John-Paul Flintoffhttps://shinglyu.com/blog/2026/03/18/hledger-and-ai.html
“Once you see how clean the numbers are — and how easy it is to verify them — going back to spreadsheets feels like going back to a flip phone.”
#plaintextaccounting @shinglyu
shinglyuYou get automation without blindly trusting a model with your numbers. Write the import rules once, and everything stays deterministic and auditable after that.
If you want more control over their financial data without paying for yet another SaaS tool, this might be the workflow you've been looking for.
Full post: https://shinglyu.com/blog/2026/03/18/hledger-and-ai.html
Elias Probst@Bebef ahso - ich verwende client-seitig kein Excel oder ähnliches.
Hab eine selbstgebaute Pipeline, welche mit Hilfe von "mlr" die exportierten CSVs normalisiert und dann basierend auf teils generierten, teils manuell definierten Regeln mit "hledger import..." meine Journals generiert.
Ich sehe also die CSVs im plain-text.
Cris 
Support question for the #hledger #plaintextaccounting community:
Prefacing this by acknowledging that I know I'm probably trying to do something weird, but I’m just getting started so please be patient.
I’m trying to import a large CSV file and am running into unbalance transaction errors. For example:
> hledger: Error: /Users/cris/checking.csv:1751-1750:
> 1751 | 2025-03-21 Starting Balance
> | SBA $-100
>
> This transaction is unbalanced.
> The real postings' sum should be 0 but is: $-100
The line from the CSV file is:
> SBA,,03/21/2025,Starting Balance,,,,,$100,$0.00,Cleared
And the relevant rule from my import rules:
> fields account1, , date, description, , , account2, comment, amount-out, amount-in,
I can manually add the above transaction without issues, so I guess I need some clarity as to what I'm doing wrong with my import file.
Thanks!
Simon MichaelThis aside, I understand the wish to have your accounting be on a rock solid foundation - I feel the same. No software is perfect, but you can still achieve it: keep your data, and if you need extra assurance, your reports, in version control; use double entry bookkeeping; regularly reconcile with real world balances; and perhaps run extra correctness checks. (#plaintextaccounting FTW.)
It is now very hard to miss any mistake made by your software - you'll see and address it right away.
It is now very hard to miss any mistake made by your software - you'll see and address it right away.
sefFor 🦀led #plaintextaccounting there’s rustledger and rustfava. Not that I need the speed boost but cool regardless.
Me! 👋
Don't Skip The Docs.
For emacs tips, start at https://hledger.org/editors.html#emacs.
Don't assume you need hledger-mode (ledger-mode also works well, I use it).
With flycheck-hledger (or a VCS precommit hook), don't feel you need maximal error checking - do what's most useful now, you can always do stricter checks manually.
Don't try for perfect accounts/files/workflow up front - expect evolution.
Don't limit yourself with an ancient hledger version - get the latest.
pmpmSupport added to Go Ledger for importing various common formats
Support added to Go Ledger for importing various common formats - Lemmy.World
I’m doing my taxes and needed to ingest various data formats. I added support here for CAMT.053, QIF, IIF and QFX. I added support for currency and exchange rates too. https://github.com/plenert-macdonald/ledger [https://github.com/plenert-macdonald/ledger] It’s not AI slop. I largely coded it myself (AI only for simple things) and incorporated various tests with real data (sanitized). So far, it’s working for importing my banking data for my taxes. I’ve used data from Capital One, PayPal and Wise. No promises that it’s perfect, but it works for me. If you have any suggestions, bugs, etc. feel free to drop an issue. Please attach sample sanitized data and waive rights to it, because I will put the data in the repo for tests.
Multi Purr Puss 
@alerque i'm not quite sure how #plaintextaccounting makes sense. I've learned that VALUE FLOWS from one ACCOUNT into Another - makes perfect sense to me.
Are there existing videos, describing the differences (perhaps even benefits) of NOT doing double-entry?
Show me, please!