Getting Started

Installation

From Community plugins

PennyWallet is not yet listed in Obsidian's community plugins. Use BRAT or manual install below.

BRAT (beta)

BRAT installs beta plugins directly from GitHub and keeps them updated.

1. Install the BRAT plugin from Settings → Community plugins → Browse and enable it
2. Run BRAT: Add a beta plugin for testing from the Command Palette
3. Enter the repository: twrusstw/penny-wallet
4. Enable PennyWallet in Settings → Community plugins

Manual

1. Download main.js, manifest.json, and styles.css from the latest release
2. Create the folder <your-vault>/.obsidian/plugins/penny-wallet/
3. Copy the three files into that folder
4. Open Obsidian → Settings → Community plugins → enable PennyWallet

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First-Time Setup

Step 1 — Add your accounts

Go to Settings → PennyWallet → Active Accounts and click Add Account.

For each account you have, add an entry with:

• Name — any label you want (e.g. Cash, HSBC Savings, Visa Platinum)
• Type — Cash, Bank, or Credit Card
• Initial Balance — your current balance (for credit cards, enter your current outstanding debt as a positive number, e.g. 3000 means you owe 3,000)

Tip: Add all accounts before logging any transactions, so balances are calculated correctly from the start.

Step 2 — Set a default account

In Settings → PennyWallet → General, choose which account should be pre-selected when you open the Add Transaction form.

Step 3 — Log your first transaction

Click the PennyWallet icon in the left ribbon to open the Finance Overview, then press + Add Transaction. You can also run PennyWallet: Add transaction from the Command Palette (Cmd+P).

Fill in:

• Type — Expense, Income, or Transfer
• Date — defaults to today
• Account — which account to record against
• Category — choose from the list or leave blank
• Note — optional description
• Tags — optional labels; on mobile, tap the tag row to open the picker
• Amount — on mobile, tapping the field opens a calculator sheet with numpad, 00, ⌫, and a formula bar in the title; press Done to commit the value

Press Confirm to save.

Using PennyWallet on a phone? See Mobile entry for bottom-sheet pickers and the calculator.

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Command palette

All commands are available via Cmd+P (or Ctrl+P on Windows / Linux):

Command	Action
PennyWallet: Open finance overview	Open the dashboard
PennyWallet: Open transactions	Open the transactions view
PennyWallet: Open assets	Open the assets view
PennyWallet: Add transaction	Open the transaction form directly
PennyWallet: Refresh views	Refresh all open PennyWallet views
PennyWallet: Validate data	Scan all wallet files for frontmatter / orphan-wallet issues
PennyWallet: Open settings	Open Obsidian Settings on the PennyWallet tab

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Where data is stored

PennyWallet creates:

<vault>/
├── .penny-wallet.json     ← your config (accounts, categories, settings)
└── PennyWallet/           ← one .md file per month
    ├── 2026-04.md
    └── 2026-03.md

The folder name (PennyWallet by default) can be changed in Settings. See Data Format for details on the file structure.