# Install Actual Budget - Open Source Finance Management - on Linux
Author: i12bretro
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## What is Actual Budget?

> Actual is a local-first personal finance tool. It is 100% free and open-source, written in NodeJS, it has a synchronization element so that all your changes can move between devices without any heavy lifting. -https://github.com/actualbudget/actual

## Installing NodeJS

1. Log into the Linux device
2. Run the following commands in a terminal window
   # add nodejs software repository
   curl -sL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_20.x | sudo bash -
   # install nodejs
   sudo apt install nodejs -y
   # test node & npm are working
   node -v && npm -v

## Installing Actual

1. Continue with the following commands:
   # install git
   sudo apt install git -y
   # create working directory
   sudo mkdir /usr/local/actualbudget -p
   # set folder ownership
   sudo chown -R "$USER":"$USER" /usr/local/actualbudget
   # clone actual github repo
   git clone https://github.com/actualbudget/actual-server.git /usr/local/actualbudget
   # cd into git clone
   cd /usr/local/actualbudget
   # checkout the latest tagged release
   git checkout "$(git tag --sort=v:refname | tail -n1)"
   # install yarn
   sudo npm install -g yarn
   # install dependencies
   yarn install
   # create a service file
   sudo nano /etc/systemd/system/actualbudget.service
2. Paste the following configuration

   [Unit]
   Description=Actual Server
   [Service]
   Type=simple
   ExecStart=/usr/bin/yarn start
   WorkingDirectory=/usr/local/actualbudget
   Environment=NODE_ENV=production
   Restart=always
   # Restart service after 10 seconds if node service crashes
   RestartSec=10
   [Install]
   WantedBy=multi-user.target

3. Press CTRL+O, Enter, CTRL+X to write the changes
4. Continue with the following commands
   # reload services
   sudo systemctl daemon-reload
   # start and enable actual budget service
   sudo systemctl enable actualbudget.service --now
5. Open a web browser and navigate to http://DNSorIP:5006
6. Enter and confirm an admin password
7. Click the link to create an account
8. Click Start Fresh
9. Welcome to Actual Budget

Source: https://actualbudget.org/docs/install/local/