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Self-host / Run your own

Set up OpenBooks in about 20 minutes.

OpenBooks is free, open-source, and self-hosted: your bank tokens and API keys live in your own deployment, encrypted at rest. Most of the install is two commands — the steps below are the handful that genuinely need you.

  1. 01

    Clone & deploy your own

    Fork the repo, install, and bootstrap. `pnpm setup` mints your auth keypair and encryption key and writes .env.local; `npx convex dev --once` links your own Convex deployment. The openbooks-self-host skill walks an AI agent through the whole flow, pausing before any account-touching or production step.

    gh repo fork <owner>/openbooks --clone
pnpm install
pnpm setup
npx convex dev --once
pnpm dev:full
  2. 02

    Set your keys in Settings → Connections

    OpenBooks is bring-your-own-keys. Paste your AI provider key (required), and optionally your Plaid and Stripe keys. Sandbox or live keys both work — live connectors are supported; they just need a stable HTTPS origin. Every key is encrypted at rest before it touches the database.

  3. 03

    Register the redirect & webhook URLs

    Copy the endpoints below into your Plaid and Stripe dashboards. Registering the Stripe webhook is REQUIRED for a live Stripe connection — a connection does not report "listening" until the webhook is verified, so capture its whsec_… signing secret when you create it.

    Sign in to your own deployment to see the exact, copyable URLs. The shapes below show what you'll register.

    Stripe webhook URL
    https://<your-deployment>.convex.site/stripe/webhook

    Add as a webhook endpoint in Stripe → Developers → Webhooks. Required for a live Stripe connection.

    Plaid webhook URL
    https://<your-deployment>.convex.site/plaid/webhook

    Set as your Plaid item webhook so syncs trigger on new activity.

    Plaid redirect URI
    https://<your-app>/settings/connections/plaid/callback

    Add to your Plaid app's allowed redirect URIs for OAuth banks.

    Stripe redirect URI
    https://<your-app>/settings/connections/stripe/callback

    Add to your Stripe Connect OAuth settings.

  4. 04

    Set your opening balances

    Enter each account's starting balance so the books begin in balance (equity is no longer zero). This posts an opening journal entry through the same ledger every other entry uses.

  5. 05

    Run the first AI review

    Let the AI bookkeeper categorize your imported activity. Confident items post automatically (at your chosen autonomy level); anything uncertain lands in the Inbox for a one-click confirm.

Deploy your own

The fastest path is the fork + pnpm setup quickstart, optionally driven end-to-end by the openbooks-self-host agent skill. It orchestrates the commands and pauses for your confirmation before any production deploy — it never auto-provisions accounts on your behalf.

Self-host docs →The setup skillHow your keys are protected