diff --git a/core/api/src/debug/populate-journal-transactions.ts b/core/api/src/debug/populate-journal-transactions.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..d86d3f7b3f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/api/src/debug/populate-journal-transactions.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,89 @@
+/**
+ * how to run:
+ * pnpm tsx src/debug/populate-journal-transactions.ts <starting_journal_id>
+ */
+
+import mongoose from "mongoose"
+
+import { setupMongoConnection } from "@/services/mongodb"
+import { Transaction } from "@/services/ledger/schema"
+
+const Journal = mongoose.connection.models["Medici_Journal"]
+
+const populateJournalTransactions = async (startingJournalId: string) => {
+  console.log("Starting from journal ID:", startingJournalId)
+
+  const journals = Journal.find({
+    _id: { $gte: new mongoose.Types.ObjectId(startingJournalId) },
+    $or: [{ _transactions: { $size: 0 } }, { _transactions: { $exists: false } }],
+  }).cursor()
+
+  let processedCount = 0
+  let updatedCount = 0
+  const startTime = Date.now()
+
+  for await (const journal of journals) {
+    processedCount++
+
+    // Find transactions for this journal
+    const transactions = await Transaction.find({ _journal: journal._id }, { _id: 1 })
+
+    if (transactions.length <= 0) {
+      console.error(`No transactions found for journal ${journal._id}`)
+      continue
+    }
+
+    // Update journal
+    const transactionIds = transactions.map((tx) => tx._id)
+    await Journal.updateOne(
+      { _id: journal._id },
+      { $set: { _transactions: transactionIds } },
+    )
+    updatedCount++
+
+    // Log progress every 100 journals
+    if (processedCount % 100 === 0) {
+      const timeElapsed = (Date.now() - startTime) / 1000
+      console.log(`
+        Processed: ${processedCount} journals
+        Updated: ${updatedCount} journals
+        Time elapsed: ${timeElapsed.toFixed(2)}s
+        Current journal ID: ${journal._id}
+      `)
+    }
+  }
+
+  const totalTimeElapsed = (Date.now() - startTime) / 1000
+  console.log(`
+    Finished!
+    Total processed: ${processedCount}
+    Total updated: ${updatedCount}
+    Total time: ${totalTimeElapsed.toFixed(2)}s
+  `)
+
+  return { processedCount, updatedCount }
+}
+
+const main = async () => {
+  const args = process.argv.slice(-1)
+  const startingJournalId = args[0]
+
+  if (!startingJournalId) {
+    console.error("Please provide a starting journal ID")
+    process.exit(1)
+  }
+
+  try {
+    const result = await populateJournalTransactions(startingJournalId)
+    console.log("Result:", result)
+  } catch (err) {
+    console.error("Error:", err)
+  }
+}
+
+setupMongoConnection()
+  .then(async (mongoose) => {
+    await main()
+    if (mongoose) await mongoose.connection.close()
+  })
+  .catch((err) => console.log(err))