Setting Up Expense Categories

Before you start logging expenses, you need to tell OpenClaw how to categorize them. Good categories make the difference between a useful monthly report and a wall of uncategorized line items.

Prerequisites

Category Architecture

  Incoming Expense              Category Engine            Categorized Entry
  ┌──────────────┐          ┌─────────────────┐          ┌──────────────┐
  │ "$45 lunch   │          │  Match against:  │          │ $45.00       │
  │  at The      │─────────>│  • Keywords      │─────────>│ The Kitchen  │
  │  Kitchen     │          │  • Vendor rules  │          │ Category:    │
  │  with client"│          │  • Context clues │          │  Client Meals│
  └──────────────┘          └─────────────────┘          └──────────────┘

OpenClaw uses a combination of keyword matching, vendor recognition, and contextual clues to assign categories. You define the categories and optional rules — the AI handles the edge cases.

Define Your Categories

Start with a simple category structure. You can always refine it later.

openclaw.config.yaml

Start Simple

Don't over-engineer your categories on day one. Start with 5-7 categories. After a month of data, you'll see patterns that suggest where to split or merge. OpenClaw lets you recategorize past expenses when you restructure.

Add Vendor Rules

For vendors you use regularly, set up direct mappings so categorization is instant and accurate.

openclaw.config.yaml

The note field makes OpenClaw ask a follow-up question when the category is ambiguous. For Starbucks, it'll ask: "Was this a client meeting or personal?"

Set Monthly Budgets (Optional)

Add spending limits per category to get alerts when you're approaching a threshold.

openclaw.config.yaml

When you hit 80% of a category's budget, OpenClaw posts a heads-up.

Budget Alert

Test Your Configuration

Verify categories are working with a quick test.

Terminal

openclaw expenses test-categories

Test Output

If you travel internationally or work with clients in other countries, enable multi-currency tracking.

openclaw.config.yaml

When you log "$45" it's USD. When you log "45 EUR" or send a receipt in Euros, OpenClaw converts and stores both the original and converted amounts.

For teams, you can define shared categories with per-person budgets.

expenses:
  team_mode: true
  per_person_budgets:
    Client Meals: 300
    Travel: 1000
  shared_report_channel: "#finance"

Each team member tracks their own expenses. A combined report is posted to the shared channel at month-end.

Knowledge Check

Why does OpenClaw ask a follow-up question for some expenses like Starbucks?