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Language Syntax

Giduru works with the hledger journal format, an open plain-text format for double-entry accounting.

This page is a practical overview of the parts you will use most in Giduru. It is not a replacement for the full hledger manual, but it covers the shape of the language that the app is built around.

Transactions​

A transaction starts with a date and description, followed by two or more postings:

2026-03-25 Farmer's Market
    expenses:food:groceries    42.50 USD
    assets:bank:checking      -42.50 USD

The last posting amount can be omitted. hledger (and Giduru) will infer it:

2026-03-25 Farmer's Market
    expenses:food:groceries    42.50 USD
    assets:bank:checking

That balancing behavior is one of the reasons double-entry is pleasant in plain text.

Account names​

Accounts are colon-separated hierarchies. By convention, top-level accounts are one of: assets, liabilities, equity, income, expenses.

assets:bank:checking
assets:bank:savings
expenses:food:groceries
expenses:housing:rent
liabilities:credit-card:visa
income:salary

These names matter semantically. Giduru uses them for autocomplete, validation, hierarchy-aware views, and account-type analysis.

Comments and tags​

Comments usually start with ;. Tags are often represented inside comments:

2026-03-25 Farmer's Market  ; location: downtown
    expenses:food:groceries    42.50 USD
    assets:bank:checking

Giduru reads comments and tags as part of the journal, not as disposable decoration.

Directives​

Account declarations​

account assets:bank:checking
account expenses:food:groceries

Account declarations are especially important in Giduru because they improve autocomplete and enable stronger validation. For the details, see Account Directives.

Commodity declarations​

commodity USD
  format 1,000.00 USD

Commodity declarations tell the ledger how amounts are formatted and interpreted.

Price directives​

P 2026-03-25 EUR $1.08

Price directives let Giduru value holdings and compute cross-commodity views such as net worth.

Include​

include 2026.journal
include accounts.journal

Includes are what make multi-file vaults practical. Giduru follows them from the root entry file and treats the reachable files as one logical ledger.

Multi-file journals​

Most serious vaults use a root file such as main.journal:

include accounts.journal
include commodities.journal
include banking/checking.journal
include credit-card/2026.journal

That lets you split the ledger physically without losing the coherence of one accounting system.

What Giduru Pays Attention To​

Giduru is not just syntax-highlighting the file. It is actively using parts of the language to drive the workspace:

  • account declarations for validation and completion
  • include resolution across the vault
  • commodity and price data for analysis
  • inferred balancing amounts
  • comments and tags for filtering and interpretation

Learn more​