CLI

The Treeline CLI (tl) provides terminal access to your financial data.

Installation

macOS and Linux

curl -fsSL https://treeline.money/install.sh | sh

Windows

irm https://treeline.money/install.ps1 | iex

Restart your terminal after installation. See the installation guide for more details.

Available Commands

tl status - Show account status and summary
tl sync - Sync accounts and transactions from integrations
tl import - Import transactions from a CSV file
tl query (or tl sql) - Execute SQL query against the database
tl tag - Apply tags to transactions
tl backup - Manage backups
tl compact - Compact the database
tl doctor - Run database health checks
tl encrypt - Encrypt the database
tl decrypt - Decrypt the database
tl demo - Manage demo mode
tl setup - Set up integrations (SimpleFIN, Lunchflow)
tl plugin - Manage plugins
tl logs - View and manage application logs
tl help - Print help for any command

tl --help          # Show all commands
tl <command> -h    # Help for a specific command

Most commands support --json for scripting.

Workflows

Automated Sync

Sync every morning at 8am:

crontab -e
# Add:
0 8 * * * ~/.treeline/bin/tl sync >> ~/.treeline/sync.log 2>&1

With macOS notification:

#!/bin/bash
result=$(tl sync --json 2>&1)
new_count=$(echo "$result" | jq -r '.results[0].transaction_stats.new // 0')
if [ "$new_count" -gt 0 ]; then
  osascript -e "display notification \"$new_count new transactions\" with title \"Treeline\""
fi

CSV Import

Import transactions from any bank’s CSV export:

# Auto-detect columns — works for most standard CSVs
tl import bank_export.csv --account "Chase Checking"

# Preview before importing
tl import bank_export.csv --account "Chase Checking" --dry-run

# European bank with custom columns and number format
tl import export.csv --account "Savings" \
  --number-format eu \
  --date-column "Buchungstag" \
  --amount-column "Betrag" \
  --skip-rows 3

# Credit card statement (charges shown as positive, need to flip)
tl import amex.csv --account "Amex Gold" --flip-signs

# Separate debit/credit columns instead of a single amount
tl import bank.csv --account "Checking" \
  --debit-column "Debit" --credit-column "Credit"

# Import with balance column (creates balance snapshots automatically)
tl import statement.csv --account "Checking" --balance-column "Balance"

# Save settings as a profile for repeated use
tl import export.csv --account "Savings" \
  --number-format eu --skip-rows 3 --save-profile deutsche-bank

# Reuse a saved profile
tl import next_month.csv --account "Savings" --profile deutsche-bank

# Pipe from stdin
cat export.csv | tl import - --account "Checking"

Column mappings are auto-detected from CSV headers. Explicit flags override auto-detection. Duplicate transactions are automatically skipped on re-import.

Flags reference: tl import --help

SQL Queries

tl sql is an alias for tl query — use whichever you prefer.

By default, queries run in read-only mode (the database is opened read-only). Use --allow-writes to enable write operations:

tl query "DELETE FROM transactions WHERE description = 'duplicate'" --allow-writes

Export to CSV:

tl query --format csv "SELECT * FROM transactions WHERE transaction_date >= '2026-01-01'" > jan.csv

Monthly summary:

tl sql "SELECT strftime('%Y-%m', transaction_date) as month,
        SUM(CASE WHEN amount < 0 THEN amount ELSE 0 END) as spent,
        SUM(CASE WHEN amount > 0 THEN amount ELSE 0 END) as income
        FROM transactions GROUP BY month ORDER BY month DESC LIMIT 6"

Bulk Tagging

Tag all coffee purchases:

ids=$(tl query "SELECT transaction_id FROM transactions WHERE description ILIKE '%coffee%'" --format csv | tail -n +2 | tr '\n' ',')
tl tag coffee --ids "$ids"

Plugin Development

tl plugin new my-plugin
cd my-plugin && npm install
npm run build
tl plugin install .
# Restart the app to load the plugin

Install from GitHub:

tl plugin install https://github.com/treeline-money/plugin-budget