actualbudget/actual

[Bug]: SimpleFIN Cloudflare Block is not handled gracefully

Open

#7,785 opened on May 9, 2026

View on GitHub
 (2 comments) (0 reactions) (0 assignees)JavaScript (7,129 stars) (603 forks)batch import
bank syncbuggood first issue

Description

What happened?

Was linking bank accounts several times, leading to a Cloudflare block on Simplefin. Since the credentials box popped up, I unnecessarily reset my credentials for SimpleFIN. Now I get to set all my bank accounts back up again when the link is restored.

How can we reproduce the issue?

  1. Create a SimpleFIN account and link a Bank Account and create an App Connection
  2. Create an Account in Actual
  3. In the Meatball menu, click Link Account
  4. Click Link Account with SimpleFin
  5. Provide the App Credentials created in step 1
  6. Keep using Link Bank/syncing/etc. until SimpleFIN temporarily bans requests from the backend to their API, resulting in syncs failing
  7. Observe Cloudflare Rate-Limit HTML in Actual Server logs.
  8. Create a new Account
  9. In the Meatball menu, click Link Account
  10. Click Link Account with SimpleFin

Expected: Warning displayed that SimpleFin is unavailable/rate limit Actual: "Set Up SimpleFIN" modal is displayed

Where are you hosting Actual?

Fly.io

What browsers are you seeing the problem on?

Chrome

Operating System

Windows 11

Contributor guide

Tech stack
javascriptnodejs
Domain
backend
Issue type
bug
DifficultyEstimated implementation difficulty for a new contributor, from 1 for very small changes to 5 for expert-level work.
3
Estimated timeA rough time range for an experienced contributor to investigate, implement, test, and prepare a pull request.
half day
Activity statusHow available the issue appears right now: fresh, active, stale, blocked, or waiting on maintainer input.
fresh
ClarityHow clearly the issue explains the expected change, acceptance criteria, and next step.
mostly clear
Prerequisites
Familiarity with SimpleFIN APIUnderstanding of Actual's syncing code
Newbie friendlinessA 1-100 score estimating how approachable this issue is for first-time contributors.
50
Research direction
Investigate the SimpleFIN integration code in the Actual server. Look for where API calls are made and how responses are handled. The issue suggests that a Cloudflare block returns HTML instead of JSON, so error handling should detect non JSON responses or specific HTTP status codes and display a user friendly message instead of showing the setup modal. Check the relevant files, likely in the SimpleFIN plugin or server module.