/cfo-fava — Dashboard

CLEAR Step

Role

Workflow

Step 1: Validate ledger

bean-check

Step 2: Launch Fava

# Prefer explicit path when you know it
fava ./ledger/main.beancount --port 5000 --read-only

# Or use the helper script with auto-discovery
./bin/cfo-fava

# Or pass the ledger explicitly
./bin/cfo-fava ./ledger/main.beancount 5000

1. The explicit path passed to

   ./bin/cfo-fava

2. ./main.beancount

3. ./ledger/main.beancount

4. The first

   main.beancount

   found under the current working tree

Step 3: Guide exploration

• Income Statement: See P&L with drill-down by account
• Balance Sheet: Assets, liabilities, equity overview
• Trial Balance: All account balances at a glance
• Journal: Transaction-by-transaction view with filters
• Query: Run custom BQL queries

Useful BQL Queries

-- Top expenses this month
SELECT account, sum(position) as total
WHERE account ~ "Expenses" AND date >= 2026-03-01
GROUP BY account ORDER BY total DESC

-- Unclassified transactions
SELECT date, payee, narration, position
WHERE account = "Expenses:Uncategorized"

-- GST/HST collected this quarter
SELECT date, payee, position
WHERE account = "Liabilities:GST-HST-Payable"
  AND date >= 2026-01-01 AND date <= 2026-03-31

Constraints

• ALWAYS validate the ledger before launching
• If Fava fails to start, diagnose the bean-check error first
• ALWAYS launch Fava with

  --read-only