ledger2bql 1.2.0

Translate Ledger CLI query syntax into BQL

ledger2bql

Translate Ledger CLI query syntax into BQL

Implemented in Python.

The package is available at .

Introduction

BQL is quite a powerful language for slicing and dicing Beancount data. But, when all you need are simple queries, writing every field and filter seems tedios. In comparison, Ledger CLI's syntax is short and efficient. A simple l b bank will list all bank accounts, assuming a well-organized account tree.

The purpose of this project, a simple CLI utility, is to accept a Ledger-like syntax, generate an appropriate BQL statement, and run it for you.

Development

Clone the repository. Add an .env file, specifying the BEANCOUNT_FILE location.

BEANCOUNT_FILE=tests/sample_ledger.bean

Install the dependencies.

uv sync

Build

uv build

Run

uv run ledger2bql

or run

l ...

Tests

Since the app is using .env file for environment variables, make sure that BEANCOUNT_FILE is set to the sample_ledger.bean in the tests/ directory.

Usage

Install the package:

uv pip install ledger2bql
# or
uv tool install ledger2bql

Set the BEANCOUNT_FILE variable to point to your Beancount ledger file. You can create an .env file, to customize different ledgers for different folders.

For convenience, you can use a l.cmd as a shortcut for ledger2bql. See the actual file in the project root.

Run

ledger2bql b card
ledger2bql r card -b 2025-08-01

To get the list of available parameters, simply run

ledger2bql
ledger2bql bal --help
ledger2bql reg --help

Output

Balance

Running

l b

will output

Your BQL query is:
SELECT account, sum(position) GROUP BY account ORDER BY account ASC

+--------------------------+---------------+
| Account                  |       Balance |
|--------------------------+---------------|
| Assets:Bank:Checking     |  1,900.00 EUR |
| Assets:Cash:Pocket-Money |    -20.00 EUR |
| Equity:Opening-Balances  | -1,000.00 EUR |
| Expenses:Food            |    100.00 EUR |
| Expenses:Sweets          |     20.00 EUR |
| Income:Salary            | -1,000.00 EUR |
+--------------------------+---------------+

To show a grand total row at the end of the balance report, use the --total or -T flag:

l b --total

or

l b -T

will output

Your BQL query is:
SELECT account, sum(position) GROUP BY account ORDER BY account ASC

+--------------------------+---------------+
| Account                  |       Balance |
|--------------------------+---------------|
| Assets:Bank:Checking     |  1,900.00 EUR |
| Assets:Cash:Pocket-Money |    -20.00 EUR |
| Equity:Opening-Balances  | -1,000.00 EUR |
| Expenses:Food            |    100.00 EUR |
| Expenses:Sweets          |     20.00 EUR |
| Income:Salary            | -1,000.00 EUR |
|--------------------------+---------------|
| Total                    |     -15.35 EUR |
+--------------------------+---------------+

Register

The register command shows transaction details. Running

l r

will output

Your BQL query is:
SELECT date, account, payee, narration, position

+------------+-------------------------+----------------+-------------+---------------+
| Date       | Account                 | Payee          | Narration   |        Amount |
|------------+-------------------------+----------------+-------------+---------------|
| 2025-01-01 | Assets:Bank:Checking    |                | Initial Bal |  1,000.00 EUR |
| 2025-01-01 | Equity:Opening-Balances |                | Initial Bal | -1,000.00 EUR |
| 2025-02-01 | Expenses:Sweets         | Ice Cream Shop | Ice Cream   |     20.00 EUR |
| 2025-02-01 | Assets:Cash:Pocket-Mone | Ice Cream Shop | Ice Cream   |    -20.00 EUR |
| 2025-03-01 | Expenses:Food           | Grocery Store  | Groceries   |    100.00 EUR |
| 2025-03-01 | Assets:Bank:Checking    | Grocery Store  | Groceries   |   -100.00 EUR |
+------------+-------------------------+----------------+-------------+---------------+

To show a running total column in the register report, use the --total or -T flag:

l r --total

or

l r -T

will output

Your BQL query is:
SELECT date, account, payee, narration, position

+------------+--------------------------+----------------+------------------+---------------+-----------------+
| Date       | Account                  | Payee          | Narration        |        Amount |   Running Total |
|------------+--------------------------+----------------+------------------+---------------+-----------------|
| 2025-01-01 | Assets:Bank:Checking     |                | Initial Balance  |  1,000.00 EUR |    1,000.00 EUR |
| 2025-01-01 | Equity:Opening-Balances  |                | Initial Balance  | -1,000.00 EUR |        0.00 EUR |
| 2025-02-01 | Expenses:Sweets          | Ice Cream Shop | Ice Cream        |     20.00 EUR |       20.00 EUR |
| 2025-02-01 | Assets:Cash:Pocket-Money | Ice Cream Shop | Ice Cream        |    -20.00 EUR |        0.00 EUR |
| 2025-03-01 | Expenses:Food            | Grocery Store  | Groceries        |    100.00 EUR |      100.00 EUR |
| 2025-03-01 | Assets:Bank:Checking     | Grocery Store  | Groceries        |   -100.00 EUR |        0.00 EUR |
+------------+--------------------------+----------------+------------------+---------------+-----------------+

Register

Command

l r exp

outputs

Your BQL query is:
SELECT date, account, payee, narration, position WHERE account ~ 'exp' ORDER BY date, account

+------------+-----------------+----------------+-------------+------------+
| Date       | Account         | Payee          | Narration   |     Amount |
|------------+-----------------+----------------+-------------+------------|
| 2025-02-01 | Expenses:Sweets | Ice Cream Shop | Ice Cream   |  20.00 EUR |
| 2025-03-01 | Expenses:Food   | Grocery Store  | Groceries   | 100.00 EUR |
+------------+-----------------+----------------+-------------+------------+

Filter Syntax

The filters have initially matched the Ledger CLI syntax but some have been adjusted for convenience.

Description

Similar to Ledger's Payee spec, @some_store, the @ syntax is available. For Beancount, however, it is more useful to search through the Description, which is a combination of Payee and Narration fields.

D:\src\ledger2bql>l b @ice

Your BQL query is:
SELECT account, units(sum(position)) as Balance WHERE description ~ 'ice' ORDER BY account ASC

+--------------------------+------------+
| Account                  |    Balance |
|--------------------------+------------|
| Assets:Cash:Pocket-Money | -20.00 EUR |
| Expenses:Sweets          |  20.00 EUR |
+--------------------------+------------+

Date Range

A new, date range, syntax has been introduced. Instead of using -b 2025 -e 2025-06, you can simply write -d 2025..2025-06.

D:\src\ledger2bql>l r -d 2025-01

Your BQL query is:
SELECT date, account, payee, narration, position WHERE date >= date("2025-01-01") AND date < date("2025-02-01")

+------------+-------------------------+---------+-----------------+---------------+
| Date       | Account                 | Payee   | Narration       |        Amount |
|------------+-------------------------+---------+-----------------+---------------|
| 2025-01-01 | Assets:Bank:Checking    |         | Initial Balance |  1,000.00 EUR |
| 2025-01-01 | Equity:Opening-Balances |         | Initial Balance | -1,000.00 EUR |
+------------+-------------------------+---------+-----------------+---------------+

The date range can be used with just a beginning/ending value:

l r -d 2025-03..
l r -d ..2025-03

Specifying just a value, without the .. operator, will use it as a range, as well.

Currency

Filtering by currency is done via -c parameter. The currency spec is case-insensitive. Multiple currencies can be specified, separated by comma, without spaces.

D:\src\ledger2bql>l r -c abc,bam

Your BQL query is:
SELECT date, account, payee, narration, position WHERE currency IN ('ABC', 'BAM')

+------------+-----------------+-------------+-----------------+------------+
| Date       | Account         | Payee       | Narration       |     Amount |
|------------+-----------------+-------------+-----------------+------------|
| 2025-04-01 | Equity:Stocks   |             | Buy Stocks      |   5.00 ABC |
| 2025-04-02 | Equity:Stocks   |             | Buy more stocks |   7.00 ABC |
| 2025-05-01 | Expenses:Food   | Supermarket | drinks          |  25.00 BAM |
| 2025-05-01 | Assets:Cash:BAM | Supermarket | drinks          | -25.00 BAM |
+------------+-----------------+-------------+-----------------+------------+