ecu

Before ecu existed, I tracked my expenses in an Excel spreadsheet. Then Notion. Both worked, until they didn't. I wanted something on my phone, something that could handle multiple accounts, forecast future transactions, and actually fit the way I think about money. I tried a few apps. Pennies came close, but always fell short on the features I needed.

In 2022, while finishing my Computer Science degree (3 year program), I had a final exam that required building a mobile app with an external database and a web interface. I saw an opportunity: instead of a throwaway school project, I'd build the app I actually wanted. That first version used SwiftUI with Firebase on the backend, paired with a read only Vue.js web interface (Express + Firebase, full auth system). It got me my diploma, and a tool I genuinely used every day.

After graduating, I realized Firebase was more of a constraint than a help for a personal finance app. So I rewrote everything from scratch using Core Data and CloudKit, Apple's native stack. No external servers, no web layer, just a clean iOS app that syncs seamlessly through iCloud. In 2025, I graduated from ESIEE Paris with an engineering degree in Computer Science and Applications, and ecu had grown alongside me the entire time.

This app has no ambition to top the charts. It's a fil rouge, a personal thread that runs through my career. I build it for myself, on my own time, because I use it every single day. If other people find it useful too, that genuinely makes me happy. It means something I built out of personal need resonates with someone else's.

It's been years since that first commit, and I'm proud of where ecu is today. I'll keep improving it for years to come, not because I have to, but because I want to.