Building a GPT wrapper, for myself.

Keeping this very short and simple.

What is it?

It’s an expense tracker.

Why?

• Most expense tracking apps require manual categorization of each transaction. This can be a time-consuming hassle, especially for frequent purchases.
• I find that a lot of automated expense tracking apps, the ones that use bank statements or SMS, track all my transactions. Since I frequently split costs with roommates and friends, these apps record the full amount I spend, not my actual share. This means I constantly need to edit transactions, which is a hassle.
• Many “smart” AI-powered expense trackers offer a plethora of features that I simply don’t need.
• Building a GPT wrapper is simple.

How?

• Analyzes text descriptions to categorize expenses. Example: “200 Zomato Dinner” becomes “Amount: 200, Description: Dinner Order via Zomato…”
• It’s a telegram bot. I send the bot messages like the one above, and it’ll handle the rest, automatically categorizing and recording my expense.

I’m using,

• MongoDB Atlas (Free Tier): Stores expense data.
• FastAPI: Webhook that handlers incoming telegram messages / commands.
• Telegram: Platform for sending expenses.
• Gemini API (Free for now)
• Linode Nanode ($5/month) for hosting.