Smart Categorize Agent Skill

Smart Categorize

Overview

Automatically categorize uncategorized transactions by matching vendor/description patterns against known rules. Uses existing categorization rules first, then suggests new rules for unmatched transactions based on common vendor names.

Wilson Tools Used

• categorize — apply pattern-based categorization rules to transactions
• transaction_search — find uncategorized transactions

Workflow

• Use transaction_search to find all transactions where category is null or empty.
• Run categorize to apply existing categorization rules (pattern matching on description field).
• Report how many transactions were categorized by existing rules.
• For remaining uncategorized transactions, group by vendor/description similarity.
• Suggest category assignments for each vendor group (e.g., "SPOTIFY" -> Entertainment, "SHELL OIL" -> Transportation).
• Ask the user to confirm or adjust the suggested categories.
• Apply confirmed categories and optionally save new categorization rules for future imports.

Without Wilson

You can categorize transactions manually in a spreadsheet:

Setting Up Category Rules in Excel/Sheets

• Create a reference sheet called "Rules" with two columns: Pattern and Category.
• Add your vendor patterns:

| Pattern | Category |

|---------|----------|

| AMAZON | Shopping |

| WHOLE FOODS | Groceries |

| SHELL | Transportation |

| NETFLIX | Entertainment |

| STARBUCKS | Dining |

• In your transactions sheet, use a lookup formula in the Category column:
• Excel: =IFERROR(INDEX(Rules!B:B,MATCH("*"&"AMAZON"&"*",Rules!A:A,0)),"Uncategorized") — but this only works for exact matches.
• Better approach with Excel: Use a helper column with =SUMPRODUCT or VBA macro to do partial matching.
• Google Sheets: =IFERROR(VLOOKUP("*"&A2&"*",Rules!A:B,2,FALSE),"Uncategorized") does not support wildcards in VLOOKUP.
• Practical Google Sheets approach:

     =IF(REGEXMATCH(A2,"(?i)amazon"),"Shopping",
      IF(REGEXMATCH(A2,"(?i)whole foods|trader joe"),"Groceries",
      IF(REGEXMATCH(A2,"(?i)shell|chevron|exxon"),"Transportation",
      "Uncategorized")))

Common Category Mapping

| Vendor Pattern | Suggested Category |

|---|---|

| AMAZON, TARGET, WALMART | Shopping |

| WHOLE FOODS, TRADER JOE, KROGER, SAFEWAY | Groceries |

| UBER EATS, DOORDASH, GRUBHUB | Dining |

| NETFLIX, SPOTIFY, HULU, DISNEY+ | Entertainment |

| SHELL, CHEVRON, BP, EXXON | Transportation |

| AT&T, VERIZON, T-MOBILE, COMCAST | Utilities |

| CVS, WALGREENS, PHARMACY | Healthcare |

| VENMO, ZELLE, PAYPAL (person-to-person) | Transfers |

Important Notes

• Pattern matching is case-insensitive and matches against any part of the transaction description.
• Rules are applied in the order they were created. If a transaction matches multiple rules, the first match wins.
• Categorization does not overwrite transactions that already have a category unless you explicitly ask.
• Wilson stores rules in the categorization_rules table so they persist across sessions and apply to future imports automatically.