rledger price

Fetch current and historical commodity prices from online sources.

Usage

rledger price [OPTIONS] [SYMBOL]...

Arguments

Argument	Description
SYMBOL...	One or more commodity symbols (e.g., AAPL, BTC, EUR)

Options

Option	Description
-f, --file <FILE>	Beancount file to read commodities from
-c, --currency <CURRENCY>	Base currency for price quotes [default: USD]
-d, --date <DATE>	Date for prices (YYYY-MM-DD, defaults to today)
-b, --beancount	Output as beancount price directives
-s, --source <SOURCE>	Use specific source (overrides mapping)
--source-cmd <CMD>	Use ad-hoc external command as source
-m, --mapping <MAPPING>	Symbol mapping (e.g., VTI:VTI,BTC:BTC-USD)
--list-sources	List configured sources and exit
--no-cache	Disable the price cache for this run
--clear-cache	Clear the price cache before fetching
-v, --verbose	Show verbose output

Price Caching

Prices are cached to disk to reduce API calls. By default, cached prices expire after 30 minutes (matching Python bean-price behavior).

• Latest prices (no --date) expire after the configured TTL
• Historical prices (with --date) don't expire via TTL, but are pruned after 7 days of inactivity
• Cache file location: platform cache directory (e.g., ~/.cache/rledger/prices.json on Linux)

Configuration

[price]
cache_ttl = 1800  # 30 minutes (default)
# cache_ttl = 0   # disable caching

Cache Control

# Skip cache for this run (always fetch fresh)
rledger price AAPL --no-cache

# Clear all cached prices, then fetch fresh
rledger price AAPL --clear-cache

# Clear cache without fetching
rledger price --clear-cache

Price Sources

Rustledger supports 11 built-in price sources and external commands.

Built-in Sources (No API Key)

Source	Description
yahoo (default)	Yahoo Finance — stocks, ETFs, crypto, forex
coinbase	Coinbase — cryptocurrency spot prices
coincap	CoinCap — cryptocurrency market data
ecb	European Central Bank — EUR exchange rates
ratesapi	Rates API — forex rates
tsp	US Thrift Savings Plan fund prices
eastmoneyfund	East Money Fund — Chinese fund prices

Built-in Sources (API Key Required)

Source	Environment Variable
oanda	OANDA_API_KEY
alphavantage	ALPHAVANTAGE_API_KEY
coinmarketcap	CMC_API_KEY
quandl	QUANDL_API_KEY

Using a Specific Source

# Fetch from Coinbase instead of default (Yahoo)
rledger price BTC -s coinbase

# List all available sources
rledger price --list-sources

External Command Source

Use any external script or program as a price source:

rledger price AAPL --source-cmd "my-price-fetcher"

The command receives the ticker as the first argument, plus --currency <CURRENCY> and (when provided) --date <YYYY-MM-DD> flags. It should output in one of:

• Simple format: 150.00 USD
• Beancount format: 2024-01-15 price AAPL 150.00 USD
• JSON format: {"price": "150.00", "currency": "USD"}

Source Configuration

Configure sources, mappings, and fallback chains in config:

[price]
default_source = "yahoo"
timeout = 30
cache_ttl = 1800

[price.mapping]
# Simple ticker mapping
BTC = "BTC-USD"

# Source-specific mapping
[price.mapping.ETH]
source = "coinbase"
ticker = "ETH"

# Fallback chain
[price.mapping.VTI]
source = ["yahoo", "alphavantage"]

# Custom external command source
[price.sources.mybank]
type = "command"
command = ["python3", "/path/to/mybank-prices.py"]

Examples

Fetch Single Price

rledger price AAPL

Historical Price

rledger price AAPL -d 2024-01-15

Different Currency

rledger price EUR -c USD

Cryptocurrency

rledger price BTC -s coinbase
# or with Yahoo mapping
rledger price BTC -m "BTC:BTC-USD"

All Commodities from Ledger

rledger price -f ledger.beancount -b

Append to Price File

rledger price -f ledger.beancount -b >> prices.beancount

Daily Price Update Script

#!/bin/bash
rledger price -f ledger.beancount -b >> prices.beancount

Run with cron:

0 18 * * 1-5 /path/to/update-prices.sh

See Also

• Common Queries - Querying prices