Ask HN: What are you working on (August 2024)?

I'm working on a command line billing/invoicing system. I couldn't deal with the ones I've tried (too heavy on UI, too difficult to automate stuff with).

So far I just use it for my company billing, but it's quite delightful for me: My process is to save the services we provided in CSV files (exported from time tracking in org-mode, but you could use any tool that supports exporting), then I run this over it and it creates PDF invoices, and stores all the data (which I query occasionally, e.g. for quarterly VAT payments).

Technologically it's weird, the invoice templates are written in LaTEX, and the code is in Common Lisp.

I don't think about turning it into a business, but I think I'll open source it once it's a bit less messy. For now, I just focus on implementing the features I need (about 1-2 per quarter now).

I kinda doubt it, but if anyone is interested in command line billing tools, I'd be excited to talk about it. Contact info is in my profile.

This is super interesting to me as I have been focused on picking up Emacs and Common Lisp this year for my own freelance and startup workloads. Would you ping me or reply here if you do end up open sourcing this?

Sure thing! Also happy to just provide access to the repo as-is, just write if interested. But it's 20% duck tape and prayers, still.