expense-tracker

Log daily expenses to Notion using natural language input, auto-parsing item, amount, category, and payment method into your configured database.

Log daily expenses to Notion via natural language chat. Type something like "chicken rice 5" and it auto-parses the item, amount, category, and payment method — then writes it to your Notion database.

Supports bilingual input (English + Chinese), 10 spending categories, and multiple payment platforms.

Setup

1. Create a Notion integration at https://www.notion.so/my-integrations
2. Share your expense database with the integration
3. Set environment variables:

   text

   export NOTION_API_KEY="your_token_here"
   export EXPENSE_DATABASE_ID="your_database_id_here"
   

Required Notion Database Schema

Property	Type	Notes
Name	title	Expense description
Amount	number	Numeric value in SGD, no currency prefix
Bank Name	select	OCBC, TRUST, DBS, Revolut, 支付宝, 微信, OCBC BUSINESS
Category	select	Food, Transport, shopping, business, Groceries, Leisure, Bills, medical, investment, Education
Transaction Date	date	ISO 8601 (YYYY-MM-DD)

Usage Examples

Input	Item	Amount	Category	Bank
chicken rice 5	chicken rice	5.00	Food	OCBC
grab to school 12.50	grab to school	12.50	Transport	OCBC
咖啡 3.50 支付宝	咖啡	3.50	Food	支付宝
notion labs 33 revolut	notion labs	33.00	business	Revolut
dinner with jy 57 trust	dinner with jy	57.00	Food	TRUST
driving class 90	driving class	90.00	Education	OCBC

Commands

• /today — List today's expenses with running total
• /summary — Current month breakdown by category
• /month [month] — View a specific month (e.g., /month march)
• /budget [amount] — Set monthly budget; shows remaining on each log
• /bank [name] — Filter expenses by payment method

Parsing Rules

• Amount is usually the last number: "2 coffee 9" → item="2 coffee", amount=9
• Strips "$" or "SGD" prefixes
• Supports decimals: "3.50", "12.5"
• Bank detection is case-insensitive: "ocbc" = "OCBC"
• Chinese platforms: "支付宝" / "alipay" → 支付宝, "微信" / "wechat" → 微信
• Default bank: OCBC (when none specified)
• If user specifies category explicitly (e.g., "chicken rice 5 business"), uses that override
• All amounts in SGD, rounded to 2 decimal places

Troubleshooting

If logging to Notion fails:

1. Verify your NOTION_API_KEY environment variable is set and valid
2. Confirm your EXPENSE_DATABASE_ID is correct and the database is shared with your integration
3. Ensure database properties match the schema above (exact names, case-sensitive)
4. Check that the integration has write permissions