Bot user guide

To start using the bot, open it in Telegram and tap the “Start” button or send the /start command.

Setup on first launch

On first launch the bot will offer a quick setup:

• Choose your main currency (rubles, dollars, euros, etc.)
• Choose active modules (expenses, income, goals)
• Choose expense and income categories
• Set up reminders to log your spending

You can change these settings at any time.

Tracken consists of three modules. You can choose which of them to use.

Available modules

• Expenses — the core module, always on
• Income — tracking earnings (salary, freelance, etc.)
• Goals — saving toward specific goals (Premium)

How to enable/disable modules

Open the web app (the “App” button in the bot) → Settings → the “Modules” section.

What happens when you disable a module

• Features of the disabled module are hidden from the interface
• Data is not deleted — it is kept and becomes available again when you re-enable the module
• Disabled modules do not affect monthly reports

The main way to work with the bot is to simply send messages with an amount and a description.

Expenses

To log an expense, send the amount and a category:

Income

To log income, add a + before the amount:

Multiple transactions

You can log several expenses in one message, each on a new line:

Deleting the last transaction

If you made a mistake, use the /delete command to remove the last entry.

Categories help you organize your transactions and analyze spending.

Automatic detection

The bot automatically detects the category by keywords. For example, “coffee” or “restaurant” will be assigned to the “Food” category.

Managing categories

Use the /categories command to:

• View all categories
• Add new categories
• Edit existing ones
• Delete categories you don't need

Custom categories

You can create your own categories with unique names and icons.

Set spending limits to keep your expenses under control.

Budget types

• Overall budget — a limit on all expenses for the month
• Category budget PREMIUM — a limit on a specific expense category

The overall budget is available to everyone. Category budgets and carryover mode are available on the Premium plan.

Setting a budget

Use the /budget command to configure it:

• Choose “Overall budget” or a specific category
• Set the monthly limit
• The bot will warn you as you approach the limit

Tracking

With every transaction the bot shows the status of all your budgets. When you spend more than 80% of a budget, the bot will warn you. If several budgets are exceeded at once, the bot shows a combined notification.

Smart budget calculation

Tracken uses a smart budget calculation that adapts to your actual spending:

• Days in the month are accounted for — the budget is recalculated correctly for February (28–29 days) and 31-day months
• Savings carry over — if you spent below the norm earlier in the month, your remaining daily budget increases
• Overspending reduces the budget — if you spent more, the daily limit for the remaining days goes down

For example: a budget of 30,000 ₽; by the 15th you've spent 10,000 ₽ instead of 15,000 ₽. That leaves 20,000 ₽ for the remaining 16 days (1,250 ₽/day instead of the standard 1,000 ₽/day).

📈 Carryover budget

Expense categories support two independent carryover modes. You can enable them separately or together.

📈 Carry the remainder to the next month

If you spent less than the budget during the month, the difference is added to next month's limit.

• How to enable: Web app → Categories → pick a category → “📈 Carry the remainder to the next month”
• Example: the “Food” budget is 15,000 ₽. In October you spent 12,000 ₽. In November you have 18,000 ₽ available (15,000 + 3,000).
• Overspending: is subtracted from the carried amount but never goes negative. If the overspend exceeds the carried amount, the carryover resets to 0.

📉 Allow the budget to decrease

Overspending this month lowers next month's limit. The debt carries across several months until it's covered by savings.

• How to enable: Web app → Categories → pick a category → “📉 Allow the budget to decrease”
• Example: the “Cafés” limit is 5,000 ₽. In January you spent 7,000 ₽ (a 2,000 overspend). In February the limit will be 3,000 ₽ (5,000 − 2,000).
• The budget can go negative: if the overspend exceeds the limit (e.g. a 7,000 overspend on a 5,000 limit), the next month starts with a −2,000 ₽ debt.
• The debt doesn't expire: it carries from month to month until you work it off through savings.

🧹 The “Forgive debt” / “Reset carryover” button

If a category has built up a large debt from a one-off expense, or conversely a large bonus you'd rather not carry across months, there's a one-tap button to reset the carryover.

• Where to find it: Web app → Categories → pick a category with carryover enabled → the button below the checkboxes.
• The button label depends on the sign of the carryover: “Forgive debt” when negative, “Reset carryover” when positive or zero.
• What it does: resets the accumulated debt or bonus and starts counting again from the current month. The checkboxes themselves stay enabled.
• The action is irreversible — a confirmation showing the current amount is displayed before the reset.

General rules

• Changing the budget amount preserves the carryover: the current debt or bonus is frozen, and the next month is calculated from the new limit.
• Example: the “Cafés” budget is 5,000 ₽ with an accumulated debt of −2,000 ₽. You change the limit to 7,000 ₽. The −2,000 ₽ debt is kept, so next month you have 7,000 − 2,000 = 5,000 ₽ available.
• Turning off both modes resets the carryover to 0 — when you re-enable it, the old debt or bonus won't come back.

Set up reminders so you don't forget to log your spending.

Reminder types

• Daily — the bot reminds you every day at the chosen time (if you haven't added any transactions yet)
• Weekly — the bot reminds you once a week on the chosen day

Configuring reminders

Use the /reminder command or the Settings section in the app:

• Choose the type: daily, weekly, or off
• For weekly — choose the day of the week
• Choose a convenient time (for example, 9:00 PM)

Reminders respect the time zone you set during setup.

Upload transactions from Excel or CSV files. This is handy for migrating data from other apps or loading history from bank statements. Import is available to all users for free.

How to import

• Use the /import command in the bot
• Or tap “Import” in the web app settings
• Download the template file as a format example
• Fill the file with your data
• Send the file to the bot
• Map the categories
• Confirm the import

Supported formats

• .xlsx — Excel files
• .csv — delimited text files

Required columns

• Date — the transaction date (format DD.MM.YYYY or YYYY-MM-DD)
• Amount — a positive number

Optional columns

• Time — the transaction time (HH:MM), 12:00 by default
• Type — “expense” or “income”, expense by default
• Currency — the currency code (RUB, USD, EUR), your main currency by default
• Category — the category name, “Other” by default
• Description — a comment on the transaction

Limits

• At most 3 imports per day
• At most 1000 transactions per import
• Maximum file size: 5 MB

Undoing an import

If you imported the wrong data, you can undo the import within 24 hours. To do that, use the /import command — the bot shows a list of recent imports with undo buttons.

Manage your finances through a convenient web interface right inside Telegram.

Where to find it

Tap the “App” button in the bot menu (next to the message input field).

Quick transaction adding

The web app has a “+ Add” button in the top-left corner of the screen. It lets you quickly create:

• Expense — choose a category, enter the amount and description
• Income — switch the type to “Income” and choose an income category
• Goal top-up — switch the type to “Goal” and choose the goal you need (Premium)

The default category is the one you use most often.

Features

• Transaction list — all expenses and income with pagination
• Period summary — expenses, income, and balance for the selected period
• Period selection — today, week, month, custom range
• Editing — change the amount, category, date, and description
• Deleting — remove incorrect transactions
• Categories — add, edit, set budgets
• Goals — create and manage goals (Premium)
• Settings — currency, time zone, reminders
• Split the bill — a calculator for splitting a restaurant or café bill (Premium)

At the start of each month the bot offers to generate a detailed report for the previous month.

What's in the report

• Total expenses and income
• A breakdown by category
• A comparison with the previous month
• Top expense categories
• Recommendations on how to save

The report is sent as a PDF.

Have a question about how the bot works? Something not working or unclear? Write to us!

What you can send

• A question about features — how a particular bot feature works
• A problem or bug — a description of what went wrong
• A suggestion — an idea for improving the bot
• A screenshot — a photo demonstrating the problem

How to send it

• Tap the “💬 Ask a question” button on the bot keyboard
• Describe the question or problem in text and/or attach a screenshot

If you have any questions or problems:

• Email us at support@tracken.su
• Visit the contacts page