Spending rules automatically categorize, rename, hide, or tag transactions in bulk, so you set the logic once instead of hand-editing the same kind of transaction every month. You manage them on the Rules tab of the Spending page (left sidebar of any client file, marked Beta).
A rule is two halves: match conditions (which transactions it applies to) and actions (what to do with them). Example: match merchant contains "Amazon Prime" → set category to Subscriptions. From then on, every matching transaction — past and future — is categorized automatically.
When to Use a Rule
Use a rule whenever the same edit would otherwise be repeated:
"Categorize everything from Amazon Prime as Subscriptions"
"Hide all payments to the Chase credit card"
"Tag every Delta and United charge as Travel"
"Categorize all payroll deposits as Income"
If you'd be making the same change more than a handful of times by hand, make a rule instead.
Building a Rule
On the Rules tab, choose New rule (or Edit rule on an existing one). You don't need to name rules — Kerdora handles that.
Match Conditions
Add one or more conditions. A transaction must meet all of them to match:
Merchant — contains or equals a value.
Description — contains or equals a value.
Amount — a minimum and/or maximum.
Accounts — limit to specific accounts, or leave as Any account.
Date — a transaction-date range.
Category type (income, spending, transfer) and the auto-assigned category the transaction got on import.
Category group — the auto-assigned category group from import. Useful for matching against a whole group rather than a single category.
Text matching is case-insensitive and either "contains" or "equals." There's no wildcards or regex — keep match values simple. "Amazon Prime" as a contains match is better than trying to be clever.
A rule with no conditions, or one very broad condition, can match almost everything. Before saving a broad rule, sanity-check roughly how many transactions it will hit. Narrow rules are safer than sweeping ones.
Actions
Pick one or more actions for matched transactions:
Update category — Choose the category to apply.
Rename merchant — Set a clean merchant display name (e.g., turn "SQ *BLUE BOTTLE 8837" into "Blue Bottle").
Hide transaction — Pull matches out of spending totals (great for credit card payments and internal transfers), or show them again.
Add tags — Attach one or more tags. Rule tags add to any tags already there; they don't replace them.
Categories and tags used in an action have to exist first. If you need a new one, create it on the Categories or Tags tab before building the rule.
Order Matters
Rules run top to bottom. Reorder them by dragging and dropping rules in the list (there are also Move up / Move down controls on each row). Lower in the list runs later. If two rules touch the same field on the same transaction, order decides the outcome, so put your more specific rules where they'll win. Reorder rules when results aren't what you expect.
What Wins: Manual, Rule, AI
The priority is always the same:
Manual — A category you set by hand on a specific transaction beats every rule. Rules never override a manual edit.
Rule — Beats the auto-categorization from import.
AI — The import-time best guess, used when nothing else applies.
Rules look at the original transaction data and its import-time auto category — not the output of other rules. So you can't chain rules off each other; each rule decides independently from the raw transaction.
Turning a Rule Off: Archive vs. Delete
There are two ways to stop a rule, and they behave differently:
Archive — Stops the rule from affecting transactions dated after the archive date (typically today). Anything older than that — every transaction the rule already touched — keeps the rule's effect. Use this when a rule was right for a while but shouldn't apply going forward (the client closed that account, changed banks, switched merchants).
Delete — Removes the rule and unwinds its effect everywhere. Every transaction it had categorized, hidden, renamed, or tagged reverts (back to manual, AI, or uncategorized as appropriate). Use this when the rule was a mistake.
Archive preserves history with a clean cutoff date. Delete rewrites it. Pick based on whether the rule's past effect should stand.
Practical Tips
Build rules for the recurring stuff first: payroll, mortgage, utilities, subscriptions, credit card payments. That covers most of the ledger fast.
Use Hide transaction rules for transfers and credit card payments so the Cash Flow tab reflects real spending.
Keep match values short and literal. "Netflix" beats "NETFLIX.COM *123456."
If a rule is doing something surprising, check rule order before rewriting it.