invoice

Invoice

Generate invoices from the command line. 💵

✅ Multilingual invoices ✅ Updated invoice design that fits more info ✅ More granular tax handling ✅ Payment info on invoice

Note: This is a fork of maaslalani/invoice with additional features and modifications. I wanted to solve some of the issues of the original project that seems abandoned and also add more functionality that I needed personally.

Example invoice

Shows all available details:

Use via command line interface

invoice generate --from "Dream, Inc." --to "Imagine, Inc." \
    --item "Coffee operations service" --quantity 2 --rate 25 \
    --tax 0.13 --discount 0.15 \
    --paymentMethod "Bank transfer" --bank "Global bank" --swift "XXXXXXXX" --accountNo "0000 0000 0001" \
    --note "Thanks for your business\!"

The generated PDF is saved in the output/ directory. The filename is based on the invoice ID plus the language code (e.g. 20260202-001-en.pdf), normalized to a safe lowercase filename.

Use via configuration file

Save repeated information with JSON / YAML:

{
  "lang": "en",
  "id": "20260202-001",
  "title": "INVOICE (optional) *",

  "logo": "/path/to/image.png",
  "logoScale": 80,

  "from": "Bean There, Done That \n42 Roast Street, Brewtown \nUS of Coffee \nTAXID: 0000",
  "to": "Ctrl Alt Deli \n101 Byte Avenue, Silicon Square \nDeliville \nTAXID: 0001",

  "date": "2026-02-02",
  "saleDate": "2026-02-02",
  "due": "2026-02-16 (optional) **",
  "billingPeriod": "January 2026 (optional) ***",

  "items": [
    "Coffee operations service",
    "Special edition tamper"
  ],
  "quantities": [
    2, 
    1
  ],
  "rates": [
    99, 
    149
  ],
  "paid": 50.0,

  "tax": 0.13,
  "taxName": "VAT (optional)",
  "discount": 0.05,
  "currency": "EUR",

  "paymentMethod": "Bank transfer",
  "bank": "Global bank",
  "swift": "XXXXXXXXX",
  "accountNo": "0000 0000 0001",

  "note": "Thanks for your business!"
}

• Note * If you add title to your json, it will take precedence over the default invoice title and its translations.
• Note ** If not provided, it will be set to 7 days by default.
• Note *** Billing period is optional (e.g. "January 2026" or "Q1 2026"). When set, it is shown on the invoice below the due date.

Localization

To change the language of fixed labels on the invoice (title, column headers, notes labels, totals labels, etc.):

• Language files live in the lang/ directory, for example lang/en.json, lang/pl.json.
• Each file defines all translatable strings used in the PDF.
• Select a language by setting lang:

invoice generate \
  --lang en \
  --item "Coffee operations service" --quantity 5 --rate 25

Or in the JSON/YAML config:

{
  "lang": "en",
  "items": ["Coffee operations service"],
  "quantities": [1],
  "rates": [25]
}

The app requires a complete lang/en.json file to run. Every language file (lang/<code>.json) must define all required keys; if any are missing, invoice generation fails with an error listing the missing keys.

Generate new invoice by importing the configuration file:

invoice generate --import path/to/data.json

Changelog (fork highlights)

• Logo scaling: Added a logoScale parameter to JSON and CLI so you can precisely control the logo size in the top‑right corner without editing the image itself.
• Richer JSON config: Extended the example input to support more fields (dates, currency, tax name, paid amount, bank details, etc.) so a single JSON file can fully describe an invoice.
• Invoice layout redesign: Realigned the PDF layout (logo, title, invoice number, dates, seller/buyer columns, dividers) for better readability and to fit more information consistently.
• Custom tax label (taxName): Added support for a custom tax label (e.g. VAT, GST), used in both per‑item and totals sections instead of a hard‑coded “Tax”.
• Totals currency labels: Updated the totals section to display amounts as 123.45 USD (currency code after the number) instead of using symbols like $123.45.
• ISO date format: Standardized invoice dates (issue, sale, due) to ISO format YYYY-MM-DD to avoid locale ambiguity.
• Paid amount & total due: Added a paid field and now show both “Paid” and “Total due” in the totals section (total gross minus paid).
• Billing period: Optional billingPeriod parameter (JSON/YAML/CLI). When set, it is displayed on the invoice below the due date; the label comes from the language file. Omit to hide.
• Multilingual support: Introduced JSON‑based language files in lang/ (e.g. en.json, pl.json) for all fixed labels, with validation to ensure language files are complete.
• Skip zero‑quantity items: Items whose quantity is explicitly set to 0 are no longer rendered on the invoice.
• Config/dep cleanup: Removed non‑functional environment‑variable wiring and the related README section, and cleaned up unused Go dependencies to match the current code.

Installation

Local Installation

To build and install from the local source code:

# Clone the repository (if not already cloned)
git clone https://github.com/carlosinho/invoice.git
cd invoice

# Build the binary; you need to have go on your system
go build -o invoice .

After building, you can run the invoice command directly:

./invoice generate --from "Dream, Inc." --to "Imagine, Inc." --item "Service" --quantity 1 --rate 100

Or my fav, via json import:

./invoice generate --import _your_input.json

Remote Installation

Install directly from GitHub:

go install github.com/carlosinho/invoice@main

Or download a binary from the releases.

License

MIT