Question 1

What is Westara?

Accepted Answer

A calm wealth overview: household budget and actuals on one side, multi-account investments on the other — live marks, momentum radar, and Excel-grade reports without spreadsheet friction.

Question 2

How do I search the app?

Accepted Answer

Open Search from the top bar, the sidebar, or the mobile menu — or press ⌘K (Ctrl+K on Windows/Linux). Type a page name (Overview, Holdings, Budget) or an action (refresh prices, open AI, import, add a transaction). Arrow keys move, Enter selects, Esc closes. Search does not leave Westara or look up the web — it only jumps to places and actions inside your account.

Question 3

How do I see my total wealth?

Accepted Answer

Open Overview after you sign up — that's the overview for cash, investments, and household budget together. Follow **Getting started** on Overview (or the progress ring in the header). Best order in short: set up accounts → add spending and/or broker data → optional Open Banking and BTC → invite people only when you are on Family and have seen your own numbers. Details: see “What order should I set things up?” below.

Question 4

What order should I set things up?

Accepted Answer

Westara setup follows one calm principle: **containers → first real data → enrich → share**. Use Getting started on Overview (header progress ring). Steps adapt to your focus (All / Budget / Portfolio) under Profile. **Phases** 0) **Identity** — Household name only on Family (or wait until you invite someone). 1) **Containers** — Set up accounts (cash, broker, and/or BTC shells by focus) so import and logging never dead-end. 2) **First live picture** — One primary data path for a briefing in about two minutes (spending *or* broker, matching focus). 3) **Second surface** — On “All”, add the other side (budget ↔ investments). 4) **Live upgrades** — Open Banking when it ships and your plan allows it — never instead of a first manual import/log. 5) **Depth** — BTC watch-only (zpub only; never a seed). 6) **Share** — Invite people on Family after you have seen your own numbers. **Rules of thumb** • Never invite before you have seen your own overview. • Never treat Open Banking as the only bank path — file import or logging first; live bank link is a later upgrade. • Cash balance lives under Accounts (not a separate setup step). **By focus** • **All (default):** Accounts → spending & income → broker holdings → Open Banking (soon) → BTC → invite (Family). • **Budget:** Accounts → spending → Open Banking (soon) → invite. Broker and BTC stay out of the list. • **Portfolio:** Accounts → broker import → BTC → invite. Spending and Open Banking stay out of the list. Starter account shells may already exist after sign-up — then “Set up accounts” can show done and the gold step moves to your first real data.

Question 5

What does Grok receive when I use AI features?

Accepted Answer

Chat help is optional on Free. On Solo and Family it is included — Westara sends scoped context per screen, not a dump of your financial life. • Equity chat & holdings insights: position mix and momentum — not your net worth, cash, or Bitcoin balances in chat • Spending & income insights: year plan vs real spending (EUR categories) for that screen only • When you use chat help on a paid plan, Westara sends data to our AI partner on your behalf under our data processing agreement. • Your data stays EU-hosted; you can still use local insight fallback when Grok is off or your plan quota is reached

Question 6

What plans are available?

Accepted Answer

Start free. Upgrade when you need bank import with AI, chat help, or shared access with others. Free (€0) — For you alone — explore portfolio and household budget. Morning summary, portfolio & household budget · Up to 25 investments tracked · Export your data Solo (€12.99/mo · €99/yr) — More investments, bank import with AI, and chat help — one person only — no invites. Up to 150 investments tracked · Bank import & AI autopilot · Chat help & AI insights Family (€17.99/mo · €139/yr) — Shared Overview, budget, and actuals — invite others to share access, up to six people, unlimited investments. Unlimited investments tracked · Invite people (up to 6) · Bank import & AI autopilot Sovereign (private server) instances include full features — optional supporter donations only. Online upgrades are managed in your account. Online Solo and Family can be paid by **card** or, when offered, **Bitcoin / Lightning**. See “Can I pay Solo or Family with Bitcoin?” for the Bitcoin path.

Question 7

Can I pay Solo or Family with Bitcoin?

Accepted Answer

Yes on the cloud app when the Bitcoin rail is available. Open **Plans & usage**, choose Solo or Family, and pick **Bitcoin** at checkout — you pay a one-shot invoice (Lightning and/or on-chain) on our payment page. Your plan activates when the invoice settles. Near period end Westara creates a renewal invoice and emails you the same way. Card checkout (Stripe) stays available; card promos do not apply to Bitcoin invoices. Westara never holds wallet keys for plan payments — invoices are issued on our payment server; you pay from your own wallet. Self-hosted **Sovereign** instances have no subscription paywall.

Question 8

Can I self-host Westara?

Accepted Answer

Westara can run on your own hardware as **Sovereign** mode — the same full app on **Start9 OS** (or Docker) at home: no subscription paywall; optional donations support the project. Self-hosting is for households who want data only on their own server. If you use Westara on **app.westara.io**, you can ignore this — cloud stays the simple path. Packaging and install notes live in the project docs when you are ready to deploy.

Question 9

How do I load my portfolio for the first time?

Accepted Answer

Fastest path for most households: Import → **Broker activity** → pick your broker (or Auto-detect) → drop the depot export (CSV), choose a file, or **Paste from clipboard** after copying a table → map accounts → Import. Volksbank Depotumsatz exports need zero column mapping. Alternative: restore a Westara Activity JSON export, or use the multi-sheet import template (JSON) for advanced tabs (holdings snapshots, dividends, budget). Holdings always rebuild from Activity events after import. Use Quick Import (⌘⇧I) from Holdings or Activity for the same broker flow.

Question 10

How do I sign in?

Accepted Answer

Sign in with your email and password, or request a one-time magic link sent to your inbox. You stay signed in securely on each device until you sign out.

Question 11

Is my data encrypted? Who can see my data?

Accepted Answer

Is my data encrypted? Who can see my data?

Yes. Your financial data stays private — encrypted, Germany/EU-hosted, and never sold or used for ads.

Who can see your data?

Only you, with your sign-in.
On Family, people you invite see only what you share with them.
Other households never see your numbers.

How we protect it

In transit — encrypted HTTPS connections.
At rest — secrets (e.g. integration keys) are encrypted before storage.
Hosting — app data in Germany / the EU.
Not sold — no sale of household data, no ad profiling.

Optional chat help is limited to the screen you are on — never your full financial picture. Self-custody Bitcoin keys stay in your wallet; Westara only tracks balances you log.

You can export or delete your data anytime from your account.

Question 12

How do I switch Dark / Light?

Accepted Answer

Open the account menu (⋯) at the bottom of the sidebar → Appearance. Use the segmented Dark / Light / System toggle (same control as on Profile). Your theme saves to your account and follows you on this device.

Question 13

Can I export everything GDPR-style?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Account menu → Export my data downloads a complete copy of your Westara data in a standard file format. Profile also shows your alert email and security settings.

Question 14

How does offline mode work for household budget?

Accepted Answer

On **Westara cloud**, you can opt in under Profile → Advanced → Offline edits. When enabled, quick logs and budget edits wait safely on this device instead of failing — you'll see the queue count on Profile. Nothing is lost: changes apply automatically after reconnect. No technical setup required. On a **self-hosted (Sovereign)** install, budget edits always queue on the device when offline, then sync when you're back online.

Question 15

How does the household budget work?

Accepted Answer

Westara keeps your plan and real spending in three calm places — Overview connects them with your investments: • **Budget** — your year plan table (income, fixed bills, flexible spending, one-offs). Tap a cell to edit. When you change a planned amount, choose whether it applies to this month only, the rest of the year, or the full year. After you log spending on Actuals, use **Build plan** in the toolbar to copy logged months into the plan and optionally project the rest of the year. • **Actuals** — what really happened each month. Prefer **Import bank statement** for bank exports; rare single rows via ⋯ → log manually. Tap a line to edit payee, amount, category, or date. Spending shows as money out; income stays positive. You get summary cards, a trend, category cards, and a transaction list for line-by-line review. Tap a category to focus Recent activity. • **Budget AI** — Grok plan-vs-actual analyst with scenarios, charts, and PDF once you have logged data. It does not import bank statements — use Actuals or Import for that. Bill type (fixed, flexible, or one-off) comes from the category; you can override under More options. Importing the Budget tab from a Westara workbook fills the same plan rows.

Question 16

How does Build plan from actuals work?

Accepted Answer

On **Budget**, open **Build plan** in the toolbar (it appears once you have logged actuals). Then choose: • **Scope** — only months you already logged, or the full year (January–December). • **Projection** — smart (fixed bills repeat the last amount; flexible spending uses a category average; one-offs stay in logged months), category average, or repeat last month. • **Merge** — replace existing plan lines, or only fill empty cells. Preview shows what comes from real spending vs what is projected before you apply. Only planned amounts change — your logged actuals stay untouched. Typical flow: import bank data on Actuals → check categories → save → Build plan on Budget → fine-tune cells in the year table.

Question 17

How do I get started with my own data?

Accepted Answer

After sign-up, Overview opens with Getting started. Best path: set up accounts (shells) → import a statement or log one expense → import broker holdings if you invest → invite people only on Family after your overview shows real numbers. Change focus anytime in Profile (Budget / Portfolio / All). Full order: see “What order should I set things up?” under Getting started.

Question 18

How do I import a bank statement into Actuals?

Accepted Answer

Same bank tools, two calm entry points: • **Import → Bank statements** — drop or choose a bank export on the Import page; Westara opens the review sheet (CSV or CAMT). • On **Actuals**, use **Import bank statement** (toolbar, FAB, or empty state) to stay on the page you are already on. Supported exports include Volksbank, N26, Revolut, Commerzbank, Sparkasse, Wise, and standard bank statement packages when your bank provides one. Review categories line by line, save payee rules (Merken), skip internal transfers, and save to Actuals. You can name the import run and link a Westara account. **Add new** (default) inserts new lines and skips exact duplicates — safe for re-uploads and a second bank. **Replace import** only refreshes earlier file-import lines for those months; manual actuals and bank connections stay. **Note:** Broker **Paste from clipboard** on Import is for depot trade tables into Activity — not this bank path. Bank statements use drop or choose file (and the review sheet). Then on Budget use **Build plan** to turn logged months into your year plan. Optional deeper plan-vs-actual analysis lives on **Budget AI**. Imported rows show a small upload mark in the transaction list.

Question 19

What are budget autopilot rules?

Accepted Answer

Autopilot remembers how you categorize recurring payees — so the next bank import (or manual line) lands in the right place without rework. • Create a rule — during import, tap **Merken** on a row after you pick a category. Westara stores a payee pattern and category. • Manage rules — open **Budget rules** to edit, reorder, or turn rules off. • Preview matches — see recent lines that would match, newest first. • Apply to history — optionally re-categorize older matches and refresh rollups. Rules never invent amounts; they only help place lines you already have.

Question 20

What is the transaction inbox on Actuals?

Accepted Answer

Below the month summary numbers, the transaction inbox lists individual bank and manual lines for the selected month — separate from category rollup rows in Recent activity. • Tap a row to edit payee, amount, category, or date. • Desktop — sort by date, payee, category, import label, or amount. • Mobile — swipe right to categorize, swipe left to delete. • Imported lines show a subtle upload icon; the Import column shows your import-run label (date & time by default, or a name you set when saving the statement). Category totals still come from rollup math — editing a line updates your month actuals automatically.

Question 21

What does the Actuals reconcile status mean?

Accepted Answer

On **Actuals**, a quiet line appears only when Westara sees possible duplicates (a bank import line that closely matches a manual entry you also logged). • No message — either everything looks clean, or there are imported lines with no matching manual twin. • When duplicates appear — open the review sheet, keep the bank line or the manual line, and Westara cleans the rest. This is only about import vs manual twins — not bank statement math, and not Holdings vs Activity.

Question 22

How is Ready to assign calculated?

Accepted Answer

Ready to assign is the cash you can still budget this month — shown on Budget, Actuals, and Overview when cash accounts are linked. Formula: linked cash in Holdings → Cash (sum of treasury cash accounts) minus amounts already assigned to categories this month (planned/actual envelope from your budget rows). Tap the small i next to Ready to assign for the same explainer in context. If no cash is linked yet, the strip shows a gentle link to Holdings → Cash instead of a number. Negative ready to assign means categories overspent against linked cash — the strip highlights the top overspend category calmly.

Question 23

What does Explain do on Overview and Actuals?

Accepted Answer

Tap the small **Explain** link next to a number — Ready to assign, month summary numbers, reconcile status, or forecast drift — to open the Grok assistant with a pre-filled, context-aware question about that exact value. Westara includes your current figures in the prompt (e.g. linked cash, assigned amounts, variance vs plan) so Grok answers in plain, clear language — what it means, how it is calculated, and one calm next step. Nothing auto-fires — Explain only runs when you tap the link. Works offline with demo mode or shows a short local answer when chat help is unavailable — Solo and Family include full replies.

Question 24

What does Overview show if I only track household spending?

Accepted Answer

Overview stays a complete wealth overview even before you add investments. When you have household activity (logged spending or plan/actual rows) but no portfolio holdings yet, Overview shows the household overview — month summary numbers, optional ready-to-assign when cash is linked, and calm CTAs into Actuals and Budget — instead of an empty investments dead zone. A calm line at the bottom invites you to log your first trade when you are ready — never pushy. Connect cash in Holdings → Cash and open Actuals from the overview CTAs to keep building the picture.

Question 25

What does Overview show?

Accepted Answer

Overview is your wealth & investments overview. With portfolio data you see total wealth, day change (and which holdings drove it when it matters — a quiet line under the day figure), Bitcoin weight, the mix of cash · equities · Bitcoin, a subtle 30-day wealth trend, and allocation. Allocation starts as **classes** (by listing market); a quiet **Classes · Holdings** control opens a donut of largest positions by weight. When household budget is active, **This month** sits beside it (income, spending, net, plan pace). Without holdings yet, import a broker or bank file — or follow day-0 setup for a first expense and investment. First-run setup stays a single checklist; the page does not stack surplus tip cards.

Question 26

How do I filter holdings?

Accepted Answer

Use account chips and asset-class pills above the table. Search matches Symbol, name, account, or sector. Tap a row (or card on mobile) for position detail and price history. Badges on the Symbol column: Live / Delayed / Stale / No feed — see the market-data FAQ for meanings. Tap Fix on Stale or No feed to open Price listing setup and correct the Price listing. A subtle +1 depot (or +N depots) beside the account label means Activity entries from another depot were consolidated onto this row — hover for details. Quantity stays one combined position per Symbol per account.

Question 27

Where are buy and sell transactions?

Accepted Answer

Activity is the source of truth for position quantity. Log buys, sells, transfers, and opening balances manually or via import. Holdings reads a live projection from those events; edit sector, notes, and labels on Holdings without changing quantity.

Question 28

How do I add a new position?

Accepted Answer

Use Log trade on Holdings (opens Activity) or import a workbook. For a mid-history bootstrap without full trade history, log an Opening balance event with quantity and unit cost — it **replaces** the open book for that account+symbol (does not stack on older buys).

Question 29

What can I edit on Accounts?

Accepted Answer

Add accounts manually or via import. Core fields: name, type, owner, ownership (mine/joint/partner), and native currency. Type sets a calm accent (cash, depot, BTC wallet, BTC exchange) used on pills and filter dots — not a separate user color to pick. Type-specific identity (optional, high value for multi-account households): • Bank cash — bank name + IBAN (lists show only last four digits). Used to auto-match CAMT and Open Banking imports. • Portfolio — broker name + optional depot number. • BTC exchange — exchange name + optional UID. • BTC wallet — **Connect watch-only** with a zpub on that account to import on-chain balance and history (never a seed or private key). Fingerprint and sync live under Watch-only on the account overview — see How do I connect a watch-only Bitcoin wallet (zpub)? Tip: name cold and hot separately (e.g. “SeedSigner cold” vs “BULL spend”) so Holdings → BTC stays clear — see Which Bitcoin wallets work well alongside Westara? Open Banking can fill empty bank name and IBAN when you link or refresh details. Slugs stay fixed so imports keep matching; empty accounts can be deleted.

Question 30

Where are closed trades and dividends?

Accepted Answer

Reports → Realized rolls up sell P&L by calendar year (partial sells and fully sold positions) from the activity log. Reports → Closed details fully sold rounds with fees and dividends attributed to each round. Reports → Dividends lists every Activity dividend payment (plus non-duplicate import rows) with gross, withholding, and net by year. Reports → Year-end total wealth is a separate captain-confirmed Dec 31 archive for YoY growth — not live market total wealth (see “What is Year-end total wealth?”).

Question 31

What is Year-end AUM?

Accepted Answer

Reports → Year-end total wealth is your archive of confirmed year-end totals (usually 31 Dec) for YoY growth. It is not live wealth on Overview — that still comes from your activity log and market prices. Add years with **Add year**, or **Create / Update snapshot** near year-end to prefill from today's portfolio. For multi-year spreadsheets, open **Import → Upload history** (example CSV available). Full workbook import can include year-end snapshots with opt-in. Optional breakdown: stocks, BTC, cash, tax refund. Uploading history does not change Holdings or the activity log.

Question 32

Can I import broker exports directly?

Accepted Answer

Yes — Import → **Broker activity**. Supported presets include Volksbank (Depotumsatz), Comdirect, Trade Republic, Consors, eToro, DEGIRO/IBKR, and Auto-detect. Westara converts broker rows into Activity entries automatically; you only match depot names to your accounts on the confirm step. **Three ways to bring data in** (same preview and import engine): • **Drop** a broker CSV (or Westara JSON) on the drop zone • **Choose file** — pick a download from disk • **Paste from clipboard** — select a table in Excel, Google Sheets, or your broker online banking, copy it (`⌘C` / `Ctrl+C`), then tap **Paste from clipboard** under Choose file. Westara reads the **text** on the clipboard and treats it like a CSV — you do not need to save a file first. The browser may ask for clipboard permission. Empty clipboard or image-only copy will not work. Optional: download example templates per broker under Options. Quick Import (⌘⇧I) on Holdings or Activity opens the same equity capture path. **Bank statements** (spending and income for Actuals) use Import → **Bank statements**, or Import bank statement on Actuals / Budget AI — a separate household path, not the broker clipboard control. Your Activity stays the master record — holdings rebuild automatically after import.

Question 33

How should I export from Volksbank for best results?

Accepted Answer

Online-Banking → Finanzen → Depot → Transaktionsliste (Depotumsatzanzeige) → CSV. 1) Choose the correct depot (each person may have their own). 2) Set the date range from the **first purchase** through today when you care about open quantity or Einstand — a short window only adds recent rows. 3) Drop the file on Import (Auto-detect or Volksbank). No column mapping. 4) Map the depot name to your Westara account (e.g. VR Port OG / VR Port MG) on confirm. After import, Holdings rebuild from Activity. Open cost basis uses **FIFO** by default, matching typical bank Einstand. Live marks come from Price listing setup (search company name — dual US/EU listings may show BKNG and PCE1.F for the same ISIN; both can be valid).

Question 34

How often do prices update?

Accepted Answer

Bitcoin, stocks, and ETFs share the same ~15-minute automatic refresh. Tap **Refresh prices** in the top bar anytime for a fresher mark, or open Integrations → Market data. Feed badges (Live / Delayed / Stale / No feed) explain mark age — see “What do Live, Delayed, Stale, and No feed mean?”. Briefly: Live within ~15 minutes; Delayed is normal for closed markets or a short lag; Stale means older than ~30 minutes and may show “need feed” in the top bar. You do not manage price provider keys on the cloud app — Westara handles feeds for every household.

Question 35

What do Live, Delayed, Stale, and No feed mean?

Accepted Answer

Feed badges appear on Holdings and Activity for quoted positions. Live — mark fresher than about 15 minutes (the automatic refresh cadence for stocks, ETFs, and Bitcoin). For EU listings this also means Frankfurt extended hours are open (weekdays 08:00–20:00 Europe/Berlin). Delayed — still usable for totals; not an error. Common cases: equities outside market hours (often last close), or any mark slightly older than 15 minutes while the next automatic job catches up (about 15–30 minutes) — including Bitcoin. The top bar does not treat Delayed as “need feed”. Stale — mark older than about 30 minutes, or refresh has been failing. The top bar may show “need feed”. Tap Refresh prices or wait for the next automatic refresh. If it stays Stale, open Price listing setup, re-test the quote, save, then refresh again. No feed — no Price listing set, quote test failed, or price is zero. Open Price listing setup, correct the Price listing, run Test live quote, save, then Refresh prices.

Question 36

How do I set up Bitcoin (BTC) live prices?

Accepted Answer

Use Symbol BTC on a BTC wallet or portfolio account. Open Price listing setup from Activity or Holdings — Westara detects BTC and shows a read-only live price in EUR. No exchange code to type — CoinGecko is fixed. Steps: Price listing (pre-filled) → Test live quote (green price) → Save. If save fails, try again or contact support. Bitcoin prices use Westara managed market data (CoinGecko) on the cloud app. They refresh on the same ~15-minute job as stocks and ETFs, stay Live for about 15 minutes after a mark, may show Delayed briefly before the next job, and only Stale when older than about 30 minutes (or when the feed fails). Tap Refresh prices anytime; automatic refresh keeps Overview and Holdings totals current. Westara only marks balances you log — keys stay in your wallet (see Bitcoin with Westara).

Question 37

How do I set up live prices?

Accepted Answer

On **Westara cloud**, live prices are managed for every household — you do not paste API keys. Open Integrations → Market data to see status (**Westara managed**) and refresh prices. EU listings (Xetra, Paris, Amsterdam, London) usually work with tickers like SAP.DE or XETR:SAP — no extra setup. US stocks/ETFs and Bitcoin use Westara’s platform providers. If prices look empty: check the **Price listing** under Price listing setup, then **Refresh prices** in the top bar. Self-hosted installs configure optional provider keys under Integrations → Market data (see sovereign setup docs).

Question 38

How do I enable the AI assistant?

Accepted Answer

Solo and Family include chat help — open AI from the top bar or Insights on Budget, Overview, and Holdings. No separate AI account is required on paid plans. Free plan: upgrade to Solo for included chat help, or use Demo Mode to preview the assistant. Optional: Integrations → Grok → Advanced lets you paste your own key if you prefer to bill AI usage directly.

Question 39

How do I open and use the assistant?

Accepted Answer

Tap AI in the top bar (top right) or open Search (⌘K) → Open AI assistant. Replies use a snapshot of your stock holdings only — tickers, weight percentages, momentum, and P&L % — never total wealth, cash, or Bitcoin. No web search. Suggested prompts appear on an empty thread. Clear history with the trash icon in the sheet header. Conversations are saved to your account.

Question 40

What are the AI limits and disclaimer?

Accepted Answer

Not financial advice — read-only context; you confirm every trade. Daily limit: 80 messages per household (resets at midnight UTC). Per request: up to 40 messages and 8,000 characters per message. The assistant does not browse the web. If you hit the daily cap, try again the next day.

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