Creating Categorisation Rules

Automate Your Categorisation

Categorisation rules let you define patterns that automatically assign categories to matching transactions. Once set up, new transactions that match a rule are categorised instantly — no manual work needed.

Available on all tiers, including Free.

How Rules Work

Each rule matches against the description of a transaction (and optionally other conditions). When a new transaction arrives (from bank sync, CSV import, or manual entry), NivoaFlow checks every active rule and applies the highest-priority match.

Creating a Rule

1. Define the Pattern

Enter the text pattern to match and choose how to match it:

• Match type — contains does a simple substring match (e.g., Tim Hortons catches anything with that text), regex lets you use a regular expression for more complex matching
• Match scope — match against the raw description from your bank, the normalised merchant name we clean up, or both

For example:

• Contains UBER — matches "UBER EATS," "UBER TRIP," and any description containing "UBER"
• Regex AMZN|AMAZON — matches both Amazon naming formats
• Regex ^PAYROLL — matches descriptions that start with "PAYROLL"

2. Choose the Category

Select which category to assign when the rule matches.

3. Set Optional Conditions

Narrow the rule further with additional filters:

• Merchant normalised — require a specific cleaned-up merchant name
• Amount min / max — restrict the rule to transactions inside an absolute amount range (e.g., min 50 for Costco runs over $50 going to "Bulk Shopping")
• Transfer flag — match only transfers, only non-transfers, or either

4. Set Priority and Activate

Each rule has a numeric priority (default 50, lower wins). Use is_active to toggle a rule on or off without deleting it. Save the rule and it applies to every future transaction.

Preview and Test Rules

Before saving, hit Preview to see exactly which existing transactions the rule would have matched. From the rules list, Test Rules lets you run a description (and optional merchant or account) through the whole rule set to confirm which one wins.

Priority Ordering

The first match by priority wins, so put more specific rules at a lower priority number than broader ones.

Example Priority

1. Priority 10 — COSTCO GAS → Fuel (specific)
2. Priority 50 — COSTCO → Groceries (general)

This way, gas purchases at Costco are categorised as Fuel, while everything else at Costco goes to Groceries.

Rules Apply Automatically

Once saved, rules run automatically on every new transaction. You do not need to trigger them manually. Existing transactions are not retroactively recategorised — rules only apply to new incoming transactions.