Bucketwise Planner

Multi-user budgeting app implementing Scott Pape's Barefoot Investor methodology. Fortnightly budgeting with bucket allocations (60/10/10/20), automated debt snowball payoff, transaction tracking, and optional AI financial advisor.

🙏 Acknowledgments

This project implements the budgeting methodology created by Scott Pape in his book The Barefoot Investor. The bucket-based allocation strategy (60% Daily Expenses, 10% Splurge, 10% Smile, 20% Fire Extinguisher) and debt snowball method are core principles from his work, which has helped millions of people take control of their finances.

Learn more: www.barefootinvestor.com

This is a community-driven open-source implementation, not affiliated with or endorsed by Scott Pape or The Barefoot Investor.

🎯 Features

Core Functionality

• Fortnightly Budgeting: Budget cycles aligned with income (biweekly paychecks)
• Bucket Allocations: 60% Daily Expenses, 10% Splurge, 10% Smile, 20% Fire Extinguisher
• Debt Snowball: Prioritize debts, automated payoff timeline with fortnightly cadence
• Transaction Tracking: Record income, expenses, debt payments with bucket assignments
• Payoff Planning: Visual timeline showing when each debt will be paid off
• Multi-User: JWT-based signup/login (one instance = multiple users)
• Dashboard: Quick overview of current fortnight, debt summary, and projections

Optional AI Advisor 🤖

• Financial Guidance: Personalized advice based on your live budget
• Barefoot-Aligned: Trained on debt snowball and bucket methodology principles
• Privacy-Focused: No chat history stored (ephemeral context only)
• Disabled by Default: Requires optional Google API key to enable
• Access: Teal chat bubble (top-right) or press ⌘/

🏗️ Architecture

Backend

• Framework: Node.js + Express v5 + TypeScript (ESM)
• Database: PostgreSQL via node-postgres
• Architecture: Domain-Driven Design (DDD) with clean layers
  • Domain Layer: Pure business logic (Money, Debt, Fortnight, Allocation)
  • Application Layer: Use cases, DTOs, Zod schemas
  • Infrastructure Layer: PostgreSQL repositories, in-memory adapters
  • Presentation Layer: HTTP controllers, middleware, routes
• Optional AI: Google Gen AI SDK (@google/genai v1.34.0) with Gemini 2.5 Flash (disabled by default)
• Testing: Vitest (99+ passing tests)

Frontend

• Framework: React 18 + Vite 7 + TypeScript
• UI Library: Mantine v8.3.10 (dark theme, navy/slate + teal/amber)
• State: Type-safe API client, minimal local state
• Components: Reusable UI (Selectors, Help system, ChatWidget, Badges, States)
• Accessibility: Keyboard shortcuts, tooltips, dark mode

Self-Hosted, Multi-Tenant Per Instance

• Each deployment is independent (no centralized cloud)
• Multiple users per instance via JWT authentication
• No SaaS dependency — full data ownership

📸 Screenshots

Dashboard

Fortnights View

Debts Management

Transactions Tracking

🚀 Quick Start

Docker Compose (Recommended)

Docker Hub releases:

• slsadmin/bucketwise-planner-backend
• slsadmin/bucketwise-planner-frontend

Release images are published from semver tags such as v0.4.7, producing matching Docker tags such as 0.4.7.

Example docker-compose.yml (Postgres + backend + frontend):

services:
  postgres:
    image: postgres:14-alpine
    environment:
      POSTGRES_DB: bucketwise
      POSTGRES_USER: bucketwise
      POSTGRES_PASSWORD: your-secure-password
    volumes:
      - postgres_data:/var/lib/postgresql/data
    restart: unless-stopped
    healthcheck:
      test: ['CMD', 'pg_isready', '-U', 'bucketwise', '-d', 'bucketwise']
      interval: 20s
      timeout: 10s
      retries: 5
      start_period: 30s

  backend:
    build:
      context: .
      dockerfile: backend/Dockerfile
    image: bucketwise-planner-backend:local
    environment:
      NODE_ENV: production
      PORT: 3000
      # Storage method will default to in-memory if postgres is not set here
      STORAGE_METHOD: postgres
      # Use provided PG_CONNECTION_STRING, or default to local postgres service
      PG_CONNECTION_STRING: ${PG_CONNECTION_STRING:-postgresql://bucketwise:your-secure-password@postgres:5432/bucketwise}
      JWT_SECRET: your-jwt-secret-min-32-chars
      ADMIN_SECRET: your-admin-secret-min-32-chars
      AI_ENABLED: false
      # GEMINI_API_KEY: your-optional-ai-key
    ports:
      - '3000:3000'
    depends_on:
      postgres:
        condition: service_healthy
    restart: unless-stopped

  frontend:
    build:
      context: .
      dockerfile: frontend/Dockerfile
    image: bucketwise-planner-frontend:local
    depends_on:
      - backend
    ports:
      - '5555:80'
    restart: unless-stopped
    healthcheck:
      test: ['CMD', 'curl', '-f', 'http://localhost:80']
      interval: 30s
      timeout: 10s
      retries: 3

volumes:
  postgres_data:

Quick commands:

# Clone and start
git clone https://github.com/solid-logic-studios/bucketwise-planner.git
cd bucketwise-planner
cp .env.example .env
# Edit .env with your secrets (JWT_SECRET, ADMIN_SECRET, etc.)
docker compose up -d

# Access at http://localhost:5555
# First time: Click "Sign Up" to create your account

[!TIP] Generate secure secrets with: openssl rand -base64 32

[!NOTE] DB_SCHEMA_MODE defaults to auto, which keeps the current self-hosted behavior of applying schema setup and pending SQL migrations on backend startup. Managed environments such as CasaOS can set DB_SCHEMA_MODE=manual to prevent routine restarts from making schema changes.

Full deployment guide: docs/SELF_HOSTING.md

Support And Guides

• Installation and self-hosting: docs/SELF_HOSTING.md
• Upgrade notes: docs/UPGRADING.md
• Architecture overview: docs/ARCHITECTURE.md
• FAQ: docs/FAQ.md
• Optional AI setup: docs/AI_ADVISOR.md
• Releases: Releases
• Community questions and ideas: Discussions

Local Development

# Install dependencies
pnpm install

# Set up environment files
cp backend/.env.example backend/.env
cp frontend/.env.example frontend/.env
# Edit with your database credentials

# Terminal 1: Backend
cd backend && pnpm dev  # http://localhost:3000

# Terminal 2: Frontend
cd frontend && pnpm dev  # http://localhost:5173

Development setup details: CONTRIBUTING.md

Local Database Setup (PostgreSQL)

Bucketwise Planner uses PostgreSQL. For local development without Docker, set up a local database and run the schema initializer.

Mac (Homebrew):

# Install and start Postgres 14
brew install postgresql@14
brew services start postgresql@14

# Create database and user
createdb budgetwise
psql -d budgetwise <<'SQL'
CREATE USER budgetwise WITH PASSWORD 'your-secure-password';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON DATABASE budgetwise TO budgetwise;
SQL

# Set backend/.env
cat > backend/.env <<'ENV'
PG_CONNECTION_STRING=postgresql://budgetwise:your-secure-password@localhost:5432/budgetwise
JWT_SECRET=replace-with-openssl-rand-base64-32
ADMIN_SECRET=replace-with-openssl-rand-base64-32
AI_ENABLED=false
ENV

# Apply schema (tables, indexes, columns)
cd backend && pnpm run db:ensure-schema

# Backfill timezone-aware fortnight bounds (if upgrading from <= 0.4.0)
psql "$PG_CONNECTION_STRING" < backend/migrations/003-backfill-fortnight-timezone-bounds.sql
# or run the helper script:
pnpm --filter backend db:backfill-fortnight-bounds

# Migration 004 (if upgrading from <= 0.4.3): promotes user_id to primary key in budget_profiles
# This runs automatically on startup — back up your database first if you have profile data
psql "$PG_CONNECTION_STRING" < backend/migrations/004-budget-profiles-user-id-primary-key.sql

Linux (apt-based):

sudo apt update && sudo apt install -y postgresql postgresql-contrib
sudo systemctl enable --now postgresql

# Create database and user
sudo -u postgres createdb budgetwise
sudo -u postgres psql <<'SQL'
CREATE USER budgetwise WITH PASSWORD 'your-secure-password';
GRANT ALL PRIVILEGES ON DATABASE budgetwise TO budgetwise;
SQL

# Set backend/.env
cat > backend/.env <<'ENV'
PG_CONNECTION_STRING=postgresql://budgetwise:your-secure-password@localhost:5432/budgetwise
JWT_SECRET=replace-with-openssl-rand-base64-32
ADMIN_SECRET=replace-with-openssl-rand-base64-32
AI_ENABLED=false
ENV

# Apply schema
cd backend && pnpm run db:ensure-schema

# Backfill timezone-aware fortnight bounds (if upgrading from <= 0.4.0)
psql "$PG_CONNECTION_STRING" < backend/migrations/003-backfill-fortnight-timezone-bounds.sql
# or run the helper script:
pnpm --filter backend db:backfill-fortnight-bounds

# Migration 004 (if upgrading from <= 0.4.3): promotes user_id to primary key in budget_profiles
# This runs automatically on startup — back up your database first if you have profile data
psql "$PG_CONNECTION_STRING" < backend/migrations/004-budget-profiles-user-id-primary-key.sql

Notes:

• You can alternatively use the Docker Compose postgres service in the Quick Start.
• The schema initializer reads PG_CONNECTION_STRING from backend/.env and creates all required tables.
• Regenerate strong secrets with: openssl rand -base64 32.

🔧 Configuration

Required Environment Variables

Optional Environment Variables

See .env.example files for all configuration options.

Enabling AI Advisor

1. Get free key from Google AI Studio
2. Set GEMINI_API_KEY in backend .env
3. Set AI_ENABLED=true
4. Optional: if your key works with gemini-flash-latest but chat still fails, set GEMINI_MODEL=gemini-flash-latest
5. Reload backend configuration Docker Compose: docker compose up -d --force-recreate backend Manual backend: restart pnpm dev
6. Chat bubble appears in top-right header

Full guide: docs/AI_ADVISOR.md

📚 Documentation

• docs/SELF_HOSTING.md — Deployment, configuration, reverse proxy, troubleshooting
• docs/ARCHITECTURE.md — System design, DDD patterns, tech stack
• docs/AI_ADVISOR.md — Optional AI feature setup and usage
• docs/FAQ.md — Common questions and answers
• CONTRIBUTING.md — Development setup, code style, testing
• backend/README.md — Backend-specific docs
• frontend/README.md — Frontend-specific docs

🧪 Testing

• 99+ passing tests (Vitest framework)
• Unit tests: Domain entities, value objects, use cases
• Integration tests: API endpoints with test database
• Coverage: Maintained >80% for critical paths

cd backend
pnpm test           # Run tests
pnpm test:watch    # Watch mode
pnpm test:coverage # Coverage report

💻 Development Commands

Backend

cd backend
pnpm dev              # Start dev server (http://localhost:3000)
pnpm test             # Run tests
pnpm test:watch      # Watch mode
pnpm test:coverage   # Coverage report
pnpm exec tsc --noEmit  # Type check

Frontend

cd frontend
pnpm dev              # Start Vite dev server (http://localhost:5173)
pnpm build            # Build for production
pnpm preview          # Preview production build
pnpm exec tsc --noEmit  # Type check

Workspace (Root)

pnpm install          # Install all dependencies
pnpm exec tsc --noEmit  # Type check all packages

🔑 Core Features Explained

Bucket Allocations (60/10/10/20)

Based on Scott Pape's Barefoot Investor methodology:

• Daily Expenses (60%) — Essential bills, groceries, transport, utilities
• Splurge (10%) — Guilt-free wants, entertainment, occasional treats
• Smile (10%) — Long-term dreams and goals (holidays, car upgrade, dream purchase)
• Fire Extinguisher (20%) — Initially for debt payoff, then emergency fund, then wealth building

Percentages are customizable in your profile for your unique situation.

Debt Snowball Method

1. List debts with priority (1 = pay off first)
2. Make minimum payments on all debts except priority 1
3. Apply Fire Extinguisher to priority 1 debt (the "snowball")
4. When paid off, roll that amount to priority 2
5. Repeat until debt-free
6. Result: Accelerating progress due to compounding effect

The app automatically calculates your payoff timeline in fortnights (2-week periods).

Fortnightly Budgeting

• Aligned with income: Most people earn biweekly (fortnightly)
• Not monthly: Monthly budgets don't match paycheck cycles
• Flexible: Create as many fortnights as you need
• Trackable: See spent vs remaining per bucket each fortnight
• Accurate dates: Local YYYY-MM-DD stored with UTC bounds to prevent timezone issues

🎨 Design & UX

• Dark theme with navy/slate base + teal/amber accents
• Responsive design — Works on desktop, tablet, mobile
• Accessibility: Keyboard shortcuts (⌘/ for help), tooltips, ARIA labels
• Help system: Searchable help content with cross-page navigation
• Consistent patterns: Loading states, error alerts, empty states
• Date safety: Timezone normalization prevents off-by-one-day bugs

📊 Tech Stack

Backend

• Runtime: Node.js 18+ (ESM modules)
• Framework: Express v5
• Language: TypeScript (strict mode)
• Database: PostgreSQL with node-postgres
• Validation: Zod schemas
• Optional AI: Google Gen AI SDK with Gemini 2.5 Flash
• Testing: Vitest

Frontend

• Framework: React 18
• Build Tool: Vite 7
• Language: TypeScript (strict mode)
• UI Library: Mantine v8.3.10 with custom dark theme
• Icons: Tabler Icons React

Deployment

• Containerization: Docker + Docker Compose
• Recommended Proxy: Nginx or Caddy (TLS termination)

🤝 Contributing

We welcome contributions! See CONTRIBUTING.md for:

• Local development setup
• Code style and standards
• Testing requirements
• Pull request process
• Commit message conventions

All contributions help improve Bucketwise Planner for everyone!

📄 License

MIT License — Free for personal and commercial use. See LICENSE for details.

🆘 Support & Community

• 📖 Documentation: docs/, README files
• 💬 Questions: GitHub Discussions
• 🐛 Bug Reports: GitHub Issues
• 🆘 Help: SUPPORT.md and docs/FAQ.md

🌟 Roadmap

Check docs/FEATURE_WISHLIST.md for planned features and community ideas.

Contributions welcome! Help make Bucketwise Planner better.

Built with ❤️ using Domain-Driven Design, SOLID principles, and Scott Pape's Barefoot Investor methodology

www.barefootinvestor.com