Category Structure

Category structure

Categories are organized as a tree:

• Root categories — top-level types like Food, Home, Transport
• Sub-categories — more specific breakdowns nested under a root (e.g. Groceries and Dining Out under Food)
• Envelopes — project- or goal-oriented categories nested under a parent (e.g. Kitchen Renovation under Home)

Spending on sub-categories rolls up to the parent in reports and on the dashboard.

System vs custom categories

Satsuma includes a set of system categories with a standard taxonomy. Their names and slugs are locked — this keeps the shared merchant directory and auto-categorization consistent across all users. You can change their color, icon, and sort order.

You can add your own custom categories and sub-categories freely.

Creating a category

1. Go to Settings → Categories
2. Click Add Category
3. Fill in: name, parent (leave blank for a root category), icon, color
4. Click Save

Excluded categories

Mark a category as Excluded to stop its transactions from counting in your spending totals, budget calculations, and reports. Use this for:

• Credit card payments (money moving between accounts — not real spending)
• Internal transfers
• Any category you want to deliberately ignore

Excluded transactions still appear in transaction lists — they just don't affect the numbers.