Personal Finance with Beancount & Fava

A professional AI assistant skill for personal finance management using plain-text accounting with Beancount and Fava.

Downloads: https://github.com/barcia/beancount-skill/releases Beancount MCP: https://github.com/barcia/beancount-mcp

Overview

This skill enables AI assistants to help users with:

• Financial Analysis: Interpret spending patterns, calculate metrics (net worth, savings rate, expense ratios)
• Beancount Expertise: Syntax help, transaction entry, account structure, and file organization
• Fava Mastery: Query creation, report generation, and visualization optimization
• Investment Guidance: Educational recommendations on asset allocation, risk assessment, and portfolio strategy
• Budget & Planning: Goal setting, cash flow management, and financial optimization

Contents

├── SKILL.md                          # Main skill definition and instructions
├── scripts/
│   └── analyze_beancount.py          # Python script for quick financial analysis
└── references/
    ├── beancount_syntax.md           # Complete Beancount syntax reference
    ├── beancount_query.md            # BQL (Beancount Query Language) reference
    ├── fava_features.md              # Fava interface, options, and budgets
    ├── fava_dashboards.md            # Fava Dashboards plugin reference
    └── financial_analysis.md         # Financial metrics and analysis guide

Usage

As an AI Skill

The SKILL.md file contains the complete skill definition that can be used with AI assistants that support custom skills or system prompts. It provides:

• Workflow guidelines for financial analysis
• Professional standards and disclaimers
• Common use case patterns
• Reference to supporting documentation

Analysis Script

The included Python script provides quick financial insights from Beancount files:

# Install beancount first
pip install beancount

# Run analysis
python scripts/analyze_beancount.py your_finances.beancount --all

# Specific reports
python scripts/analyze_beancount.py your_finances.beancount --net-worth
python scripts/analyze_beancount.py your_finances.beancount --savings-rate --year 2024
python scripts/analyze_beancount.py your_finances.beancount --top-expenses 10
python scripts/analyze_beancount.py your_finances.beancount --monthly-expenses

Reference Documentation

The references/ folder contains comprehensive documentation: