| 
|
| **Marketplaces** | **Receipt** |
| 
| 
|
| **Game card, CS2** | **Game card, Dota 2, `paper`** |
| 
| 
|
| **Inventory picture** | **Then vs now, `phosphor`** |
| 
| 
|
| **A vs B, light redaction** | **Full redaction, `phosphor`** |
| 
| 
|
Every PNG ships with a `card.json` sidecar (enough to re-render it offline and check the numbers) and a
`card.alt.txt` with alt text you can paste wherever you post the image.
## Install
> [!IMPORTANT]
> **This is a Windows build.** Stashcard runs on Windows 10/11 (x64) with Python 3.11+. The CLI refuses to start on other systems (`This build is Windows-only.`), because the packaged companion runtime is a Windows program.
```sh
pipx install git+https://github.com/AssassinCreator/steam-account-value-checker.git
```
Or from a clone:
```sh
git clone https://github.com/AssassinCreator/steam-account-value-checker.git
cd stashcard
pipx install . # or: python -m venv .venv && .venv/bin/pip install -e ".[dev]"
```
Python 3.11 or newer. Dependencies: `httpx`, `brotli`, `rich`, `questionary`, `Pillow`, `platformdirs`.
Inter and JetBrains Mono are bundled (SIL Open Font License). Windows steps are below.
## Where to run it
**Use your home PC. Windows is recommended; home Linux and macOS work fine too.**
Steam throttles inventory and market requests per IP, and datacenter, VPS and cloud ranges are
throttled much harder than home connections. In our tests a Linux server in a datacenter got
`HTTP 429` on its very first inventory request, so live scans there are unreliable. On a server, only
the offline demo and data you already cached work reliably. Stashcard does not bundle proxies or any
other workaround, and it tells you plainly when Steam says no.
### Windows install
1. Install Python 3.12 from [python.org](https://www.python.org/downloads/) (tick *Add python.exe to
PATH*), or run `winget install Python.Python.3.12`.
2. In PowerShell:
```powershell
py -m pip install --user pipx
py -m pipx ensurepath
# open a new terminal, then:
pipx install git+https://github.com/AssassinCreator/steam-account-value-checker.git
stashcard demo
```
3. Use **Windows Terminal** (the default terminal on Windows 11). It shows colours, the arrow-key
menus and the half-block card preview. The classic console still works; Stashcard then prints the
path to the PNG instead of a preview, and `--open` opens the card in your image viewer. Windows
Terminal 1.22+ can also show sixel images: set `STASHCARD_PREVIEW=sixel` (TODO(verify): not tested
on real hardware yet).
Settings, cache and history go to `%LOCALAPPDATA%\stashcard` (`stashcard config path` prints the exact
folders). The CI runs the test suite and the demo on Windows as well as Linux.
## Quick start
```sh
stashcard # interactive: paste a profile, arrow keys for the rest
stashcard demo # offline demo, writes stashcard-demo-summary.png
stashcard demo --mode all --out-dir cards # every layout at once
stashcard card https://steamcommunity.com/id/yourname --mode grid --game cs2 -c EUR -o stash.png
stashcard markets yourname -c EUR # every venue's floor, net after fees, where to sell
stashcard value 76561197960287930 --lowest-from best --json valuation.json --csv items.csv
stashcard diff yourname@last yourname # then vs now, from local history
stashcard diff yourname theirname # A vs B, redacted by default
stashcard render stash.json --theme paper # re-render a sidecar offline
```
Profiles can be pasted in any form: `steamcommunity.com/id/` invite links, or just the
custom URL name.
## Modes
| Mode | Command | What you get |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Report card | `card P --mode summary` | Totals at LOWEST, AVG and net, value by game, top items, a by-marketplace strip, honesty chips, delta, liquidity grade |
| Game inventory card | `card P --mode game --for-game dota2` | One game: rarity mix (with text labels), item table with median and days to sell |
| Inventory picture | `card P --mode grid [--limit 36] [--paginate]` | Icon grid with prices; "+N more" tile or one PNG per page |
| Receipt | `card P --mode receipt` | Itemised thermal receipt: subtotals, Steam and game fees, wallet vs cash net, venue subtotals, barcode |
| Marketplaces | `markets P` (or `card P --mode markets`) | Each venue's floor total, fee and net with coverage; best cash route; cheapest buy and best cash sell per item |
| Quick value | `value P` | Terminal only. Tables, warnings, `--json` / `--csv` |
| Compare | `diff A B` | Then-vs-now (same profile) or A-vs-B (two profiles, side by side) |
| Demo | `demo [--mode ...]` | The same pipeline on a bundled fictional profile. No network needed |
Utilities: `history P`, `config show | me | api-key | cookie | forget-secrets | reset | path`,
`cache info | clear`, `currencies`.
## Options
| Option | Default | Meaning |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `-g, --game` | `cs2,dota2,steam` | `cs2`, `dota2`, `tf2`, `rust`, `steam`, or a custom `appid/contextid`. Repeat or comma-separate |
| `-c, --currency` | `USD` | Any Steam Market currency; Skinport covers 16; USD-only venues are converted (`stashcard currencies`) |
| `--source` | `both` | `both` = LOWEST from Steam, AVG from Skinport; `steam`; `skinport` |
| `--markets` | `steam,skinport,waxpeer,csgotm,lisskins` | Venues to price on; add `csfloat` (experimental) or use `all` |
| `--lowest-from` | `steam` | Where LOWEST comes from: `steam`, `best` (cheapest floor anywhere) or a venue key |
| `--fee VENUE=RATE` | see table below | Override a seller fee, e.g. `--fee waxpeer=0.05` or `--fee skinport=6%` (repeatable) |
| `--csfloat-top` | `10` | CSFloat history lookups per scan when `csfloat` is enabled |
| `-w, --window` | `7d` | AVG window: `24h`, `7d`, `30d`, `90d` |
| `--min-price` | `0` | Hide stacks cheaper than this per unit (hidden count and value are reported) |
| `--tradable-only` | off | Ignore copies that cannot be traded right now |
| `--trimmed-avg` | off | Opt-in AVG without the extreme sales, always labelled `trimmed avg` |
| `--capture` | `0.10` | Share of daily sales you could realistically take (days to sell) |
| `--steam-budget` | `60` | Max live Steam price lookups per scan; cache hits are free |
| `-m, --mode` | `summary` | `summary`, `game`, `grid`, `receipt`, `markets` (`diff` for `diff`, `all` for `demo`) |
| `--theme` | `midnight` | `midnight`, `paper`, `phosphor` |
| `--redact` | `auto` | `none`, `light`, `full`; `auto` decides from your saved "me" profile |
| `-o, --output` | `./stashcard--.png` | Card path; sidecars go next to it |
| `--open` | off | Open the PNG with your system viewer |
| `--preview` | `auto` | Inline preview: `kitty`, `iterm`, `sixel`, `blocks`, `none` |
| `--json`, `--csv` | | Full valuation as JSON; one row per stack as CSV, with every venue's floor and net |
| `--plain` | off | No colour, ASCII tables, no animation (also honours `NO_COLOR`) |
| `--offline` | off | Cache only; never touch the network |
| `--max-wait` | `20` | Longest `Retry-After` to sit through before falling back |
| `--no-history`, `--no-sidecar`, `-q` | | Skip local history; skip `card.json`/`alt.txt`; print paths only |
The interactive flow asks for the same things with arrow keys (including a multi-select for
marketplaces) and remembers your last choices.
## How prices work
**Two numbers, never mixed up.**
| | Means | Default source | Fallback (labelled) |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| **LOWEST** | The current floor: the cheapest listing right now | Steam Community Market `lowest_price` (`--lowest-from` changes it) | Skinport, then the cheapest other venue |
| **AVG** | The mean of actual sales over the window | Skinport sales history (`avg` for 24h / 7d / 30d / 90d) | Steam sales history if you add your own login cookie, CSFloat (experimental), else Steam's 24 h median |
Steam's public API only exposes a 24 hour *median* without a login, so for Steam community items
(appid 753), which no cash venue covers, AVG falls back to `Steam median · 24h`. The card says exactly
that, and so does every table row (`*`) and the footer (`+7 Steam median · 24h`).
### Price sources
All free, no keys, verified live on 2026-10-29. Whole-catalog feeds are fetched once per game, cached
for an hour and looked up locally. Stashcard sends an honest `User-Agent` and paces every host.
| Venue | Access | Games | What we use | Money | Default seller fee | Caveats |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Steam Community Market | no key | any | `priceoverview`: floor, 24 h median and volume, per item | wallet | 5 % + 10 % game fee, Valve's exact rounding | ~20 requests/min; datacenter IPs get 429 |
| Skinport | no key | CS2, Dota 2, TF2, Rust | `/v1/items` floor, `/v1/sales/history` mean, median, min, max | cash | 8 % | 8 requests per 5 min; brotli required |
| Waxpeer | no key | CS2, Dota 2, Rust, TF2 (tiny) | `/v1/prices` lowest offer (in 1/1000 USD) and count | cash | 6 % | USD only, converted |
| Market.CSGO | no key | CS2, Dota 2 (market.dota2.net), TF2 (tf2.tm), Rust (rust.tm) | `/api/v2/prices/USD.json` lowest offer | cash | 5 % | USD only; meaning of `volume` undocumented |
| Lis-skins | no key | CS2, Dota 2, Rust (no TF2 export) | `market_export_json/.json` lowest price and count | cash | 5 % | USD only; never the 140 MB `api_csgo_full.json` |
| CSFloat *(experimental, opt-in)* | no key, undocumented | CS2 | `/api/v1/history//graph` daily average and count, top N items only | cash | 2 % | Includes float and sticker premiums; skew guard applies |
| open.er-api.com | no key | | USD exchange rates (incl. RUB, UAH, KZT), cached 12 h | | | Every converted number shows the rate and its date |
Seller fees are defaults from fee pages and review sites as of 2026-10-29. Venues change and tier them,
so they are marked TODO(verify) in `markets.py`; override them with `--fee`.
**Wallet vs cash.** Steam money can only be spent on Steam. The cards, tables and exports keep a
WALLET or CASH tag on every venue. The *best cash route* adds up each stack sold at its best cash venue
after fees; Steam's net is shown next to it, never summed into it. Venue totals cover only what that
venue lists, so each comes with its coverage of your value.
**Outlier guard.** AVG stays the mean, as promised, but the window median and max ride along. An item
is badged **skewed** when the mean and median differ by more than 25 % or the max sale is above 5x the
median. A real example: AK-47 | Redline (FT) once showed a 30 day mean of $39.85 against a median of
$26.65 because of a single $2,114 sale. The median sits next to AVG in tables and on cards, skewed items
are counted in the totals, and `--trimmed-avg` drops the extremes (labelled `trimmed avg`).
**Fees and the two kinds of net.**
- *Net on Steam (wallet)*: what you would receive listing at the Steam floor, after the 5 % Steam fee and
the 10 % game fee, using Valve's exact rounding (ported from the market's own `economy_common.js`
and tested so `seller_receives(buyer_pays(x)) == x` for every amount up to $200).
- *Net at a cash venue*: that venue's floor x (1 - seller fee).
**Honesty checks** run on every scan and show up in the terminal, on the cards and in the sidecar:
| Check | Fires when |
| --- | --- |
| unpriced | No floor and no sales anywhere. Counted separately, never as zero |
| not marketable | Medals, coins, gems: listed, not valued |
| illiquid | You hold more than one day of sales volume |
| days to sell | quantity / (daily volume x capture). "Sellable within 7 days: X % of value" drives the grade |
| skewed | Mean vs median > 25 %, or max > 5x median |
| wide spread | Floor and average disagree by more than 50 % |
| locked | Trade hold or CS2 trade protection: "locked now: $X, unlocks in N days" |
| fallback | A number came from a secondary source or metric |
| rate limited | A source said slow down; what was skipped and why |
**Rate limits.** Steam rate-limits inventories hard (see [Where to run it](#where-to-run-it)).
Stashcard caches inventories for 10 minutes, Steam prices for 3 hours and venue catalogs for an hour,
paces requests per host, backs off with jitter, honours `Retry-After`, and asks Steam about the most
valuable items first so a 429 hurts least. When blocked it uses stale cache (and says how old) or tells
you plainly: *Steam is rate-limiting this connection; retry in N min, use cached data, or try the demo.*
## Privacy
- **Local only.** Settings, cache and scan history live in your user folders (`stashcard config path`).
Nothing is uploaded anywhere. No telemetry, no analytics, no accounts.
- **Redaction presets.** `--redact light` masks the name (`K•••••l`) and SteamID64 (last 4 digits), blurs
the avatar and drops the profile link and location. `--redact full` also replaces the avatar, shows
"Anonymous collector" and turns totals into value bands (`$2.5k–5k`). By default your own profile
(`stashcard config me `) is unredacted, anyone else's is `full`, and until you set "me" the
default is `light`. A-vs-B cards are at least `light` on both sides. Demo profiles are fictional.
- **Clean files.** PNGs are written without text chunks or metadata. Sidecars respect the same redaction
(value bands hide totals on the image; item rows stay in `card.json` so others can verify it, so skip
it with `--no-sidecar` if you need the totals hidden).
- **Secrets.** The optional API key and cookie are stored in `secrets.json` with mode `0600`, or read
from `STASHCARD_STEAM_API_KEY` / `STASHCARD_STEAM_LOGIN_SECURE`. They are never printed in full
(`set (…a1b2)`), never written to cache keys or sidecars, and the cookie is only sent to
`steamcommunity.com`. The cookie is a full Steam session: only add it if you understand that, and
remove it with `stashcard config cookie`.
## Accessibility
Rarity is always shown as text next to its colour, and WALLET/CASH as text next to theirs. `--plain`
and `NO_COLOR` give colourless ASCII output. Every card gets alt text. Theme text colours are checked
for contrast in the test suite.
## Roadmap
- `stashcard watch --once` with exit codes for cron, plus an optional self-hosted ntfy webhook.
- "Household" roll-up cards across several profiles.
- Instant-sell value from Steam buy orders for the top items, next to LOWEST and AVG.
- A source cross-check that flags venues far from the consensus floor.
- "Premium possible" flags from inventory data only: StatTrak, applied stickers, name tags, Doppler
phases ("priced at the base name; real value may be higher").
- Library value at current store prices (with a Web API key), shown as replacement cost, never summed
into a sale value.
- `history` sparklines in the terminal and a value-over-time card.
- Animated WebP cards for socials.
## Regenerating the README assets
```sh
python scripts/make_assets.py # PNG cards, banner, terminal.svg
pip install -e ".[gifs]" # pyte + pexpect, dev-only
python scripts/make_gifs.py # assets/demo.gif (real pty recording) and assets/cards.gif
```
## Disclaimer
Stashcard is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by Valve Corporation or Steam, or by any of
the marketplaces it reads. Steam, the Steam logo, Counter-Strike, Dota and Team Fortress are trademarks
of Valve Corporation. Item names and images belong to their owners. Prices are informational estimates
from public market data, not offers, appraisals or financial advice, and can be stale or wrong. Steam
accounts cannot be sold under the Steam Subscriber Agreement; nothing here is an "account value".
## License
MIT, see [LICENSE](LICENSE). Bundled fonts: Inter and JetBrains Mono, SIL Open Font License 1.1
(`src/stashcard/fonts/*.txt`).