A secure, self-hosted billing and invoice management application built with React, TypeScript, and SQLite. Complete control over your financial data — no telemetry, no hosted tier, no vendor lock-in.
# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/rbenzing/SlimBooks.git
cd SlimBooks
# Generate cryptographically secure secrets
./scripts/generate-secrets.sh
# Deploy with Docker Compose
./scripts/deploy.sh
# App available at http://localhost:8080Everything you need to bill clients, get paid and track where the money went — while keeping full ownership of your data.
A clean, modern interface focused on clarity and speed. Replace the placeholders below with actual captures from your instance.
Dashboard
Real-time revenue, expenses & charts
Invoice Editor
Line items, taxes, shipping & templates
Client Management
Profiles, history & contact details
Reports
P&L, cash/accrual, multi-period
To add real screenshots: place optimized WebP/PNG files in your static assets and replace the placeholder frames above. Always include meaningful alt text describing the UI state.
Built for performance, maintainability, and developer experience
Get SlimBooks running in minutes
# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/rbenzing/SlimBooks.git
cd SlimBooks
# Generate secure secrets
./scripts/generate-secrets.sh
# Deploy with Docker
./scripts/deploy.sh
Access the application at http://localhost:8080
# Prepare your Raspberry Pi
curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/rbenzing/SlimBooks/main/scripts/setup-raspberry-pi.sh | bash
# Deploy the application
./scripts/deploy.sh# Install dependencies
npm install
# Start development servers
npm run dev
Frontend: http://localhost:8080 • Backend: http://localhost:3002
Backend changes need a manual restart; the frontend hot-reloads via Vite HMR. Database migrations run automatically on server start.
Every change has to clear all four before it lands.
npm run typecheck # TypeScript across frontend, vite config, and server
npm run lint # ESLint (0 errors, 0 warnings) + typecheck
npm test # Vitest suite
npm run build # Production buildSecure defaults, fully customizable
.env.example is the single template and lists every variable the application reads. Copy it to .env and edit that:
# Security (REQUIRED – change in production)
JWT_SECRET=your-secure-64-character-secret
JWT_REFRESH_SECRET=your-secure-refresh-secret
SESSION_SECRET=your-secure-session-secret
# Network
CORS_ORIGIN=http://localhost:8080
PORT=3002
# Email — note SMTP_*, not EMAIL_*
SMTP_HOST=
SMTP_PORT=587
SMTP_USER=
SMTP_PASS=
EMAIL_FROM=noreply@slimbooks.app
# Stripe (optional) — setting both keys switches it on
STRIPE_PUBLISHABLE_KEY=
STRIPE_SECRET_KEY=
STRIPE_WEBHOOK_SECRET=
# Features
ENABLE_DEBUG_ENDPOINTS=false
Run ./scripts/generate-secrets.sh to create cryptographically secure values.
Defense in depth for sensitive financial data
Protection against brute-force attacks (100 req / 15 min)
Secure token-based auth with configurable expiration
Server-side validation prevents injection attacks
Comprehensive protection via Helmet.js
Automatic lockout after repeated failed logins
Expired access tokens refresh silently; refresh tokens rotate in place
Every request logged with timing, on your own box
Guides for deployment, theming, and contribution
Full project description, features, and architecture notes.
Development workflow, quality gates, and PR expectations.
generate-secrets, deploy, Raspberry Pi setup, cron helpers.
Report bugs or propose improvements on GitHub.
View application logs
docker-compose logs -fUpdate deployment
./scripts/deploy.shGenerate new secrets
./scripts/generate-secrets.shSet up recurring-invoice cron
./scripts/setup-cron.shFree software, and it stays that way.
SlimBooks is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU Affero General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version. It is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but without any warranty — without even the implied warranty of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.
What AGPL means for a self-hosted app: if you modify SlimBooks and let others use it over a network, you must offer those users the source of your modified version. Running it privately for your own business places no obligation on you.
SPDX identifier: AGPL-3.0-or-later ·
Read the full licence
SlimBooks is built by Russell Benzing.
It's developed with heavy use of AI coding assistants — architecture, implementation, tests and this documentation. That's a deliberate choice, and worth stating plainly: it means the project moves quickly, and it means every change still gets reviewed, type-checked, linted and covered by the test suite before it lands. The full history is public; judge the code, not the tooling.
It's released free and open source under the AGPL so that freelancers and small businesses can run their own billing on their own hardware, and own their data outright rather than rent access to it. There's no hosted tier, no telemetry, and nothing held back for a paid version.
Bug reports, feature requests and pull requests are all welcome — see CONTRIBUTING.md.
SlimBooks is free, open-source software released under the GNU Affero General Public License v3 (or later). If it saves you time or helps your business, consider buying the maintainer a coffee.
No hosted tier · No telemetry · No paid version · Your data stays on your hardware
