F.A.Q
Common questions about portfolio tracking, shared snapshots, pricing data, and bot access.
What is JOURNAL.TF?
JOURNAL.TF is a TF2 portfolio journal for tracking buys, sells, quantities, realised P&L, and current estimated holding value.
Do I need a Steam account?
Yes. Steam OpenID is used for sign-in so your portfolio is attached to your Steam identity. JOURNAL.TF stores public profile identity data and your portfolio records.
Where do prices come from?
The app syncs TF2 market price data from PriceDB.IO and stores a local cache for portfolio valuation. For raw pricing integrations, use PriceDB.IO directly.
Can I share my portfolio?
Yes. The Account page can generate a read-only snapshot link. Anyone with that link can view the shared snapshot, but cannot add, sell, revoke, or edit records.
Can bots use JOURNAL.TF?
Yes. Signed-in users can create API keys from the Account page. The bot API can add portfolio entries, record sells, revoke unsold entries, revoke sell records, and read portfolio or P&L state.
Can I import existing trade history?
Yes. The Account page links to a data importer for the strict JOURNAL.TF CSV template and Autobot polldata.json files. Every upload is previewed before any ledger records are written.
How does historical import matching work?
Imported sales are matched by exact SKU to the oldest available purchase quantities first (FIFO), including eligible purchases already in your portfolio. Unmatched sale quantities, duplicate external IDs, unresolved SKUs, and incomplete Autobot offers are skipped and shown as warnings.
How are Autobot currencies interpreted?
Autobot imports treat 5021;6 as one key, 5002;6 as one refined, 5001;6 as 0.33 refined, and 5000;6 as 0.11 refined. Autobot offers use their recorded historical key rate; CSV key values use the current key rate frozen when the preview is created.
Can JOURNAL.TF trade items for me?
No. JOURNAL.TF tracks your portfolio records. It does not perform Steam trades, hold items, or act as an escrow service.
How is P&L calculated?
Buy prices and sell prices are converted to refined metal using key prices. New buys store the key price at purchase for historical cost basis, while live holding value uses the current key price and current buy-side market value.
Is this affiliated with Valve or backpack.tf?
No. JOURNAL.TF is not affiliated with Valve or backpack.tf. Team Fortress 2 items and trademarks are property of Valve Corporation.