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Expense Tracker CLI

A Python CLI app to manage personal expenses with budgets, analytics, exports, and optional encrypted notes.

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If you like this tool, ⭐ it on GitHub!

Features

• Add, update, and soft-delete expenses
• Categorize expenses and track monthly budgets
• View monthly totals per category
• Filter/search expenses by category, date, amount, or keyword
• Export to Excel (.xlsx) and PDF (.pdf)
• Optional note encryption using Fernet
• Spending trend visualization (ASCII + chart embedded in PDF)
• Rich interactive CLI with tables, prompts, and panels

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Tech Stack

• Python 3.10+
• SQLite via SQLAlchemy ORM
• CLI UI: rich
• PDF export: fpdf
• Excel export: openpyxl
• Charting: matplotlib
• Optional encryption: cryptography

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Setup

1. Clone repo

git clone https://github.com/CPS7/Expense-Tracker-CLI.git
cd Expense-Tracker-CLI

2. Create virtual environment

python -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate  # Linux / macOS
venv\Scripts\activate     # Windows

3. Install dependencies

pip install -r requirements.txt

4. Optional: Enable note encryption

Create a .env file with:

EXPENSE_ENCRYPT_NOTES=1
EXPENSE_KEY=<your_32byte_base64_key>

Key must be 32 url-safe base64 bytes. Encryption can be disabled by setting EXPENSE_ENCRYPT_NOTES=0 or leaving EXPENSE_KEY empty.

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Usage

Run the CLI app:

python main.py

You’ll see a menu like:

1. Add Expense
2. View Expenses
3. Soft Delete Expense
...
14. Exit

• Navigate with number input
• Follow prompts for amount, date, note, category, etc.
• Export options available for Excel and PDF reports

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Examples

Add an expense:

Amount (₹): 500
Note: Groceries
Date (YYYY-MM-DD): 2025-11-15
Category: Food
Currency: INR
✔ Expense saved (id: 1)

View monthly category totals:

Category Totals - November 2025
-------------------------------
Food          1500.00
Transport      800.00
Utilities      300.00
-------------------------------
Total all categories: 2600.00

Export filtered expenses to PDF with trend chart

Search & Export -> Export as PDF -> Embed trend chart: Yes
✔ PDF exported: expenses_report_20251115_221530.pdf

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Database Schema

• categories → Expense categories
• expenses → Stores individual expenses
• budgets → Monthly budgets per category
• expense_history → Tracks create/update/delete actions
• meta_info → Schema version info

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Notes

• Soft delete sets deleted=True; hard delete removes record.
• Notes cannot be searched reliably if encryption is enabled.
• Budgets trigger warnings at 80% spent and 100% exceeded.
• Trend charts are embedded in PDF; temporary files are cleaned automatically.

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License

MIT License © 2025 CPS7

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