buchhalter command line tool

buchhalter-cli is a command line tool (CLI) that downloads invoices from suppliers automatically. It uses the open invoice collector database (OICDB) by default.

Installation

Pre-Compiled Binary

Download the pre-compiled binary from our Release section.

Homebrew

$ brew tap buchhalter-ai/buchhalter
$ brew install buchhalter-ai
$ buchhalter version

From Source code

Install the buchhalter-cli by cloning the repository and running the main.go file.

$ git clone git@github.com:buchhalter-ai/buchhalter-ai-cli.git
$ cd buchhalter-ai-cli
$ make build
$ bin/buchhalter version

Usage

buchhalter-cli is a command line tool to interact with the buchhalter-ai API.

1.Tagging

Tag all credentials you want to use in 1Password with buchhalter-ai and make sure that every credential has the URL field been filled with the supplier's correct URL (e.g., the login URL).

2.Login

Login to your 1Password vault in the console with: eval $(op signin)

3.Sync

From all suppliers

Sync all the latest invoices from all tagged suppliers in 1Password to your local disk:

buchhalter sync

From one supplier

Example: Load the latest invoices from Hetzner Cloud only (using the default recipe from oicdb.org):

buchhalter sync hetzner

Configuration

The configuration file ~/.buchhalter/.buchhalter.yaml will be automatically created on startup. The following settings are available for configuration:

Setting	Type	Default	Description
credential_provider_cli_command	String		Path to the Password Manager CLI binary (e.g. /usr/local/bin/op for 1Password). If not configued, the binary will be automatically detected on the systems $PATH.
credential_provider_item_tag	String	buchhalter-ai	Name of the item tag buchhalter-cli will query. Only items with this particular tag are considered. Useful to limit the scope. If empty, buchhalter-cli will query all items in your vault. For 1Password, see Organize with favorites and tags
buchhalter_directory	String	~/buchhalter/	Directory to store the invoices from suppliers into.
buchhalter_max_download_files_per_receipt	Int	2	Download only the latest 2 invoices per receipt and ignore the rest. 0 means all invoices.
buchhalter_config_directory	String	~/.buchhalter/	Directory to store the buchhalter configuration.
buchhalter_api_host	String	https://app.buchhalter.ai/	HTTP Host for the Buchhalter API.
buchhalter_always_send_metrics	Bool	false	Activate / deactivate sending usage metrics to Buchhalter API.
dev	Bool	false	Activate / deactivate development mode for buchhalter-cli (without updates and sending metrics).

The configuration file is in YAML format. An example looks like:

credential_provider_cli_command: "/opt/homebrew/bin/op"
credential_provider_item_tag: "invoice"
buchhalter_always_send_metrics: True

Command line arguments and flags

All command line arguments and flags are available via buchhalter --help:

Usage:
  buchhalter [command]

Available Commands:
  connect     Connects to the Buchhalter Platform and verifies your premium membership
  help        Help about any command
  sync        Synchronize all invoices from your suppliers
  version     Output the version info

Flags:
  -d, --dev    development mode (e.g. without OICDB recipe updates and sending metrics)
  -h, --help   help for buchhalter
  -l, --log    log debug output

Use "buchhalter [command] --help" for more information about a command.

The --dev flag enables the development mode. In this mode particular activities are skipped like checking the buchhalter api for a new version of OICDB invoice recipes or the transfer of usage metrics to the buchhalter API.

The --log flag will write a activities into a log file placed at <buchhalter_directory>/buchhalter-cli.log (default: ~/buchhalter/buchhalter-cli.log).

Local invoice storage

By default, all invoices are stored in a folder called "buchhalter" in your users' folder (e.g. /Users/bernd/buchhalter). You can place local oicdb recipes (for testing or modifications) in the _local/recipes subfolder of your buchhalter directory. You can use the --dev flag to overwrite recipes for a specific supplier with your local ones.

Example: Load all invoices from Hetzner Cloud (using your local recipe stored in buchhalter/_local/recipes/hetzner.json):

buchhalter sync hetzner --dev

That's it! You can now use buchhalter-cli to download all your invoices from your suppliers automatically. Have fun, and feel free to create a lot of pull requests with new recipes for our oicdb.org database. We're looking forward to your contributions!

How does it work?

1. buchhalter-cli reads all tagged credentials from your 1Password vault.
2. buchhalter-cli loads all recipes from the central open invoice collector database by default.
3. buchhalter-cli maps credentials with recipes and uses the credentials to log in to the supplier's website and download the invoices.
4. Optional (when --dev mode is not active): Send anonymous usage data to the buchhalter-ai API to improve the used recipes and the tool.

Privacy

1. buchhalter-cli runs locally on your Mac and will only read tagged credentials (username, password, url, 2FA-Code) from your 1Password vault.
2. buchhalter-cli will never write to your 1Password vault.
3. buchhalter-cli will never store credentials or data on your local machine.
4. buchhalter-cli loads recipes from the open invoice collector database by default.
5. buchhalter-cli will never send any data to the buchhalter-ai API without your consent.

Development

Creating a new release

Imagine we want to release v1.2.3

$ git tag -a v1.2.3
$ git push origin v1.2.3

This triggers the automatic workflow to compile + create a new release + update the homebrew recipe.