Actual Budget

Actual Budget API

Official Node.js API for Actual Budget. Runs headless — works on local budget data synced from your server.

Installation

npm install @actual-app/api

Environment Variables

| Variable | Required | Description | |----------|----------|-------------| | ACTUAL_SERVER_URL | Yes | Server URL (e.g., https://actual.example.com) | | ACTUAL_PASSWORD | Yes | Server password | | ACTUAL_SYNC_ID | Yes | Budget Sync ID (Settings → Advanced → Sync ID) | | ACTUAL_DATA_DIR | No | Local cache directory for budget data (defaults to cwd) | | ACTUAL_ENCRYPTION_PASSWORD | No | E2E encryption password, if enabled | | NODE_EXTRA_CA_CERTS | No | Path to CA certificate file for self-signed certs |

Self-Signed Certificates

If your Actual Budget server uses a self-signed certificate:

1. Recommended: Add your CA to the system trust store, or 2. Alternative: Set NODE_EXTRA_CA_CERTS=/path/to/your-ca.pem to trust your specific CA

Avoid disabling TLS verification entirely — it exposes you to man-in-the-middle attacks.

Quick Start

const api = require('@actual-app/api');
await api.init({
  dataDir: process.env.ACTUAL_DATA_DIR || '/tmp/actual-cache',
  serverURL: process.env.ACTUAL_SERVER_URL,
  password: process.env.ACTUAL_PASSWORD,
});
await api.downloadBudget(
  process.env.ACTUAL_SYNC_ID,
  process.env.ACTUAL_ENCRYPTION_PASSWORD ? { password: process.env.ACTUAL_ENCRYPTION_PASSWORD } : undefined
);
// ... do work ...
await api.shutdown();

Core Concepts

Common Operations

Get Budget Overview

const months = await api.getBudgetMonths();        // ['2026-01', '2026-02', ...]
const jan = await api.getBudgetMonth('2026-01');   // { categoryGroups, incomeAvailable, ... }

Accounts

const accounts = await api.getAccounts();
const balance = await api.getAccountBalance(accountId);
const newId = await api.createAccount({ name: 'Checking', type: 'checking' }, 50000); // $500 initial
await api.closeAccount(id, transferToAccountId);  // transfer remaining balance

Transactions

// Get transactions for date range
const txns = await api.getTransactions(accountId, '2026-01-01', '2026-01-31');
// Import with deduplication + rules (preferred for bank imports)
const { added, updated } = await api.importTransactions(accountId, [
  { date: '2026-01-15', amount: -2500, payee_name: 'Grocery Store', notes: 'Weekly run' },
  { date: '2026-01-16', amount: -1200, payee_name: 'Coffee Shop', imported_id: 'bank-123' },
]);
// Update a transaction
await api.updateTransaction(txnId, { category: categoryId, cleared: true });

Categories & Payees

const categories = await api.getCategories();
const groups = await api.getCategoryGroups();
const payees = await api.getPayees();
// Create
const catId = await api.createCategory({ name: 'Subscriptions', group_id: groupId });
const payeeId = await api.createPayee({ name: 'Netflix', category: catId });

Budget Amounts

await api.setBudgetAmount('2026-01', categoryId, 30000);  // budget $300
await api.setBudgetCarryover('2026-01', categoryId, true);

Rules

const rules = await api.getRules();
await api.createRule({
  stage: 'pre',
  conditionsOp: 'and',
  conditions: [{ field: 'payee', op: 'is', value: payeeId }],
  actions: [{ op: 'set', field: 'category', value: categoryId }],
});

Schedules

const schedules = await api.getSchedules();
await api.createSchedule({
  payee: payeeId,
  account: accountId,
  amount: -1500,
  date: { frequency: 'monthly', start: '2026-01-01', interval: 1, endMode: 'never' },
});

Bank Sync

await api.runBankSync({ accountId });  // GoCardless/SimpleFIN

Sync & Shutdown

await api.sync();      // push/pull changes to server
await api.shutdown();  // always call when done

ActualQL Queries

For complex queries, use ActualQL:

const { q, runQuery } = require('@actual-app/api');
// Sum expenses by category this month
const { data } = await runQuery(
  q('transactions')
    .filter({
      date: [{ $gte: '2026-01-01' }, { $lte: '2026-01-31' }],
      amount: { $lt: 0 },
    })
    .groupBy('category.name')
    .select(['category.name', { total: { $sum: '$amount' } }])
);
// Search transactions
const { data } = await runQuery(
  q('transactions')
    .filter({ 'payee.name': { $like: '%grocery%' } })
    .select(['date', 'amount', 'payee.name', 'category.name'])
    .orderBy({ date: 'desc' })
    .limit(20)
);

Operators: $eq, $lt, $lte, $gt, $gte, $ne, $oneof, $regex, $like, $notlike Splits: .options({ splits: 'inline' | 'grouped' | 'all' })

Helpers

// Look up ID by name
const acctId = await api.getIDByName('accounts', 'Checking');
const catId = await api.getIDByName('categories', 'Food');
const payeeId = await api.getIDByName('payees', 'Amazon');
// List budgets
const budgets = await api.getBudgets();  // local + remote files

Transfers

Transfers use special payees. Find transfer payee by transfer_acct field:

const payees = await api.getPayees();
const transferPayee = payees.find(p => p.transfer_acct === targetAccountId);
await api.importTransactions(fromAccountId, [
  { date: '2026-01-15', amount: -10000, payee: transferPayee.id }
]);

Split Transactions

await api.importTransactions(accountId, [{
  date: '2026-01-15',
  amount: -5000,
  payee_name: 'Costco',
  subtransactions: [
    { amount: -3000, category: groceryCatId },
    { amount: -2000, category: householdCatId },
  ]
}]);

Bulk Import (New Budget)

For migrating from another app:

await api.runImport('My-New-Budget', async () => {
  for (const acct of myData.accounts) {
    const id = await api.createAccount(acct);
    await api.addTransactions(id, myData.transactions.filter(t => t.acctId === id));
  }
});

Reference

Full API: https://actualbudget.org/docs/api/reference ActualQL: https://actualbudget.org/docs/api/actual-ql

const api = require('@actual-app/api');
await api.init({
  dataDir: process.env.ACTUAL_DATA_DIR || '/tmp/actual-cache',
  serverURL: process.env.ACTUAL_SERVER_URL,
  password: process.env.ACTUAL_PASSWORD,
});
await api.downloadBudget(
  process.env.ACTUAL_SYNC_ID,
  process.env.ACTUAL_ENCRYPTION_PASSWORD ? { password: process.env.ACTUAL_ENCRYPTION_PASSWORD } : undefined
);
// ... do work ...
await api.shutdown();

const rules = await api.getRules();
await api.createRule({
  stage: 'pre',
  conditionsOp: 'and',
  conditions: [{ field: 'payee', op: 'is', value: payeeId }],
  actions: [{ op: 'set', field: 'category', value: categoryId }],
});

Schedules

const schedules = await api.getSchedules();
await api.createSchedule({
  payee: payeeId,
  account: accountId,
  amount: -1500,
  date: { frequency: 'monthly', start: '2026-01-01', interval: 1, endMode: 'never' },
});

Bank Sync

await api.runBankSync({ accountId });  // GoCardless/SimpleFIN

Sync & Shutdown

await api.sync();      // push/pull changes to server
await api.shutdown();  // always call when done