Install

From PyPI (the distribution is akt-cli; the command is akt):

uv tool install akt-cli     # installs the `akt` command globally
# or
pip install akt-cli
# or run without installing
uvx --from akt-cli akt --help

From a checkout (the project is managed with uv):

uv sync                 # create .venv and install
uv run akt --help       # run without activating
uv tool install .       # install the `akt` command from source

Configuration

akt needs a base URL, an admin email + password, and a company id. They are resolved in this order (first wins):

1. CLI flags: --base-url, --email, --password, --company (given before the subcommand, e.g. akt --company 2 customer list).
2. Environment: AKT_BASE_URL, AKT_EMAIL, AKT_PASSWORD, AKT_COMPANY, AKT_THROTTLE.
3. A dotenv file — $AKT_ENV_FILE, then ./.env, then ~/.config/akt/akt.env. Akaunting's own install keys are recognised too: APP_URL, AKAUNTING_ADMIN_EMAIL, AKAUNTING_ADMIN_PASSWORD.

Minimal ~/.config/akt/akt.env:

AKT_BASE_URL=https://accounting.example.com
AKT_EMAIL=admin@example.com
AKT_PASSWORD=your-password
AKT_COMPANY=1

Then:

uv run akt ping
uv run akt company

Authentication is HTTP Basic against your Akaunting admin user.

Concepts mapped to Akaunting

Akaunting folds several nouns onto shared endpoints; akt hides that:

journal-entry and account require the Double-Entry module installed on the instance. The module publishes chart-of-accounts read-only on the /api surface (index/show); its create/update/delete live only on the session/CSRF web route. akt account gives you the full verb set anyway — list/get hit /api, while create/update/delete transparently drive the web CRUD with your admin session (the same mechanism download-attachment already uses).

The contacts and documents endpoints derive their permission from a search=type:<x> query param. akt injects this automatically — calling them raw without it returns 403 necessary access rights.

Verbs

Every resource supports:

akt <noun> list      [--search 'field:value'] [--all] [--limit N] [--json]
akt <noun> get <id>
akt <noun> create    --field value ...
akt <noun> update <id> --field value ...
akt <noun> delete <id>
akt <noun> enable <id>      # where applicable
akt <noun> disable <id>

Bills, invoices and payments additionally support attachments (scanned bills, receipts, PDFs):

akt <noun> create ... --attachment ./file.pdf        # repeatable; upload on create
akt <noun> update <id> --attachment ./file.pdf       # attach to an existing record
akt <noun> update <id> --remove-attachment           # clear existing attachment(s)
akt <noun> attachments <id>                           # list attached files (id, name, size)
akt <noun> download-attachment <id> [--out DIR] [--media-id ID]

Output is a table by default; add --json (works before or after the verb) for raw JSON suitable for piping into jq.

Three ways to set body fields on create/update:

• typed flags shown by akt <noun> create --help
• --set key=value (repeatable; values are JSON-coerced, so --set enabled=0)
• --data '<json>' or --data @file.json (merged last, wins over everything)

Examples

# Contacts
akt customer create --name "Northwind Traders" --email ar@northwind.com --currency-code USD
akt vendor create   --name "Office Supply Co"  --email billing@osc.com
akt customer list --search 'name:Northwind'
akt customer update 12 --phone "555-2000"
akt customer disable 12

# Items, categories, taxes
akt item create --name "Consulting Hour" --sale-price 150 --purchase-price 0
akt category create --name "Services" --type income
akt tax create --name "Sales Tax" --rate 8.25

# Bank / cash accounts (the money side — see the COA section below for GL accounts)
akt bank create --name "Business Checking" --number 1001 --currency-code USD
akt bank list

# Open a book with a prior-period opening balance. The Double-Entry module
# auto-posts an opening-balance journal entry dated to the account's creation
# date; --opening-balance-date re-dates it to the period boundary so it lands in
# the right financial year. Needs a positive --opening-balance.
akt bank create --name "Business Checking" --number 1001 --currency-code USD \
    --opening-balance 5000 --opening-balance-date 2024-12-31
# Re-date the opening entry of an existing account:
akt bank update 3 --opening-balance-date 2024-12-31

# Invoice with line items (totals computed server-side; number auto-generated)
akt invoice create --contact 12 \
    --item 'name=Consulting,price=150,quantity=10,item_id=2' \
    --item 'name=Setup fee,price=500,quantity=1' \
    --status sent

# Record a customer payment against that invoice (amount defaults to amount due)
akt payment create --invoice 34

# Partial payment of a specific amount via bank transfer
akt payment create --invoice 34 --amount 750 \
    --payment-method offline-payments.bank_transfer.2

# Bills and vendor payments work the same way
akt bill create --contact 13 --item 'name=Paper,price=40,quantity=5'
akt payment create --bill 41

# Attachments: upload the source PDF/scan and fetch it back later
akt bill create --contact 13 --item 'name=Paper,price=40,quantity=5' \
    --attachment ./supplier-bill.pdf
akt payment update 57 --attachment ./receipt.pdf   # attach to an existing payment
akt bill attachments 41                             # list attached files
akt bill download-attachment 41 --out ./downloads   # save to disk
akt payment update 57 --remove-attachment           # clear attachments

# Double-entry general ledger (requires the Double-Entry module)
akt account list                                       # read the chart of accounts
akt account get 12

# Build the chart of accounts as code (create/update/delete run via the web
# session; type-id is the double-entry account-type id — copy it from an
# existing account's `type_id`)
akt account create --name "Cash on Hand" --code 1010 --type-id 6
akt account create --name "Petty Cash" --code 1011 --type-id 6 --parent-id 12
akt account update 12 --code 1000 --description "Operating cash"
akt account delete 12

# Post a balanced journal entry (>= 2 lines; debits must equal credits;
# journal number auto-generated, basis defaults to accrual)
akt journal-entry create --description "Owner capital contribution" \
    --item 'account_id=10,debit=5000' \
    --item 'account_id=30,credit=5000'
akt journal-entry list
akt journal-entry update 4 --description "Corrected memo"
akt journal-entry create --description "Vendor bill accrual" --basis accrual \
    --item 'account_id=60,debit=250' --item 'account_id=21,credit=250' \
    --attachment ./invoice.pdf

## COA config: link categories and accounts (Xero-style)

Akaunting keeps *categories* (required on every transaction) separate from the
double-entry *chart of accounts*. Point akt at a COA config and it keeps them in
lockstep: one list to maintain (accounts), a 1:1 mirror of categories generated
from it, and `payment create` coded by `--account` — with the mirror category
filled in automatically.

akt finds the config at `--coa FILE` → `AKT_COA_FILE` → `./coa.toml` →
`~/.config/akt/coa.toml`. Minimal schema (extra keys are ignored):

```toml
[[account]]
code    = 400
name    = "API Subscription Revenue"
type_id = 13            # DoubleEntry account type; income/expense class -> category type
# optional: category = "Revenue"   (override the mirror name)
# optional: mirror   = false        (skip mirroring, e.g. bank/AR/AP accounts)

akt coa diff                 # preview: accounts/categories to create or rename
akt coa sync                 # apply (create + rename; idempotent)
akt coa sync --prune         # also DISABLE accounts/categories absent from the config

# code a transaction by GL account — akt auto-fills the mirror category:
akt payment create --type expense --bank 1 --amount 120 --account 628
# ...or by category name — akt reverse-fills the matching GL account:
akt payment create --type expense --bank 1 --amount 120 --category "Cloud Hosting"

--account/--category are two ends of the same coin: give either and akt fills the other from the COA config, so the category report and the COA report always agree. --account takes a GL code or name; --category a mirror-category name (see --bank for the bank/cash account). An explicit --set de_account_id= still wins.

Enforcement (when a --coa config is loaded): akt refuses to create a standalone income/expense transaction that has no GL account — you must pass --account, --category, or an explicit --set de_account_id=. This makes the "category set but GL account left to the module's 628/400 default" mistake impossible. Bill/invoice payments (which post to A/P–A/R) are exempt, and with no --coa config the old behaviour is unchanged. Use akt verify to catch any transactions (e.g. web-UI entries) that slipped past.

Anything else: raw API access

akt raw GET reports akt raw POST items --data '{"name":"Ad-hoc","type":"service","sale_price":99}' akt company akt settings --search 'key:default.account'

## Financial reports (needs the akt-api module)

Akaunting's trial balance, P&L, and balance sheet aren't in its JSON API. With
the companion module installed, akt computes them from the ledger:

```bash
akt trial-balance --to 2025-12-31                 # every account, debits = credits
akt report profit-loss --from 2025-01-01 --to 2025-12-31
akt report balance-sheet --to 2025-12-31
akt balance --account 105 --to 2025-12-31         # one account's balance
akt balance --account 200 --to 2025-12-31 --expected 0   # reconcile: exit 1 on mismatch

--expected turns akt balance into a reconciliation primitive (compare an account to an external figure, non-zero exit on a mismatch). Balances aggregate through Akaunting's ledger relation, so soft-deleted transactions are excluded just as its own reports do.

Reading the ledger: the akt-api companion module

Akaunting's Double-Entry app exposes only journal-entry and chart-of-accounts over the API — the ledger itself (where every transaction's postings land) has no endpoint. The optional akt-api companion module (in akt-api/, install it into your Akaunting modules/ directory — see akt-api/README.md) adds a read-only GET /api/akt/ledgers. When it's present, extra commands light up; when it's not, they print an install hint and everything else works unchanged.

# Show what actually posted to a GL account (by code or name):
akt ledger --account 628 --from 2025-01-01 --to 2025-12-31

# Audit: every standalone income/expense transaction whose ACTUAL posted GL
# account differs from the account that mirrors its category. Needs a --coa
# config (to know the mapping) and the companion module (to read the ledger).
# Exits non-zero when it finds mis-postings — handy in CI / a pre-close gate.
akt --coa coa.toml verify --from 2025-01-01 --to 2025-12-31

Because the Double-Entry module posts to the ledger by de_account_id, not by category, a transaction can carry a tidy category yet post to the wrong GL account (e.g. the module's default "Other / Uncategorized"). akt verify is how you catch that — the category report and the COA report only agree when it comes back clean.

Akaunting gotchas akt handles for you

Driving Akaunting's API directly has sharp edges; akt papers over these:

• Type-scoped ACL — contacts and documents need search=type:<x> on every verb or the API returns 403 necessary access rights.
• Doubled totals — Akaunting recomputes a document's total from its line items and adds it to the amount you send. akt always sends amount: 0 so the server-computed total is authoritative.
• Item description — line items need a description key even when empty, or creation 500s with Undefined array key "description".
• Updates wipe items — a document update deletes and recreates all line items from the request. akt resends the existing items on a partial update so they aren't lost.
• Nested payment route — paying a document must POST to documents/{id}/transactions; the flat transactions endpoint rejects it. The same applies to updating a document-linked payment (e.g. attaching a file to it) — akt picks the nested route automatically.
• Multipart uploads — attachments switch the request from JSON to multipart/form-data with the attachment[] field; updates are sent as POST + _method=PATCH because PHP won't populate $_FILES on a real PUT.
• Attachment download isn't on /api — Akaunting only serves attachment bytes from the session-authenticated web route /{company}/uploads/{id}/download. akt download-attachment transparently logs in a web session with your admin credentials (reused for the process) to fetch the file; metadata (id, name, size) comes from the /api record itself.
• Full-replace updates — Akaunting PUT re-validates required fields, so akt merges your changes onto the current record.
• Journal entries must balance — a journal-entry needs >= 2 lines whose debits equal its credits; akt validates this client-side (clear error) before hitting the API. Each line carries both a debit and a credit key (the unused side sent as 0) because Akaunting validates both as required.
• Journal updates re-derive ledgers — like documents, a journal update deletes any ledger line absent from the request. akt resends the existing lines (with their ledger ids) so an update that only changes a field doesn't wipe the entry, and auto-generates the journal_number from the module's double-entry.journal.number_* settings when you don't pass one.
• Chart-of-accounts CRUD is web-only — the Double-Entry module exposes accounts read-only on /api; create/update/delete exist solely on the session/CSRF web route. akt account create|update|delete logs in a web session (reusing your admin credentials, cached for the process), attaches the CSRF token, and unwraps Akaunting's {success, error, data, message} AJAX envelope — so a server-side block (e.g. deleting an account that has ledgers) surfaces as a normal error. Updates resend name (required by Akaunting on update) from the current record when you don't pass one.

Invoice creation may be gated by a plan check

In Akaunting 3.x, CreateDocument::authorize() gates invoice creation (only type == invoice) behind a call to api.akaunting.com/plans/limits using the apps.api_key setting. If that key is unset or the host can't reach api.akaunting.com, invoice creation fails closed with 500 Not able to create a new user — in the web UI too, not just akt. Bills, payments, contacts, items and transfers are unaffected. Fix it by setting a valid apps.api_key (and allowing outbound HTTPS to api.akaunting.com).

Host bot-protection / throttling

Some hosts (e.g. cPanel with Imunify360) greylist an IP that issues a burst of automated requests, returning an Access denied by … bot-protection page or timing out. akt retries throttle/WAF responses with backoff, and --throttle SECONDS (or AKT_THROTTLE) enforces a minimum gap between calls — use --throttle 1 for bulk work. A durable fix is to whitelist your IP in the host firewall.

Contributing

Developing, testing, or releasing akt? See CONTRIBUTING.md for the test suite, CI/CD, release process, and a map of the source files.

License

MIT © AsyncAlchemist