Bookkeeping practices: project tracker using Django

Summary

A project tracker blueprint for bookkeeping practices built with Django on Ample. Domain schema: client_entities (legal_name, entity_type, accounting_software, period_cadence): clients and their bookkeeping cadence; engagements (client_entity_id, period_start, period_end, close_status): monthly or quarterly close engagements; document_requests (engagement_id, category, due_at, status, uploaded_object_key): receipts, statements and payroll summaries requested; close_checklists (engagement_id, item, done_at): close tasks per period; state_transitions (record_type, from_state, to_state): the allowed state machine. Public information: service packages and cadence, onboarding checklist, contact details. Kept out of scope until handling is reviewed: bank statements and receipts, payroll data, login credentials for accounting software. Never store client accounting-software credentials in these flows; financial records are sensitive and no compliance is claimed. Technical basis verified on Django: a workspace-scoped table, an explicit state machine (draft to review to published) that rejects invalid transitions, and a cross-workspace read that returns nothing (transitions=true isolation=true).

Infrastructure requirements

• Compute: verified (Apps run in isolated x86_64 Firecracker microVMs that auto-pause when idle and wake on request; sizes are the priced VM sizes.)
• Postgres: verified (Managed PostgreSQL 16 runs in its own microVM and is auto-provisioned when an app needs a database and no DATABASE_URL is supplied.)
• S3-compatible object storage: verified (Buckets are S3-compatible with issued credentials; PutObject and GetObject are verified by canary. Other S3 operations are not verified.)

Prerequisites

• A Django project (pip install into .ample/python from requirements.txt, then waitress serving project.wsgi from run.py reading PORT on the python-3.12 template)
• A PostgreSQL driver reading DATABASE_URL (auto-provisioned when omitted)
• Bucket credentials from ample bucket create passed as encrypted S3_* environment variables
• A review of which bookkeeping practices data classes may be handled at all; this blueprint models public information only

Steps

1. Model the bookkeeping practices domain. Create the tables client_entities, engagements, document_requests, close_checklists, state_transitions. Clients and their bookkeeping cadence lives in client_entities; keep the sensitive classes (bank statements and receipts, payroll data, login credentials for accounting software) out of this schema.
2. Workflow step 1. Model engagements and workstreams with explicit status transitions
3. Workflow step 2. Scope every query by client entity
4. Workflow step 3. Attach deliverables as private objects linked to workstreams
5. Workflow step 4. Deploy and verify transitions and cross-client isolation
6. Deploy. Run the synchronous deploy once and read the result. Re-running with no change is a no-op.

   ample deploy . --name <app-name> --public --start "python3 run.py" --env S3_ENDPOINT=... --env S3_REGION=... --env S3_BUCKET=... --env S3_ACCESS_KEY_ID=... --env S3_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=...

7. Verify. Run the pattern self-test(s) from the example (/p/relational-records) and your own acceptance checks for the bookkeeping practices workflow.

   ample logs <deployment_id> --kind build

Success checks

• app responds on its public URL (/ on the live URL, expect ample canary django patterns)
• relational-records self-test from the example (/p/relational-records on the live URL, expect see the pattern fixture checks)

Cost estimate

Estimated 10.00 USD per month (size prices from pricing.toml at build revision a1b8c38919e59cd035ebabaced73cf84ece24371).

• app server x1 s-1vcpu-1gb: 5.00 USD
• managed PostgreSQL database x1 s-1vcpu-1gb: 5.00 USD

Always-on monthly price of the tested sizes; apps and databases auto-pause when idle. Buckets are allocation-priced per quota and not included.

Verification evidence

• canary_run on 2026-09-20T03:31:44Z at revision 03b6402b1b3e19178985f08ea4033804521d85d4-dirty (CLI b75e104): Django pattern fixture deployed on Ample (pip install into .ample/python from requirements.txt, then waitress serving project.wsgi from run.py reading PORT on the python-3.12 template); the relational records checks passed: a workspace-scoped table, an explicit state machine (draft to review to published) that rejects invalid transitions, and a cross-workspace read that returns nothing (transitions=true isolation=true). The blueprint's Bookkeeping practices schema and workflow below build on that verified basis and were not separately executed. (expires 2027-03-19T03:31:44Z)