Docs
- Reference
- TL;DR
- Quick starts
- Tutorials
- hledger by example
- Videos
- Cookbook
- USING HLEDGER:
- Checking for errors
- Customising
- Data entry
- Examples
- Making charts
- Other software
- Preserving your data
- Reporting
- Scripts and add-ons
- Setups and workflows
- User interfaces
- ACCOUNTING TASKS:
- Accounting and bookkeeping
- Borrowing and lending
- Budgeting
- Eco accounting
- Forecasting
- FOSS projects
- Inventory tracking
- Investing and trading
- Invoicing
- Multiple currencies
- Non-profit accounting
- Taxes
- Time tracking
- Trip expenses
- Shared expenses
hledger has a lot of documentation, to suit different needs. Docs can also be accessed from the left sidebar.
Reference
The manuals are thorough and authoritative.
Do at least skim the table of contents so you'll know where to look in future.
You can also view the manuals locally with commands like
hledger help, hledger CMD --help, hledger-ui --man, hledger-web --info, man hledger-ui, info hledger-web:
See also:
TL;DR
You can get very brief help with a tldr client
(tldr hledger, tldr hledger balance, ...) or in your browser:
- hledger
- hledger add
- hledger accounts
- hledger add
- hledger aregister
- hledger balance
- hledger balancesheet
- hledger import
- hledger incomestatement
- hledger print
- hledger-ui
- hledger-web
Quick starts
Fast introductions for folks comfortable with command line tools.
- 2 minute quick start
- 5 minute quick start
- 10 minute quick start
- hledger and Ledger (for Ledger users)
- hledger manual: Common tasks
- Workflows
Tutorials
Beginner friendly, step by step guides.
- Accounting basics for PTA users
- Tutorial: hledger add
- Tutorial: hledger-ui
- Tutorial: hledger-web
- Tutorial: Import CSV data
- Tips for learning hledger
hledger by example
A new, growing book of examples introducing hledger one step at a time.
- hledger by example
- Get hledger installed
- Check your setup
- Start a journal
- Add a transaction: starting balances
- Journal entries
- Account names
- More transactions
- Overview of commands
- print: show whole transactions
- register: show detailed changes
- balance: show account totals
- balancesheet: assets and liabilities
- incomestatement: revenues and expenses
- Reading CSV files
- Importing new transactions
- Reading timeclock files
- Reading timedot files
Videos
Short videos:
-
Hledger in 10 Minutes: The Ultimate CLI Tool (2025, 5m)
-
hledger fan's beginner lessons (2019-2021, ~3m)
- The Basics: An hledger Transaction
- hledger Basics: 3 Must-Know Options for the Balance Command
- The Basics: The hledger Register Command
- hledger Basics: Focus on Months
- hledger basics: save keystrokes!
- hledger: looking under the hood
- hledger: untie your data with "nots"
- hledger: fun and profit with incomestatement
- hledger: fast fancy formatting
- hledger: who did you pay?
- hledger: bring order to your expenses
- hledger: commands to help with reconciling7
- hledger: shortcuts part 1
- hledger: shortcuts part 2
- hledger: shortcuts part 3
- hledger add
- hledger iadd
Longer talks:
- Youngbin Han @ FOSS for All
(2025, slides, korean and english)
Plain Text Accounting with hledger
with short videos of add and web - Glenn Ramsey @ Kiwi Pycon XI (2022, 30m)
Plain text accounting for fun and profit - Simon Michael @ HaskellerZ meetup (2021, 2h)
Inside hledger: an architectural tour and how-to, slides - Conversations in Code, Episode 3: Introduction to Plain Text Accounting (2020, 1h, audio only), discussion
- Intproject Mi: Учет сделок с проводками в текстовом формате (2019, 34m)
- Evolution of hledger (Gource visualization) (2019, 38m)
- Simon Michael @ Brainium meetup (2016, 2h)
Hands-on with hledger - Chris Vollick @ DevHouse Waterloo meetup (2016, 40m)
hledger, an open source accounting tool - FLOSS Weekly episode 375: hledger (2016) - overview (3m), full interview (1h)
See also:
Cookbook
Additional docs, tips and rough notes. See also the more generic Plain Text Accounting Cookbook.
USING HLEDGER:
Checking for errors
Customising
Data entry
- Create a journal
- How to record journal entries
- How to figure out journal entries
- Importing CSV data
- Cost notation
Examples
- examples/ - examples and snippets, old and new
Making charts
Other software
- Exporting from hledger
- hledger and Beancount
- hledger and dsq / DataStation
- hledger and just
- hledger and GnuCash
- hledger and Ledger
- hledger and Obsidian
- hledger and Paisa
- hledger and Postgres
- hledger and Quicken/Quickbooks
- hledger and SimpleFIN
- hledger and SQLite
- hledger and Ultorg
- hledger and YNAB
Preserving your data
- Track changes with version control
- Keep backups - 3-2-1 rule
Reporting
- Making sense of your finances with hledger reports
- Report examples
- Reporting version control stats
- Rewrite account names
- Rewrite commodity symbols
- Tags tutorial
Scripts and add-ons
Setups and workflows
User interfaces
- hledger-web tips
- Mobile apps
- See PTA UI tools starting at UI, console
ACCOUNTING TASKS:
Accounting and bookkeeping
- Accounting basics for PTA users
- Accounting: further study
- Common journal entries
- pta.o: Choosing cash or accrual
Borrowing and lending
Budgeting
Eco accounting
Forecasting
FOSS projects
Inventory tracking
Investing and trading
- PTA Cookbook: Investing and trading
- hledger manual: Cost reporting
- hledger manual: Value reporting
- hledger manual: balance features
- Track investments (2017)
- Track investments (2020)
- Calculate unrealized gain
- Calculate return on investment
- hledger-lots
- Average cost capital gains with hledger 2023
- Track foreign stock capital gains using hledger 2023
- Full-fledged hledger: Manual lot tracking 2024
Invoicing
Multiple currencies
- Multicurrency tutorial (2018)
- Currency conversion (2021)
- hledger manual: Cost reporting
- hledger manual: Value reporting