Expense Tracker

Log and track daily expenses in markdown files organized by month.

Quick Start

Log an expense

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Examples:

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View monthly summary

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File Organization

Expenses are stored in expenses/ directory at workspace root:

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Each file contains a markdown table:

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Categories

See references/categories.md for common expense categories. Use existing categories or create custom ones as needed.

Common categories:

• - Housing - Rent, utilities, home expenses
• Vehicle - Gas, maintenance, parking
• Dining - Restaurants, food delivery
• Coffee - Cafes, coffee shops
• Shopping - Clothes, electronics, general purchases
• Entertainment - Movies, games, hobbies
• Healthcare - Medicine, doctor visits
• Subscriptions - Netflix, Spotify, gym, apps
• Savings - Investments, emergency fund
• Debt Payment - Loans, credit cards
• Miscellaneous - Other expenses

Workflow Examples

Log daily expenses from conversation

When the user mentions spending money:

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Monthly review

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Analyze spending patterns

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Auto Backup

Before every write, the script automatically backs up the current expense file to:

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• - Backup runs before any modification (safe even if write fails)
• If the file doesn't exist yet (first entry of the month), backup is skipped
• Backup is overwritten each time with the latest pre-write snapshot
• This protects against accidental rm -rf or corruption of the workspace

Tips

• - Batch logging: User can tell you multiple expenses at once, log them all
• Category consistency: Use the same category names to enable accurate summaries
• Tags for filtering: Use tags for subcategories (e.g., "work", "weekend", "urgent")
• Descriptions: Add context that helps identify the expense later
• Regular reviews: Suggest monthly summaries to track spending patterns

Integration with Financial Goals

When tracking expenses, consider:

1. 1. Budget tracking: Compare monthly totals to target budget
2. Spending patterns: Identify high-spend categories
3. Emergency fund: Track savings progress
4. Debt reduction: Monitor debt payment progress
5. Financial ratios: Calculate expenses as % of income

Script Reference

log_expense.py

Commands:

• - log - Add an expense entry
• INLINECODE4 - View monthly summary

Arguments (log):

• - amount - Amount in VND (required)
• INLINECODE6 - Category name (required)
• INLINECODE7 - Optional description
• INLINECODE8 - Optional comma-separated tags
• INLINECODE9 - Optional date (YYYY-MM-DD, defaults to today)
• INLINECODE10 - Optional workspace path (defaults to ~/.openclaw/workspace)

Arguments (summary):

• - year_month - Optional YYYY-MM (defaults to current month)
• INLINECODE12 - Output as JSON
• INLINECODE13 - Optional workspace path

Output:

• - Creates/updates markdown files in expenses/ directory
• Prints confirmation with file location
• Summary shows total, count, and breakdown by category