Categories, tags, budgets and goals

These screens are how you give your records meaning. A category says what kind of spending or earning a transaction is, and categories form a tree. Tags are free labels and counterparties are the shops, employers and people on the other side. A budget is a ceiling for some categories over a period, and a goal is a savings target with a date. The rules are in Concepts.

Spent, remaining and progress figures are the API’s. The interface never works them out, and shows the ceiling or target on its own, with the reason, when it cannot read them.

UC-26: Manage the Category Tree

Screen: Categories, /categories. The top bar has a sign-out button.

1. The screen shows your categories as an indented tree. A category with children has a folder icon.
2. Press New category. The dialog “New category” asks for a Name (“A category needs a name.”) and a Parent, where the first choice is “None — a top-level category”. Press Create.
3. The parent list offers only categories that would not create a cycle, so a category cannot be placed under itself or one of its own descendants.
4. To change a category, press its pencil icon (tooltip “Edit” and the name) for the dialog “Edit …”, then Save. The trash icon deletes it.
5. Deleting asks “Delete …?” and says “It can be restored afterwards.” or, for a category with children, “It has N categories beneath it. It can be restored afterwards.” Choose Delete or Cancel.

Notable alternatives:

• Deletion refused. If transactions still use the category, the API’s reason appears at the bottom of the screen with a Reassign action. It opens “Move transactions out of …”, which says “Every transaction in this category, and in the categories beneath it, moves to the one you choose.” Pick the destination in Move them to (the same category is not offered) and press Move. Then delete again.
• A duplicate sibling name is refused by the API and its reason is shown in the dialog.
• No categories yet. “No categories yet”, “Categories are how spending is grouped and budgeted.”, with Create the first one. A failed load shows “The categories could not be loaded.” and Retry.

UC-27: Manage Tags and Counterparties

Screen: Tags and counterparties, /labels, with two tabs, Tags and Counterparties, and a sign-out button.

1. Each tab lists your tags or counterparties by name. An empty tab explains what they are: “Tags are free-form labels. A transaction can carry several.” or “A counterparty is who was on the other side — a shop, an employer, a person.”
2. Press New tag or New counterparty, type the Name (“A tag needs a name.” or “A counterparty needs a name.”) and press Create.
3. To rename, press the pencil icon (tooltip “Rename …”) and Save. The trash icon asks “Delete …?” with “It can be restored afterwards.”; choose Delete or Cancel.
4. In the record and edit forms you attach them by typing names; see Transactions and transfers.

Notable alternatives:

• A duplicate name, or a deletion refused because transactions still use it, shows the API’s reason.
• None yet. “No tags yet” or “No counterparties yet”, with the explanation above and Create the first tag (or counterparty). A failed load offers Retry.
• The Deleted records screen lists transactions, accounts and categories only, so although the dialog says a deleted tag or counterparty can be restored, that screen is not where.

UC-28: Manage Budgets

Screen: Budgets, /budgets.

1. The screen lists your budgets. Each card names its categories (or “Uncategorized”), shows the period (Monthly, Quarterly or Yearly) and, if it was set so, “Includes sub-categories”.
2. Press New budget. The dialog “New budget” asks for a Ceiling, a Currency (chosen when creating, not editable afterwards), a Period, a start date (“Choose when the period starts”, then “Starts …”), Categories as checkboxes, and Include sub-categories.
3. The form checks “The budget must be greater than zero.”, “Choose the date the period starts on.” and “Choose at least one category for this budget to cover.” Press Create.
4. Each card then shows three figures from the API: Spent, Remaining (or Over by when exceeded) and Ceiling, with the period’s dates beneath. An exceeded budget also carries a warning and the words “Over the budget”.
5. Tap a card to edit it. Delete is in that dialog.

Notable alternatives:

• Consumption cannot be read. The card says “What has been spent could not be read. The ceiling is shown on its own.” and shows only the ceiling.
• A budget already covering that category and period is refused by the API and its reason appears in the dialog.
• No categories. The screen says “Create a category first”, “A budget is a ceiling for a category, so there needs to be one to budget for.”, with a Go to categories button. With no budgets: “No budgets yet” and Add a budget.
• Offline. Each card shows its ceiling with a “Not available offline” line in place of the spent figure, because consumption is not computed natively. See Offline mode.

UC-29: Manage Goals

Screen: Goals, /goals.

1. The screen lists your goals. Each card shows the name, “By” and the target date, and the progress the API reports: a bar and Saved, Remaining and Target. A goal that has reached its target is marked “Reached”.
2. Press New goal. The dialog “New goal” asks for a Name, a Target, a Currency (chosen when creating) and the date, “Choose the date to reach it by”. The date picker starts tomorrow.
3. The form checks “Give the goal a name.”, “The target must be greater than zero.” and “The target date must be in the future. A goal is something to reach, not something already past.” Press Create.
4. Tap a card to edit it; Delete is in that dialog.

Notable alternatives:

• The date has passed. The goal stays, marked with a history icon and “The date has passed. This is how far it got.” or, if the target was met, “The date has passed, and the target was met.” It is never silently removed.
• Progress cannot be read. The card shows the target alone, with the reason.
• Linked accounts. If the API reports accounts or investments linked to a goal, the card adds “From” and their names. This version’s goal form has no control to link accounts or investments, so a goal made here has none to show.
• Offline. Progress shows a “Not available offline” line, because it is not computed natively.
• With no goals: “No goals yet”, “Set a target and a date, and track what you have put aside toward it.”, with Add a goal.

Sources

This page is written from the interface’s Use Case Specification (UC-26 to UC-29), checked against the code in lib/features/categories, lib/features/labels and lib/features/planning.