PropBlaster Journal – User Guide

The PropBlaster Journal runs entirely on your own PC. You open it in the browser, your data is stored in a local SQLite database, and the app pulls your MT5 trade history by itself – no manual import needed.

Installation: PropBlaster is installed with PropBlaster-Setup.exe. The installer works per user (no admin rights required):

• Program files: %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\PropBlaster
• Your data (database, screenshots, backups, log): %LOCALAPPDATA%\PropBlaster
• Start menu shortcut: PropBlaster – it starts the app and opens http://127.0.0.1:8000 in your browser.

Running the app manually from the source files is described under Advanced / running from source.

MT5 terminal(s)  ──(MetaTrader5 package, every 15 min + button)──►  PropBlaster  ──►  journal.db
                                                                        │             screenshots/
                                                           Browser: http://127.0.0.1:8000

Setup

1. Install PropBlaster with PropBlaster-Setup.exe and start it from the Start menu (PropBlaster).
2. On the first start the setup assistant opens: it finds MetaTrader 5, installs the Expert Advisors, waits until the master EA is on a chart, adds your account and (optionally) your Anthropic API key, then imports your trade history. You can reopen it any time via ⚙ Settings → Setup assistant. Later changes are made under ⚙ Settings in the top right of the cockpit:
3. MT5 accounts: add each account you want to track (name, MT5 login, type). Only needed if you use several accounts; with no account listed, the account logged in to your terminal is used. "Own terminal" is only for accounts that run in a separate MT5 installation.
4. Claude AI: paste your Anthropic API key (needed for Rate trade and the pre-trade check). It is stored encrypted for your Windows user; Test key checks it.
5. Sync & journal: auto sync interval (0 = only with the button), days of history for the first import, days covered by the regular sync, broker server time offset, archive date, port.
6. Passwords are never needed – the app only reads the account that is logged in.
7. Click Save settings. Changes apply immediately; only a new port needs a restart. The settings are kept in config.json in %LOCALAPPDATA%\PropBlaster (a backup of the previous version is kept as config.json.bak).
8. Click "Sync MT5". Your trades appear in the journal.

Important: no automatic account switching (protects your copier)

For each terminal, the app reads only the account that is currently logged in there. If a different account is logged in than the ones listed in Settings, the app skips that account and shows a notice at the top. This way your master terminal running the trade copier is never logged out.

• Master: the default terminal set via terminal_path at the top of the config.
• Slaves: if you want to track them too, set the terminal_path of the respective portable slave terminal for each account (see config.example.json). The app then attaches to each terminal in turn without logging anyone out.
• An active account switch only happens if you set "allow_login_switch": true for an account. This is not recommended for a terminal that runs EAs.

Daily use

• Trades arrive automatically – every 15 minutes, or immediately via "Sync MT5". The top bar shows when the last sync ran and what it found.
• In the Trades tab, click a row to record setup, plan vs. actual, psychology, mistakes and screenshots. Add images with Ctrl+V, drag & drop or the file picker. Then click Save.
• With the master EA's auto journal enabled (PropBlaster_Master, inputs under "Auto-Journal"), the EA reports each opened and fully closed master position to the journal automatically and adds chart screenshots (1m / 15m / 1H, optionally also at the exit).
• Evaluations are in Dashboard and Psychology & Mistakes, filterable by account (live/demo), period and symbol.
• A new sync never overwrites your journal entries. It only updates the MT5 data.

AI trade review

Trades with screenshots can be reviewed by Claude: trend & direction, market structure & timing, entry location, stop loss, target & R:R, risk & position size, management & exit, and journal consistency.

• In the app: open the trade and click Rate trade (about 20–40 s). Your current inputs are saved first. Open trades can be rated too; after the trade has closed, Re-rate includes the exit. This requires an Anthropic API key under Settings (see the Cockpit guide).
• File-based: the app also exposes a file interface for reviews created outside the app (e.g. in a Claude project).

Details on the review criteria and the file format are in the Review catalog.

Backups

• On every start and once a day afterwards, the app automatically saves a copy of the database to backups/ in your data folder. The last 14 copies are kept.
• Screenshots are stored as normal image files in screenshots/.
• For a complete backup, copy the entire data folder (%LOCALAPPDATA%\PropBlaster), e.g. to a cloud drive.

Security

The app is reachable only from this PC (127.0.0.1). Other devices on your network cannot access your data. Passwords do not belong in the config.

Troubleshooting

Advanced / running from source

The source folder cockpit/ contains:

Manual start:

1. Install Python 3.11+ and run python -m pip install MetaTrader5.
2. Copy config.example.json to config.json and adjust it.
3. Double-click start_journal.bat (or run python app.py). A console window opens, then the browser. Keep the window open while you use the journal.

Start automatically with Windows (optional, source version):

1. Press Win + R, type shell:startup and press Enter.
2. Place a shortcut to start_journal_background.bat in this folder.

From then on the journal runs invisibly in the background after you sign in. Open it via a browser bookmark to http://127.0.0.1:8000. Messages are written to data/journal.log.