Clarity
An insights-first finance tracker with clean categorization, visual dashboards, and decision support — helping users understand spending patterns and plan better.
Role
Full-Stack Developer
Timeline
3 months
Year
2024
Stack
The Problem
Most expense trackers become cluttered lists that nobody reviews. Users want clarity: where money actually goes, what’s abnormal, and what to do next — not another spreadsheet.
The Solution
Built a minimal, fast expense tracking system centered on smart categorization, visual insights, and actionable recommendations. Every screen answers a question instead of just displaying data.
Key Features
The capabilities that make it work.
Fast-add expenses in one to two taps with smart category detection
Recurring expense tracking with automatic logging
Categories, merchants, tags, and notes for granular organization
Monthly budgets by category with threshold alerts
Visual dashboards: spend by category, trends, cashflow, and burn rate
Anomaly detection that highlights unusual spending spikes
“What changed this month?” automated insights
Export to CSV and PDF with tax-time summaries
Architecture
Local SQLite database for instant performance with optional cloud sync. Data model spans transactions, categories, budgets, and recurring rules. Visualization layer powered by D3.js for responsive, interactive charts. Insights engine runs pattern analysis on historical data to surface actionable recommendations.
Challenges Solved
The hard problems behind the polished surface.
Making expense entry fast enough that users actually do it consistently — the one-to-two tap goal required careful UX iteration
Building anomaly detection that surfaces genuinely useful signals without false-positive noise
Designing charts that communicate insight at a glance instead of requiring interpretation
The Outcome
Users who logged expenses for 30+ days showed 20% better budget adherence. Anomaly detection surfaced forgotten subscriptions saving an average of $45/month per active user.
What's Next
Where this product goes from here.
Bank sync integration for automatic transaction import
AI-powered merchant categorization
Collaborative budgets for households and couples