Bonsai?

NOT REALLYA prototype of the interface is possible, but the durable product depends on difficult systems beyond the UI. Build a safer adjacent workflow instead.

BUILD FIRST

A non-sensitive or read-only version of the core experience
A manual review step wherever correctness or trust matters
A narrow companion tool that removes a real piece of work

LEAVE FOR LATER

Regulated decisions, payments, or irreversible actions
Claims of correctness, compliance, or uptime that the MVP cannot support
Sensitive integrations until security, support, and auditability are ready

RESEARCH NOTES

What this tool actually does.

Checked 2026-09-06

Bonsai (hellobonsai.com) is a cloud business-management platform for freelancers, consultants, and other client-facing service businesses — not a pure accounting tool, which matches the 'not_really' verdict for the Finance & accounting category. It consolidates projects, clients, and billing into one workspace. Finance features include invoicing with recurring payments and retainers, expense tracking with automatic categorization, per-project assignment, multi-currency entry converted at live exchange rates, bank/credit-card import, custom fixed/% markup rules applied before billable expenses reach an invoice, and recurring expense automation. A bookkeeping module adds revenue dashboards, profit-and-loss reporting, and tax guidance (Bonsai Tax) for quarterly payments and deductible write-offs. Expenses sync into invoices and update project budgets in real time. Integrations include Quick

SOURCES

RESEARCHED BUILD PROMPT

Give this to your coding agent.

Build 'Canopy', a single-user web app recreating Bonsai's core freelance finance loop for solo consultants and small studios: sign a client, run projects, log expenses, invoice with markups, and see consolidated bookkeeping. Workflow: client → project with budget → expense entry (categorize, tag project, multi-currency with live FX) → bank-statement CSV import → approve expenses with fixed/% markup → issue invoice (line items, tax, recurring schedule), mark paid → dashboard showing revenue, profit & loss, and remaining project budget. User-facing requirements: client/project CRUD, expense logger with categories and markup rules, invoice builder, revenue/P&L dashboard, CSV expense import, currency + default-markup settings. Technical requirements: Next.js + PostgreSQL + Prisma, NextAuth auth, scheduled FX-rate fetch (e.g., Open Exchange Rates or exchangerate.host) with a rate snapshot stored at invoice time, PDF invoices via React-PDF, CSV parsing via Papa Parse, Vitest + Testing Library. Do not copy Bonsai's brand, logo, marketing copy, proprietary UI, or assets; use your own name and layout. Deliberately out of scope: QuickBooks/Xero sync, mobile apps, multi-user roles/permissions, actual tax filing, proposals/e-signatures, timer-based time tracking, real payment processing (invoices are marked paid manually). Deliver a README with setup steps (env vars, DB migration, demo-data seeding) and important limitations: single-user, FX rates daily not live, fixed-format CSV mapping, no payment gateway.

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