Pull every bank, card, and brokerage account through SimpleFIN into a local SQLite ledger — with net worth, cash flow, recurring-charge detection, and holdings gain/loss no single bank app can show.
Every existing SimpleFIN tool is an importer into someone else's app. This is a CLI and a local database you own: sync once (rate-limit aware), then run cross-institution analytics offline. networth tracks your trajectory over time, recurring surfaces hidden subscriptions, portfolio computes holdings gain/loss the ecosystem ignores, and export bridges into Beancount/Ledger.
Authentication
SimpleFIN has no API key. You claim a base64 Setup Token to receive an Access URL (https://user:pass@host/simplefin) that bakes in HTTP Basic credentials and the server host. Run 'simplefin-pp-cli auth claim ' once (or set SIMPLEFIN_ACCESS_URL); the access URL is stored chmod 600 and never logged. A reusable public demo token is available at beta-bridge.simplefin.org/info/developers for testing.
Quick Start
# Health check — confirms the binary and config before you connect.
simplefin-pp-cli doctor --dry-run
# Pull all institutions into the local store (one call, rate-limit aware).
simplefin-pp-cli sync --since 90d
# See total net worth across every account and its trajectory.
simplefin-pp-cli networth --trend
# Surface subscriptions hiding across accounts.
simplefin-pp-cli recurring --min-occurrences 3
# Monthly income-vs-outflow as structured JSON for agents.
simplefin-pp-cli cashflow --month --agent
Unique Features
These capabilities aren't available in any other tool for this API.
Local state that compounds
-
networth — Total net worth across every institution, with a balance trajectory over time no bank app can show.
Reach for this when an agent needs a single cross-institution net-worth number or its trend; no single /accounts call gives history.
simplefin-pp-cli networth --trend --agent
-
cashflow — Income vs outflow by month and top-spend merchants across all accounts.
Use for spending/income rollups; the API returns raw transactions, not aggregates.
simplefin-pp-cli cashflow --month --agent --select month,income,outflow,net
-
recurring — Surfaces subscriptions and regular obligations by detecting repeated payees with regular cadence.
Use to find recurring charges hiding across multiple accounts before they surprise the user.
simplefin-pp-cli recurring --min-occurrences 3 --agent
-
reconcile — Finds and merges duplicate transactions created by SimpleFIN's unstable, mirrored IDs using content hashing.
Run after sync to detect duplicate charges that ID-based dedup misses.
simplefin-pp-cli reconcile --agent
-
since — What's new across all accounts since a date or your last sync — new transactions and balance changes, neutrally framed.
Use for a quick 'what happened lately' digest across accounts without scanning every transaction.
simplefin-pp-cli since 7d --agent
Differentiators nobody else has
-
portfolio — Investment positions with market value vs cost basis and total gain/loss across brokerages.
Use for portfolio gain/loss; the ecosystem-wide gap means this data is otherwise invisible.
simplefin-pp-cli portfolio --gain --agent
-
categorize — Assigns categories to transactions with deterministic keyword/regex rules (the protocol has none).
Run before cashflow to get category breakdowns; deterministic and offline.
simplefin-pp-cli categorize --apply --agent
-
export — Exports the local ledger to ledger, beancount, csv, or qif for plaintextaccounting tools.
Use to bridge into Beancount/Ledger/GnuCash workflows.
simplefin-pp-cli export --format beancount --since 90d
Recipes
First connect and net worth
simplefin-pp-cli auth claim <setup-token> && simplefin-pp-cli sync --since 90d && simplefin-pp-cli networth
Claim once, pull 90 days into the store, then see cross-institution net worth.
Agent-friendly cash flow
simplefin-pp-cli cashflow --month --agent --select month,income,outflow,net
Narrow the nested response to just the fields an agent needs.
Find subscriptions
simplefin-pp-cli recurring --min-occurrences 3 --json
List recurring charges seen 3+ times across all accounts.
Portfolio gain/loss
simplefin-pp-cli portfolio --gain --agent
Holdings market value vs cost basis across every brokerage.
Export to Beancount
simplefin-pp-cli export --format beancount --since 90d
Bridge the local ledger into a plaintextaccounting workflow.
Usage
Run simplefin-pp-cli --help for the full command reference and flag list.
Paths & environment variables
This CLI separates local files into four path kinds:
| Kind | Contents |
|---|
config | User-editable settings such as config.toml and saved profiles |
data | Durable local data: credentials.toml, data.db, cookies, browser-session proof files, and other auth sidecars |
state | Runtime state such as persisted queries, jobs, and teach.log |
cache | Regenerable HTTP/cache files |
Each kind resolves independently. The ladder is:
- Per-kind env var:
SIMPLEFIN_CONFIG_DIR, SIMPLEFIN_DATA_DIR, SIMPLEFIN_STATE_DIR, or SIMPLEFIN_CACHE_DIR
--home <dir> for this invocationSIMPLEFIN_HOME for a flat relocated root- XDG env vars:
XDG_CONFIG_HOME, XDG_DATA_HOME, XDG_STATE_HOME, XDG_CACHE_HOME
- Platform defaults matching existing installs
For containers and agent sandboxes, prefer a single relocated root:
export SIMPLEFIN_HOME=/srv/simplefin
simplefin-pp-cli doctor
Under SIMPLEFIN_HOME=/srv/simplefin, the four dirs resolve to /srv/simplefin/config, /srv/simplefin/data, /srv/simplefin/state, and /srv/simplefin/cache.
MCP servers do not receive CLI flags from the host. Put relocation in the host env block:
{
"mcpServers": {
"simplefin": {
"command": "simplefin-pp-mcp",
"env": {
"SIMPLEFIN_HOME": "/srv/simplefin"
}
}
}
}
Precedence matters in fleets: an ambient per-kind variable such as SIMPLEFIN_DATA_DIR overrides an explicit --home for that kind. Use SIMPLEFIN_HOME or the per-kind variables for durable fleet relocation; treat --home as the weaker per-invocation lever.
Relocation is one-way. Unsetting SIMPLEFIN_HOME does not move files back to platform defaults, and doctor cannot find credentials left under a former root. Move the files manually before unsetting relocation variables.
Existing installs keep working because the platform-default rung matches the legacy layout. On the first auth write, stored secrets leave config.toml and are consolidated into credentials.toml under the data directory. Run simplefin-pp-cli doctor --fail-on warn to check path and credential-location warnings in automation.
Commands
accounts
Fetch accounts, balances, transactions, and holdings live from the SimpleFIN server
simplefin-pp-cli accounts - Live fetch the full Account Set (all institutions) from the SimpleFIN server
info
SimpleFIN server metadata
simplefin-pp-cli info - Report which SimpleFIN protocol versions the server supports
Output Formats
# Human-readable table (default in terminal, JSON when piped)
simplefin-pp-cli accounts
# JSON for scripting and agents
simplefin-pp-cli accounts --json
# Filter to specific fields
simplefin-pp-cli accounts --json --select id,name,status
# Dry run — show the request without sending
simplefin-pp-cli accounts --dry-run
# Agent mode — JSON + compact + no prompts in one flag
simplefin-pp-cli accounts --agent
Agent Usage
This CLI is designed for AI agent consumption:
- Non-interactive - never prompts, every input is a flag
- Pipeable -
--json output to stdout, errors to stderr
- Filterable -
--select id,name returns only fields you need
- Previewable -
--dry-run shows the request without sending
- Read-only by default - this CLI does not create, update, delete, publish, send, or mutate remote resources
- Offline-friendly - sync/search commands can use the local SQLite store when available
- Agent-safe by default - no colors or formatting unless
--human-friendly is set
Exit codes: 0 success, 2 usage error, 3 not found, 4 auth error, 5 API error, 7 rate limited, 10 config error.
Health Check
simplefin-pp-cli doctor
Verifies configuration, credentials, and connectivity to the API.
Configuration
Run simplefin-pp-cli doctor to see the resolved config, data, state, and cache directories. The platform-default config path is ~/.config/simplefin/config.toml; --home, SIMPLEFIN_HOME, and per-kind env vars can relocate it.
Static request headers can be configured under headers; per-command header overrides take precedence.
Environment variables:
| Name | Kind | Required | Description |
|---|
SIMPLEFIN_ACCESS_URL | per_call | Yes | Set to your API credential. |
agentcookie (optional)
If you use agentcookie to sync secrets across machines, this CLI auto-adopts agentcookie-managed credentials with no extra setup. When the daemon writes to this CLI's config, simplefin-pp-cli doctor reports agentcookie: detected and auth-status labels the source as agentcookie. Skip this section if you don't use agentcookie - the CLI works the same as any other.
Troubleshooting
Authentication errors (exit code 4)
- Run
simplefin-pp-cli doctor to check credentials
- Verify the environment variable is set:
echo $SIMPLEFIN_ACCESS_URL
Not found errors (exit code 3)
- Check the resource ID is correct
- Run the
list command to see available items
API-specific
- HTTP 403 from sync or accounts — The access URL was revoked or is wrong. Re-claim: simplefin-pp-cli auth claim .
- Too many requests / token disabled — SimpleFIN allows ~24 requests/day. Avoid scripted loops; one sync pulls all accounts. Run simplefin-pp-cli doctor to see quota guidance.
- Transactions missing before yesterday — Pass a window: simplefin-pp-cli sync --since 90d. A single call is capped at 90 days; the local store accumulates history across syncs.
- Duplicate transactions after sync — SimpleFIN reuses/mirrors transaction IDs. Run simplefin-pp-cli reconcile to detect content-duplicate charges.
Sources & Inspiration
This CLI was built by studying these projects and resources:
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