File size: 6,590 Bytes
829f677 | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 | ---
license: apache-2.0
pretty_name: HomeBank computer-use environment from a one-line request (REA)
tags:
- computer-use
- cua
- gui-agent
- rl-environment
- agentenv
- desktop
- linux
- rea
- personal-finance
- accounting
- budget
- from-request
---
# HomeBank: a computer-use environment built from a one-line request
**The real HomeBank 5.7 personal finance manager running on an Ubuntu 24.04 desktop, as an [agentenv](https://pypi.org/project/agentenv-framework/) computer environment. An agent completes the task only through screenshots, mouse and keyboard, and a verifier grades the saved files with no model.**
Claude Code built this environment from a one-line request in about 36 minutes, with only REA's build skill and MCP tools; [How it was made](#how-it-was-made) has the request and the steps. HomeBank opens a synthetic household's accounts, `Documents/household.xhb`, at launch: a checking and a savings account, six payees and five October transactions. The agent has to record a $64.18 grocery expense at Fresh Market in the checking account, dated November 4, 2026, with the category Groceries and the memo "Weekly groceries", and save. It sees only the screen and acts only with the mouse and keyboard.
## Watch
- Agent runs (Claude Code with Claude Sonnet 5.5): [run 1](media/solve-1.mp4), [run 2](media/solve-2.mp4)
- Witness, which proves the task can be done through the computer: [witness.mp4](media/witness.mp4)
Each video is the computer's own screen recording at 10 frames per second.
## The task
> In HomeBank, record a new grocery expense in the Everyday Checking account of Documents/household.xhb: $64.18 paid to Fresh Market on November 4, 2026, category Groceries, memo "Weekly groceries". Then save the file.
`bundle/artifacts/record-grocery-expense-check/verify.py` reads the app's files through the computer's `data/get` view and passes only if every check holds:
| Check | Kind | File |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `amount` | `value_equals` | `Documents/household.xhb` |
| `account` | `value_equals` | `Documents/household.xhb` |
| `date` | `value_equals` | `Documents/household.xhb` |
| `payee` | `value_equals` | `Documents/household.xhb` |
| `category` | `value_equals` | `Documents/household.xhb` |
| `rent-untouched` | `value_equals` | `Documents/household.xhb` |
An `.xhb` file is XML with one `ope` element per transaction. The checks find the new transaction by its memo (`wording`), never by position, and check each field: the amount is -64.18 (within 0.001, as HomeBank writes -64.180000000000007), the account is Everyday Checking (key 1, not Savings), the date is 739924 (HomeBank's day number for 2026-11-04), the payee is the existing Fresh Market (key 1) and the category is Groceries (key 44). A sixth check keeps the October rent unchanged. Entering the expense twice, or under a new misspelled payee, fails. REA's draft offered only a check that a transaction exists; Claude Code wrote the field checks, and took Groceries' key from REA's one export refusal, which named the value the captured file held.
## Results
2 of 2 runs passed, about $1.62 per run.
| Run | Outcome | Turns | Cost | Video |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | passed | 38 | $1.78 | [video](media/solve-1.mp4) |
| 2 | passed | 43 | $1.47 | [video](media/solve-2.mp4) |
## Run it
You need Docker. `agentenv-framework` builds the computer: Ubuntu 24.04 with the app installed from Ubuntu's archive (`homebank` 5.7.4).
```bash
pip install agentenv-framework==0.9.1431
hf download earakely-scale/HomeBankFromRequestComputerEnv-REA --repo-type dataset --local-dir homebank-request
agent-env run homebank-request/bundle --task record-grocery-expense --agent claude-code --model <model>
```
The agent needs a model provider configured for agentenv. `--task smoke` only boots the computer, with no agent. `bundle/README.md` describes the bundle in detail.
## How it was made
Claude Code built this environment from a one-line request, given only [REA](https://github.com/morluto/rea)'s build skill and REA's MCP tools:
> Build me a HomeBank environment where the agent records a new grocery expense in a checking account and saves the file.
It asked only the skill's upfront questions, wrote no app-specific scripts, and finished in about 36 minutes. The steps were REA's usual ones:
1. **Capture.** REA launched HomeBank on a Linux desktop and recorded its package, windows and opened files while the edit was made. It also recorded the app's state folders before and after.
2. **Export.** REA turned the capture into an agentenv `computer_app`. It installs the app, seeds the starting files, starts the app, and waits for its main window. It also serves typed views of the app's files for verifiers.
3. **Task.** The task's checks were validated against the capture: they fail on the starting state and pass on the captured end state.
4. **Witness.** In a fresh computer, the expense was recorded through computer actions alone, and the checks were read at four stages. They held on the first try:
| Stage | Checks |
| --- | --- |
| `seed` | fail, as expected: no transaction has the memo "Weekly groceries" |
| `after_edit` | pass |
| `near_miss` | fail, as expected: the amount was changed to $64.81 |
| `after_reset` | fail, as expected: `data/reset` restored the seed |
The agent runs came after the build: Claude Code with Claude Sonnet 5.5 (`--model anthropic/claude-sonnet-5-5 --no-emulate`, on an amd64 host) solved the task twice, each run recorded.
## What's inside
```
bundle/ the agentenv bundle: envs/ (app module, seed files), tasks/, artifacts/ (verifier), evals/
media/ witness and agent-run recordings (MP4) with short GIF previews
results.json the runs above, with each check's result
```
## Limits
- Only two runs: the third was skipped to keep the solve spend under its $4 budget. Two runs show the task is solvable, not how hard it is.
- Recording the expense takes many steps in HomeBank's transaction dialog: the runs took 38 and 43 turns.
- The checks find the transaction by its memo, so a transaction recorded with a different memo is not found and every field check fails.
- The computer installs whatever `homebank` Ubuntu 24.04's archive holds at build time (5.7.4 for these runs); it is not pinned.
## Licences
The bundle code, the task and the synthetic seed files are Apache-2.0. HomeBank itself is not included: the computer installs it from Ubuntu's archive (`homebank` 5.7.4) at build time, under its own licence (GPL-2.0-or-later).
|