Billclaw

BillClaw - Financial Data Sovereignty for OpenClaw

Complete financial data management skill for OpenClaw with local-first architecture. Sync bank transactions, fetch bills from email, and export to accounting formats.

When to Use This Skill

Use this skill when:

• Syncing bank transactions from Plaid (US/Canada) or GoCardless (Europe)
• Fetching and parsing bills from Gmail
• Exporting financial data to Beancount or Ledger formats
• Managing local transaction storage with caching and indexing
• Running financial data operations with full data sovereignty

Package Information

• Packages: @firela/billclaw-core, @firela/billclaw-cli, @firela/billclaw-openclaw
• Repository: https://github.com/fire-la/billclaw
• Version: 0.0.1
• License: MIT

Installation

Via npm

# Core package (framework-agnostic)
npm install @firela/billclaw-core

# CLI application
npm install @firela/billclaw-cli

# OpenClaw plugin
npm install @firela/billclaw-openclaw

Via pnpm

pnpm add @firela/billclaw-core
pnpm add @firela/billclaw-cli
pnpm add @firela/billclaw-openclaw

CLI Usage

Setup Wizard

billclaw setup

Interactive wizard for:

• Linking Plaid accounts
• Configuring Gmail bill fetching
• Setting up local storage path

Sync Transactions

# Sync all accounts
billclaw sync

# Sync specific account
billclaw sync --account <account-id>

# Sync with date range
billclaw sync --from 2024-01-01 --to 2024-12-31

Status & Configuration

# View account status
billclaw status

# List all accounts
billclaw config accounts

# View storage statistics
billclaw status --storage

Export Data

# Export to Beancount
billclaw export --format beancount --output transactions.beancount

# Export to Ledger
billclaw export --format ledger --output transactions.ledger

# Export with date filter
billclaw export --from 2024-01-01 --format beancount

OpenClaw Plugin Usage

When installed in OpenClaw, this skill provides:

Tools

• plaid_sync - Sync bank transactions from Plaid
• gmail_fetch - Fetch bills from Gmail
• bill_parse - Parse bill documents
• conversational_sync - Natural language sync interface
• conversational_status - Check sync status
• conversational_help - Get help with commands

Commands

• /billclaw-setup - Configure accounts
• /billclaw-sync - Sync transactions
• /billclaw-status - View status
• /billclaw-config - Manage configuration

OAuth Providers

• Plaid Link integration for bank account linking
• Gmail OAuth for bill fetching

Features

Data Sources

Storage Architecture

• Location: ~/.billclaw/ (configurable)
• Format: Monthly partitioned JSON files
• Caching: TTL-based in-memory cache
• Deduplication: 24-hour window based on transaction ID
• Streaming: Efficient handling of large datasets

Export Formats

• Beancount: Double-entry accounting format
• Ledger: CLI accounting tool format
• CSV: Spreadsheet-compatible format

Security

• Platform keychain storage for credentials (keytar)
• Audit logging for all credential access
• Optional AES-256-GCM encryption
• Local-first architecture - your data never leaves your control

Configuration

Configuration is stored in ~/.billclaw/config.yaml:

accounts:
  - id: plaid-checking
    type: plaid
    name: "My Checking Account"
    enabled: true
    syncFrequency: daily

  - id: gmail-bills
    type: gmail
    name: "Bill Email Fetcher"
    enabled: true
    syncFrequency: daily

storage:
  path: "~/.billclaw"
  format: json

sync:
  defaultFrequency: daily
  retryOnFailure: true
  maxRetries: 3

Runtime Abstractions

The core package is framework-agnostic and uses runtime abstractions:

• Logger: Abstract logging interface
• ConfigProvider: Configuration management
• EventEmitter: Event system for sync operations

This allows BillClaw to work across different environments (CLI, OpenClaw plugin, future platforms).

Event System

BillClaw emits events for important operations:

• transaction.added - New transactions added
• transaction.updated - Existing transactions updated
• sync.started - Sync operation started
• sync.completed - Sync operation completed
• sync.failed - Sync operation failed
• account.connected - Account successfully connected
• account.disconnected - Account disconnected
• account.error - Account error occurred

Scripts

Validate Skill

Run validation before publishing:

./skills/billclaw/scripts/validate-skill.sh skills/billclaw

This checks:

• SKILL.md format and required fields
• File size limits
• Directory structure
• Description quality

Troubleshooting

Issue: Plaid Link fails

Solution: Ensure Plaid credentials are configured:

billclaw config plaid --client-id <id> --secret <secret>

Issue: Gmail fetch returns no bills

Solution: Check Gmail filters and sender whitelist:

billclaw config gmail --filters "from:billing@service.com"

Issue: Export format incorrect

Solution: Verify account mappings:

billclaw export --format beancount --show-mappings

Resources

• Documentation: https://github.com/fire-la/billclaw
• npm packages: https://www.npmjs.com/org/fire-zu
• Issues: https://github.com/fire-la/billclaw/issues

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please see CONTRIBUTING.md in the repository.

License

MIT License - See LICENSE file for details.

Changelog

0.0.1 (2025-02-07)

Initial release:

• Plaid integration for US/Canada banks
• GoCardless integration for European banks
• Gmail bill fetching and parsing
• Local token storage with keychain
• Beancount and Ledger export
• CLI with setup wizard
• OpenClaw plugin with tools and commands
• GitHub Actions publishing workflow

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