We’re thrilled to roll out our automated rule engine: custom rules that automatically update, categorize, and organize your transactions.
What are transaction rules?
Transaction rules are conditional statements that tell Skwad what to do when certain criteria are met. Think of them as “if this, then that” instructions for your finances. When a transaction matches the conditions you’ve defined, Skwad automatically applies the actions you’ve specified.
For example, you could create a rule that says: “If a transaction payee contains ‘NETFLIX’, then categorize it as Entertainment and tag it as ‘Subscriptions’.” Once set up, every Netflix charge that comes through will be automatically handled without you lifting a finger.
This isn’t just about saving time, though that’s certainly a benefit. It’s about consistency and accuracy in your financial tracking. Human beings are prone to inconsistency. One month you might categorize a coffee shop purchase as “Dining Out,” and the next month you might put it under “Food & Drink.” Rules eliminate this inconsistency by applying the same logic every single time.
How Skwad automations work
The automation system in Skwad is built around three core concepts: conditions, actions, and execution. Once you see how they fit together, you can build rules that take the manual cleanup off your plate.
Conditions: defining what to match
Conditions are the criteria that determine which transactions your rule applies to. Skwad gives you a range of condition fields to work with.
The payee field is often the most useful. You can match payees that contain specific text, start with certain characters, exactly match a value, or exclude specific terms. That flexibility matters because bank transaction descriptions are notoriously inconsistent, often padded with reference numbers, locations, or other variable information.
If you’ve already set up merchants in Skwad, you can build rules around merchant names instead, which works well for transactions that have been through auto-categorization and already have a merchant assigned. Category conditions let you target transactions by their current category, handy for adding tags or making secondary adjustments after the fact.
For multiple accounts, you can scope a rule to specific accounts, useful when the same merchant needs different categorization on a personal versus a business card. Amount conditions target transactions above or below a threshold, or within a range, so you can flag large purchases or handle micro-transactions differently. And date conditions handle time-sensitive categorization, like applying different rules before or after a specific date.
Combining conditions with AND/OR logic
The real power of Skwad’s rule system comes from combining multiple conditions. You can use AND logic when all conditions must match, or OR logic when any condition should trigger the rule.
Consider this example: You want to catch all your streaming service subscriptions. Instead of creating separate rules for Netflix, Spotify, and Disney+, you could create a single rule:
Payee contains "NETFLIX"
OR Payee contains "SPOTIFY"
OR Payee contains "DISNEY"Add an action to tag these as “Subscriptions” and categorize them as “Entertainment,” and you’ve just automated the handling of all your streaming services with one rule.
For more complex scenarios, you might combine AND and OR conditions. Perhaps you want to categorize Amazon purchases differently based on amount:
Payee contains "AMAZON"
AND Amount greater than 100This rule could categorize large Amazon purchases as “Shopping” while letting smaller purchases be handled by your default categorization for household supplies or groceries.
Actions: what happens when rules match
Once a transaction matches your conditions, Skwad can apply various actions to update it automatically.
Update Payee: Replace the entire payee name with something cleaner and more readable. Turn “AMZN MKTP US*123ABC” into simply “Amazon” for better readability in your transaction list.
Replace Payee Text: Sometimes you don’t want to replace the entire payee, just clean up a portion of it. This action lets you find and replace specific text within the payee field, perfect for removing those annoying reference numbers that banks append to transactions.
Update Merchant: Set the merchant field to a specific value. This is helpful for establishing consistency across transactions from the same source that might have slightly different payee names.
Update Category: The most common action. Automatically assign transactions to the appropriate spending category without manual intervention.
Update Account: Move transactions to a different account. While less common, this can be useful for certain workflow scenarios.
Update Memo: Add notes to transactions automatically. Great for adding context that might be useful later, like “Business expense” or “Reimbursable.”
Add Tag: Tags are one of Skwad’s most flexible features for organizing transactions beyond categories. You can add tags for projects, trips, events, or any other organizational scheme that makes sense for your finances. Learn more about using tags effectively.
Remove Tag: Clean up tags that were incorrectly applied or are no longer relevant.
Delete: Archive transactions that match certain criteria. Use this cautiously, but it can be helpful for automatically removing duplicate entries or test transactions.
Action behavior: continue vs. stop
Each action can be configured to either continue evaluating more rules or stop after the action is applied. This is important for rule ordering and preventing conflicts.
If you set an action to “Stop,” no subsequent rules will be evaluated for that transaction. This is useful when you have a specific rule that should take precedence over more general rules.
If you set an action to “Continue,” Skwad will keep evaluating the remaining rules in order. This allows you to chain multiple actions across different rules, like first cleaning up the payee name and then applying a category.
Automatic vs. manual execution
Rules in Skwad can run in two ways, each serving different purposes in your financial workflow.
Automatic Execution: When enabled, rules automatically run on new transactions approximately one minute after they’re processed. This is the “set it and forget it” approach that keeps your finances organized without ongoing effort. New bank transactions, uploaded receipts, or manual entries all get processed through your rules automatically.
Manual Execution: Sometimes you need to apply a rule to existing transactions, perhaps when you create a new rule and want to apply it retroactively, or when you’ve imported a batch of historical transactions. The manual execution feature lets you apply any rule to all matching transactions on demand.
Before running a rule manually, Skwad shows you exactly how many transactions will be affected. You can even click through to see the specific transactions that match, giving you confidence before making bulk changes.
Best practices for creating effective rules
After working with thousands of users, we’ve identified some patterns that lead to the most effective automation setups.
Start Specific, Then Broaden: It’s tempting to create broad rules that catch everything, but this often leads to unintended matches. Start with specific rules for your most common transactions, then gradually add broader rules as needed.
Use Auto-Categorization First: Skwad’s AI-powered auto-categorization handles most categorization automatically and learns from your corrections over time. Reserve rules for situations where you need specific, consistent behavior that differs from the AI’s categorization, or for applying tags and cleaning up payee names.
Order Rules Thoughtfully: Rules are evaluated from top to bottom. More specific rules should generally come before broader ones. If you have a rule for “Amazon Prime” and a general rule for “Amazon,” put the Prime rule first so it takes precedence.
Test with Filters First: Before creating a rule, use Skwad’s transaction filter to verify your conditions match the transactions you expect. This prevents surprises and ensures your rules work as intended.
Check Match Counts: Always verify the match count before running rules manually. This quick sanity check can prevent accidentally updating thousands of transactions.
Use Descriptive Names: Name your rules clearly, like “Categorize Starbucks as Coffee” rather than “Rule 1.” Future you will thank present you when you’re reviewing your automation setup months later.
Real-world automation examples
Here are some practical examples of how Skwad users put automations to work in their financial lives.
Subscription Tracking: Create a rule that matches common subscription services and adds a “Subscriptions” tag. This makes it easy to review all your recurring charges in one place and identify services you might want to cancel.
Business Expense Separation: If you use a personal account for occasional business purchases, create rules to tag or categorize business-related merchants. This simplifies tax preparation and expense reporting.
Payee Cleanup: Bank transaction descriptions are often messy. Create rules to replace cryptic payee names like “SQ *COFFEE SHOP NYC” with clean, readable names like “Local Coffee Shop.” For bulk cleanup, see how to rename, merge, and track your merchants.
Large Purchase Alerts: While not an “alert” in the traditional sense, you can tag purchases above a certain threshold for later review. This creates a built-in system for reviewing significant expenses during your budget reviews.
Trip and Event Tracking: Planning a vacation? Create a rule that tags transactions from a specific date range or location. After the trip, you’ll have all related expenses neatly organized for review.
Getting started with automations
Ready to start automating your finances? Here’s how to create your first rule:
- Navigate to Settings and select Automations
- Click Create your first rule to start
- Give your rule a descriptive name
- Add conditions that match the transactions you want to target
- Add actions that define what should happen when conditions match
- Save your rule
The rule will immediately start processing new transactions. To apply it to existing transactions, click the Apply button and confirm the number of transactions that will be affected.
Monitoring your automations
Skwad provides full visibility into how your rules are performing through the Execution History panel. Here you can see:
- When rules were executed (manually or automatically)
- How many transactions were processed
- Whether executions completed successfully or encountered issues
- How long each execution took
This transparency helps you verify your automations are working correctly and troubleshoot any issues that arise.
What’s next
We want the repetitive work handled for you, so you can focus on the decisions that actually matter, like whether your spending lines up with your goals. We’re building this out further, with more condition types and deeper ties to budgets and reports.
We’re rolling out access gradually to keep things stable and gather feedback. If you don’t see the Automations option in your settings yet, it’s coming soon. Can’t wait? Reach out to our support team to request early access.
Frequently asked questions
How do Skwad rules differ from auto-categorization?
Auto-categorization is Skwad’s AI handling most categorization for you and learning from your corrections over time. Rules are for situations where you need specific, consistent behavior that differs from the AI’s categorization, or for applying tags and cleaning up payee names.
Can I apply a rule to transactions I already have?
Yes. Use manual execution to apply any rule to existing transactions on demand. Before it runs, Skwad shows you exactly how many transactions will be affected, and you can click through to see the specific ones that match.
What order do rules run in?
Rules are evaluated from top to bottom, so put more specific rules before broader ones. Each action can be set to stop after it applies or continue evaluating later rules, which lets you chain actions like cleaning up a payee and then assigning a category.
Rules pair naturally with the rest of your setup: clean up payee names in bulk with merchant management, let your tidy categories feed Budgeting V2, and go further with categorizing individual line items.
Your financial organization is about to get a whole lot easier. Welcome to automated finance management with Skwad.
