Run the Books.
A complete financial operating system for solo operators. Invoicing, expenses, forecasting, tax export, and an AI agent you talk to. Local-first. Buy it once.
$397 Standard / $597 Pro
Launch pricing through [DATE]: $297 / $447
What it does
You bought QuickBooks.
You used 10% of it.
QuickBooks costs $180 a year. FreshBooks costs $204. Bonsai costs $216. Wave is "free" but monetizes your data. Every one of them is built for accountants, hosted on someone else's server, and rented to you forever.
Run the Books does what you actually use. Invoicing. Tracking who paid. Logging what you spent. Knowing what's coming in next month. And nothing you don't. It runs on your computer. Nothing goes to the cloud. No login. No subscription. Buy it once, use it forever.
"Two years of QuickBooks costs more than Run the Books Pro."
02 / What's included
Everything in the system.
Two tiers, one license model. Standard covers everything most solo operators need. Pro adds the AI agent and unattended operation for people running heavier billing.
Standard
For solo operators running their own books.
$397
One-time. Perpetual license.
- Multi-business profiles with separate logos and invoice sequences
- Client book with autocomplete and lifetime revenue per client
- Client health score and payment pattern analysis
- Three styled invoice layouts with live preview
- Proposal-to-invoice conversion
- Expense tracker with per-project profit view
- Revenue forecasting (30, 60, 90 day projections)
- Year-end tax export (PDF and CSV)
- Recurring invoice templates and batch billing
- User profiles with PIN protection
- Local SQLite database, fully encrypted
- One-click backup and restore between machines
- Optional AI features: line item suggestions, follow-up email drafts
- Auto-updater for life of v1
Pro
For operators who want it to run itself.
$597
Everything in Standard, plus:
- AI agent: talk to your billing system in plain English
- Scheduled auto-run for unattended billing
- Inbox: every prepared item waits for your approval
- OS tray notifications with quiet hours
- Telegram bot integration: command from your phone
- Reminder system across desktop and Telegram
- Invoice viewed tracking
03 / How it works
Four phases. You stay in control.
- Set up. First-launch wizard creates your business profile, uploads your logo, sets your defaults. Two minutes.
- Invoice. Pick a client from autocomplete. Line items pre-fill from the last invoice. Preview renders live. Generate the PDF. Send.
- Track. Every invoice logs automatically. Mark paid from anywhere. Overdue flags itself. Forecast updates from your real payment patterns.
- Export. One click at year-end gives your accountant a clean PDF and CSV. Tax time is two minutes, not two days.
A note on the AI agent
The agent is optional. The app works completely without it. When enabled, it never sends anything without your review. Local providers (Ollama, LM Studio) keep everything on your machine. Cloud providers (Gemini, OpenAI, Claude) send only the specific query, never your full database. You bring your own key. We never touch your billing.
04 / Specs and requirements
The fine print.
| Platform | Windows 10 and 11 at launch. Mac pending Apple Developer signature. |
| Format | Standalone .exe or .app installer. No Python required. |
| Database | Local SQLite. Encrypted with PIN. Never leaves your machine. |
| AI providers | Ollama, LM Studio, Gemini, OpenAI, Anthropic. Bring your own key. |
| Internet required | Only when AI features call your chosen provider. App works offline. |
| License | Perpetual. Use forever. Free updates for life of v1. |
| Refund | Per Gumroad's standard refund policy. |
| Done For You setup | $497. One-on-one onboarding call, configured to your business, handed over working. |
05 / Customization
Need it shaped to your specific workflow?
Customization service starts at $250. Common requests: a custom invoice style beyond the three included, integration with a specific tax tool, custom expense categories, or a Telegram command unique to your business.
Inquire about customization →Ready when you are
Get Run the Books.
Standard $397 one-time. Pro $597 with the AI agent. Launch pricing through [DATE]. No subscription. No cloud. Yours forever.
Join the waitlist →Want to learn how it was built? See it taught in DJ Academy →