iOS Shortcuts for Firefly III

Update: I’ve posted new versions of these shortcuts for iOS13 and Firefly III 4.8: https://www.jessedyck.me/2019/12/updated-firefly-iii-shortcuts-for-ios-13/

I built a couple of iOS shortcuts for Firefly III (a self-hosted personal finance web app) to let me add transactions on the go. I’ve shared some more details and iCloud links to the shortcuts below.

The first Shortcut is more or less a function that returns a list of accounts. That list is used in the second shortcut to submit the new transaction to Firefly. I wanted to keep the process as quick as possible, so that shortcut requests the least information possible to submit the transaction.

I’ve only just recently switched to using Firefly III; prior to that I had been using Mint for about 8 years. I’ve been increasingly uncomfortable with giving up that much data – and my bank credentials – for a number of years, so I’d been on the lookout for a replacement for quite a while. I’ve probably tried them all, but for one reason or another I couldn’t find an app that fit my requirements.

Firefly is a bit of a change in workflow over Mint, but I’ve found that it’s encouraging me to take a more active role in managing my finances. In part because it doesn’t recommend auto-importing transactions. All-in-all though, it’s working quite well so far.

There are a few places where I’d do things differently in Firefly, but part of the appeal (for me at least) is that it’s built on PHP (Laravel, to be specific) so I could feasibly contribute to it, or at least modify my own fork. It also has a nice REST API and great documentation to go with it, which of course is what these shortcuts are using.

I knew I wanted the ability to add transactions on the go, but logging into the web app is a bit too much friction while waiting in line for a $2 coffee. And let’s face it, if the transaction isn’t added immediately I’ll probably forget about it. So that’s what I’ve solved with these shortcuts.

Shortcut Requirements

Your Firefly III instance must be accessible over the internet (I would not do this without using HTTPS)

The API supports using a Personal Access Token rather than OAuth, which must be created in Firefly > Options > Profile

The Firefly URL and token must be added to both shortcuts

Shortcut can’t find an account?

If no accounts are returned, it’s most likely that the Personal Access Token was denied; either the token was incorrect or, as is common after a Firefly update, the Personal Access Token was essentially deactivated. I often have to delete and recreate it after updates.

Shortcut Downloads

I’ve shared these via iCloud Drive. Load up this post and download the links on an iOS device. Plug your Personal Access Token and the URL to your Firefly III instance into both shortcuts, then test out the Accounts shortcut. It should return a list the asset accounts in Firefly III, along with the current balances.

List Accounts

Add Transactions

If you’re not on an iOS device, here’s the what the two shortcuts look like—warning, they’re long:

Accounts shortcut

New transaction shortcut