diff --git a/app/Http/Controllers/Budget/EditController.php b/app/Http/Controllers/Budget/EditController.php
index e72561074e..66cb21d983 100644
--- a/app/Http/Controllers/Budget/EditController.php
+++ b/app/Http/Controllers/Budget/EditController.php
@@ -40,10 +40,8 @@ use Illuminate\View\View;
  */
 class EditController extends Controller
 {
-    /** @var AttachmentHelperInterface Helper for attachments. */
-    private $attachments;
-    /** @var BudgetRepositoryInterface The budget repository */
-    private $repository;
+    private AttachmentHelperInterface $attachments;
+    private BudgetRepositoryInterface $repository;
 
     /**
      * EditController constructor.
diff --git a/app/Http/Kernel.php b/app/Http/Kernel.php
index 9b91bcd373..51e0dc48f9 100644
--- a/app/Http/Kernel.php
+++ b/app/Http/Kernel.php
@@ -178,13 +178,15 @@ class Kernel extends HttpKernel
                 CreateFreshApiToken::class,
             ],
 
+            // full API authentication
             'api'  => [
                 AcceptHeaders::class,
                 EnsureFrontendRequestsAreStateful::class,
                 'auth:api,sanctum',
                 'bindings',
             ],
-            'apiY' => [
+            // do only bindings, no auth
+            'api_basic' => [
                 'bindings',
             ],
         ];
diff --git a/app/Http/Middleware/Authenticate.php b/app/Http/Middleware/Authenticate.php
index 0a346826ea..743eb9b283 100644
--- a/app/Http/Middleware/Authenticate.php
+++ b/app/Http/Middleware/Authenticate.php
@@ -29,8 +29,8 @@ use FireflyIII\Exceptions\FireflyException;
 use FireflyIII\User;
 use Illuminate\Auth\AuthenticationException;
 use Illuminate\Contracts\Auth\Factory as Auth;
-use Illuminate\Database\QueryException;
 use Illuminate\Http\Request;
+use Log;
 
 /**
  * Class Authenticate
@@ -87,13 +87,22 @@ class Authenticate
      */
     protected function authenticate($request, array $guards)
     {
+        Log::debug(sprintf('Now in %s', __METHOD__));
         if (0 === count($guards)) {
-            try {
-                // go for default guard:
-                if ($this->auth->check()) {
-                    // do an extra check on user object.
-                    /** @var User $user */
-                    $user = $this->auth->authenticate(); // @phpstan-ignore-line (thinks function returns void)
+            Log::debug('No guards present.');
+            // go for default guard:
+            /** @noinspection PhpUndefinedMethodInspection */
+            if ($this->auth->check()) {
+                Log::debug('Default guard says user is authenticated.');
+                // do an extra check on user object.
+                /** @noinspection PhpUndefinedMethodInspection */
+                /** @var User $user */
+                $user = $this->auth->authenticate();
+                if (null === $user) {
+                    Log::warning('User is null, throw exception?');
+                }
+                if (null !== $user) {
+                    Log::debug(get_class($user));
                     if (1 === (int)$user->blocked) {
                         $message = (string)trans('firefly.block_account_logout');
                         if ('email_changed' === $user->blocked_code) {
@@ -105,20 +114,11 @@ class Authenticate
                         throw new AuthenticationException('Blocked account.', $guards);
                     }
                 }
-            } catch (QueryException $e) {
-                throw new FireflyException(
-                    sprintf(
-                        'It seems the database has not yet been initialized. Did you run the correct upgrade or installation commands? Error: %s',
-                        $e->getMessage()
-                    ),
-                    0,
-                    $e
-                );
             }
 
             return $this->auth->authenticate(); // @phpstan-ignore-line (thinks function returns void)
         }
-
+        Log::debug('Guard array is not empty.');
 
         foreach ($guards as $guard) {
             if ($this->auth->guard($guard)->check()) {
diff --git a/app/Models/Account.php b/app/Models/Account.php
index 4ae11fdcc6..8f94933839 100644
--- a/app/Models/Account.php
+++ b/app/Models/Account.php
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ use Carbon\Carbon;
 use Eloquent;
 use FireflyIII\User;
 use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Builder as EloquentBuilder;
+use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Casts\Attribute;
 use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Collection;
 use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Factories\HasFactory;
 use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;
@@ -291,4 +292,16 @@ class Account extends Model
     {
         return $this->hasMany(Transaction::class);
     }
+
+    /**
+     * Get the virtual balance
+     *
+     * @return Attribute
+     */
+    protected function virtualBalance(): Attribute
+    {
+        return Attribute::make(
+            get: fn($value) => (string) $value,
+        );
+    }
 }
diff --git a/app/Models/AutoBudget.php b/app/Models/AutoBudget.php
index aef874b847..c62ba4f2df 100644
--- a/app/Models/AutoBudget.php
+++ b/app/Models/AutoBudget.php
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ declare(strict_types=1);
 namespace FireflyIII\Models;
 
 use Eloquent;
+use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Casts\Attribute;
 use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Model;
 use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\Relations\BelongsTo;
 use Illuminate\Database\Eloquent\SoftDeletes;
@@ -86,4 +87,14 @@ class AutoBudget extends Model
     {
         return $this->belongsTo(TransactionCurrency::class);
     }
+
+    /**
+     * @return Attribute
+     */
+    protected function amount(): Attribute
+    {
+        return Attribute::make(
+            get: fn($value) => (string) $value,
+        );
+    }
 }
diff --git a/app/Providers/RouteServiceProvider.php b/app/Providers/RouteServiceProvider.php
index e72bf5eb69..c281dfb409 100644
--- a/app/Providers/RouteServiceProvider.php
+++ b/app/Providers/RouteServiceProvider.php
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ class RouteServiceProvider extends ServiceProvider
                  ->group(base_path('routes/api.php'));
 
             Route::prefix('api/v1/cron')
-                 ->middleware('apiY')
+                 ->middleware('api_basic')
                  ->namespace($this->namespace)
                  ->group(base_path('routes/api-noauth.php'));
 
diff --git a/app/Support/Authentication/RemoteUserGuard.php b/app/Support/Authentication/RemoteUserGuard.php
index 46e63875a0..636bb0d6dd 100644
--- a/app/Support/Authentication/RemoteUserGuard.php
+++ b/app/Support/Authentication/RemoteUserGuard.php
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ use Illuminate\Contracts\Auth\Authenticatable;
 use Illuminate\Contracts\Auth\Guard;
 use Illuminate\Contracts\Auth\UserProvider;
 use Illuminate\Contracts\Foundation\Application;
+use Illuminate\Http\Request;
 use Log;
 
 /**
@@ -49,26 +50,40 @@ class RemoteUserGuard implements Guard
      */
     public function __construct(UserProvider $provider, Application $app)
     {
+        /** @var Request $request */
+        $request = $app->get('request');
+        Log::debug(sprintf('Created RemoteUserGuard for "%s"', $request?->getRequestUri()));
         $this->application = $app;
         $this->provider    = $provider;
         $this->user        = null;
     }
 
+    /**
+     * @return bool
+     */
+    public function viaRemember(): bool
+    {
+        Log::debug(sprintf('Now at %s', __METHOD__));
+        return false;
+    }
+
     /**
      *
      */
     public function authenticate(): void
     {
         Log::debug(sprintf('Now at %s', __METHOD__));
-        if (!is_null($this->user)) {
-            Log::debug('User is found.');
+        if (null !== $this->user) {
+            Log::debug(sprintf('%s is found: #%d, "%s".', get_class($this->user), $this->user->id, $this->user->email));
 
             return;
         }
         // Get the user identifier from $_SERVER or apache filtered headers
         $header = config('auth.guard_header', 'REMOTE_USER');
-        $userID = request()->server($header) ?? apache_request_headers()[$header] ?? null;
-
+        $userID = request()->server($header) ?? null;
+        if (function_exists('apache_request_headers')) {
+            $userID = request()->server($header) ?? apache_request_headers()[$header] ?? null;
+        }
         if (null === $userID) {
             Log::error(sprintf('No user in header "%s".', $header));
             throw new FireflyException('The guard header was unexpectedly empty. See the logs.');
@@ -102,6 +117,8 @@ class RemoteUserGuard implements Guard
      */
     public function guest(): bool
     {
+        Log::debug(sprintf('Now at %s', __METHOD__));
+        $this->authenticate();
         return !$this->check();
     }
 
@@ -110,6 +127,8 @@ class RemoteUserGuard implements Guard
      */
     public function check(): bool
     {
+        Log::debug(sprintf('Now at %s', __METHOD__));
+        $this->authenticate();
         return !is_null($this->user());
     }
 
@@ -118,6 +137,8 @@ class RemoteUserGuard implements Guard
      */
     public function user(): ?User
     {
+        Log::debug(sprintf('Now at %s', __METHOD__));
+        $this->authenticate();
         return $this->user;
     }
 
@@ -126,7 +147,8 @@ class RemoteUserGuard implements Guard
      */
     public function hasUser(): bool
     {
-        throw new FireflyException(sprintf('%s is not implemented', __METHOD__));
+        Log::debug(sprintf('Now at %s', __METHOD__));
+        // TODO: Implement hasUser() method.
     }
 
     /**
@@ -134,6 +156,7 @@ class RemoteUserGuard implements Guard
      */
     public function id(): ?User
     {
+        Log::debug(sprintf('Now at %s', __METHOD__));
         return $this->user;
     }
 
@@ -142,6 +165,7 @@ class RemoteUserGuard implements Guard
      */
     public function setUser(Authenticatable $user)
     {
+        Log::debug(sprintf('Now at %s', __METHOD__));
         $this->user = $user;
     }
 
@@ -150,6 +174,7 @@ class RemoteUserGuard implements Guard
      */
     public function validate(array $credentials = [])
     {
+        Log::debug(sprintf('Now at %s', __METHOD__));
         throw new FireflyException('Did not implement RemoteUserGuard::validate()');
     }
 }
diff --git a/config/passport.php b/config/passport.php
index b4b8f17603..55e2030517 100644
--- a/config/passport.php
+++ b/config/passport.php
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ return [
     |
     */
 
-    'guard' => 'web',
+    'guard' => envNonEmpty('AUTHENTICATION_GUARD', 'web'),
 
     /*
     |--------------------------------------------------------------------------