What is books?

Frappe Books is a free, open-source desktop application for accounting, aimed at small and medium-sized businesses. It handles the core financial tasks a business needs: creating invoices, recording bills and payments, writing journal entries, and generating standard financial reports like a profit and loss statement, balance sheet, general ledger, and trial balance. Double-entry accounting is built into the system, which means every transaction is recorded in two places to keep the books balanced. The app also includes a point-of-sale screen for retail businesses that need to process sales transactions directly. One notable aspect is that the app works entirely offline. All data is stored in a SQLite file on the user's own computer, so there is no server to connect to and no subscription required. The interface is built with Vue.js and packaged as a native desktop application using Electron, which means it runs on Windows, macOS, and Linux without needing a web browser. Installation is straightforward: download the installer from the releases page, or use Homebrew on macOS and Linux, or Flatpak on Linux. There is no account to create and no cloud setup involved. For developers who want to contribute or run a local build, the README explains how to clone the repository, install dependencies with Yarn, and start the app in development mode with live reload. Building a distributable installer is also covered. Contributions are accepted from non-coders as well. Users can report bugs, suggest features, or help with translations. The project has already been translated into a wide range of languages by community contributors. It is released under an open-source license and maintained by Frappe, the same organization behind the ERPNext business software.