# Envelope Budgeting and Plain Text Accounting \[reddit\]

**URL:** <https://forum.plaintextaccounting.org/t/envelope-budgeting-and-plain-text-accounting-reddit/564>\
**Category:** News\
**Created:** [June 5, 2025, 7:58am UTC](https://forum.plaintextaccounting.org/t/envelope-budgeting-and-plain-text-accounting-reddit/564 "2025-06-05T07:58:41Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 4

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**Author:** ![simonmic](https://yyz1.discourse-cdn.com/flex003/user_avatar/forum.plaintextaccounting.org/simonmic/32/1_2.png) [@simonmic](https://forum.plaintextaccounting.org/u/simonmic)\
**Post date:** [August 18, 2026, 5:41am UTC](https://forum.plaintextaccounting.org/t/envelope-budgeting-and-plain-text-accounting-reddit/564/4 "2026-08-18T05:41:22Z")

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Thanks for surfacing that again.. I reread it. Really great stuff. No, it hasn't caught on yet as the repo had zero stars and no-one knows about it. Here are the links again:

- [https://github.com/conery/dexter](https://github.com/conery/dexter) - the repo
- [https://conery.github.io/dexter](https://conery.github.io/dexter) - the excellent docs
  - with detailed explanation of the elegant [expense account budgeting method](https://conery.github.io/dexter/envelopes_dex), which could be used with any PTA tool
  - and the efficient-looking [import process](https://conery.github.io/dexter/tut_import/) and [classification/data entry TUI](https://conery.github.io/dexter/tut_review/)

I would say the requirement for a [mongodb database](https://conery.github.io/dexter/db_server/) is a downside. The docs mention an alternate [hledger workflow](https://conery.github.io/dexter/hledger/) that can also read and write a hledger journal. I don't know if that works today or not.

Recap:  
Dexter is a standalone python CLI app, published in 2025, that uses a local mongodb database, imports bank CSVs, converts to double entry transactions with the help of a small TUI, supports a clever budgeting method using expense accounts as envelopes, provides simple register-style reports, and can also import from/export to hledger.

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