQLite/libSQL error like Unable to open connection ... : 14 usually means the local DB path is not writable.
  • Fix by running: agentbudget init --local
  • Or override: agentbudget --db "file:/absolute/path.db" ...