Budget Guide¶

Track income, expenses, and transfers with categories, accounts, and recurring schedules.

Categories¶

Categories organize your transactions and power the dashboard pie charts. Each category has:

• Name — Displayed in transaction rows and charts
• Color — Hex code (e.g. #FF5733) used in pie charts and category badges
• Icon — Icon identifier for visual identification
• Order — Display order in lists and dropdowns (drag-and-drop to reorder)

Creating and Managing¶

Create categories from the Categories tab. The form requires a name, color, and icon. Categories are group-scoped — all members see the same set.

To reorder categories, drag the handle on any category row. The new order is saved immediately.

Deleting¶

Categories that have transactions cannot be deleted (the backend prevents it). You must reassign or delete those transactions first. Soft-deleted categories are preserved for historical data.

See Budget Basics for a walkthrough.

Budget Accounts¶

Accounts represent wallets, bank accounts, or any place money lives. Each account has a name and can be disabled.

Default Account¶

The first account you create becomes the default. It is pre-selected when creating new transactions. Change the default from the accounts list by clicking the star icon next to any account. A disabled account cannot be set as default.

Disabling vs Deleting¶

Disabling an account hides it from transaction forms while preserving its transaction history. Disabled accounts:

• Cannot be used as a source or target for new transactions
• Skip processing if referenced by a recurring transaction
• Are excluded from transfer dropdowns when fewer than 2 active accounts exist

Deleting is blocked if the account has active recurring transactions. Delete the recurring transactions first, then the account.

Transactions¶

Transactions come in three types:

Creating¶

Select the type first — the form adapts to show or hide the category and target account fields. Amount must be greater than zero. Description is optional (max 200 chars).

Copying¶

Use the copy icon on any transaction row to pre-fill a new form with the same values. This is useful for recurring-like expenses that you don't want to set up as recurring templates.

Filtering¶

The transaction list supports filtering by:

• Month/Year — Navigate between months
• Type — Income, Expense, Transfer, or All
• Category — Filter by a specific category
• Account — Filter by a specific budget account

Filters combine — for example, view all Expense transactions in January for a specific account.

Editing and Deleting¶

All transaction fields can be edited after creation. Deletion soft-deletes the transaction — it is removed from the list and reports but the record persists in the database.

See Tracking Expenses for detailed walkthroughs.

Recurring Transactions¶

Recurring templates automatically create transactions on a schedule. The background job runs daily and generates transactions for due templates.

Frequency Types¶

Lifecycle¶

• Create a template with name, amount, type, frequency, dates, category, and account
• Enable/Disable — Toggle without deleting. Disabled templates are skipped by the background job
• Edit — All fields can be modified after creation
• Date range — Templates can have a start and optional end date. Null end date means ongoing

The background job checks each enabled template daily. If today matches the schedule and falls within the date range, a transaction is created with the template name as description. The LastProcessedDate prevents duplicates.

Managing¶

The Recurring tab shows all templates with their current status. Toggle the switch to enable or disable. The job schedule is configurable — see Cron Configuration.

Dashboard and Reports¶

Monthly Dashboard¶

The Dashboard tab shows a summary for the selected month:

• Stats cards — Total income (green), total expenses (red), net amount
• Pie charts — Income and expense breakdown by category, color-coded
• Clicking a stats card navigates to the Transactions tab pre-filtered by that type

Filters at the top let you narrow by category or account. When an account is selected, you can toggle "Include Transfers" to show transfer activity.

Yearly Summary¶

The Summary tab shows a table with 12 months (rows) and income/expenses/balance (columns). A footer row shows yearly totals. Filter by category or account just like the dashboard.

Rate Limits¶

Related¶

• Budget Basics — Categories, accounts, first transaction
• Tracking Expenses — Filters, transfers, recurring, reports
• Data Model — Transaction, Category, Account entities
• Background Jobs — Recurring transaction processing
• API Endpoints — Budget endpoints