Auto-sort rules and expense categories
Two Bank sub-tabs keep the sorting from Connecting your bank from ever becoming busywork: Rules teaches Codex your regular vendors, and Categories manages the labels those charges end up under.
Auto-sort rules
Rules live at /admin/codex/bank/rules. A rule says "charges from this vendor always sort this way," so you never sort the same name twice.
A rule matches when a charge's description contains the vendor name. Store numbers and card boilerplate are ignored automatically, so "SHELL OIL 5744" and "SHELL 9012" both match a Shell rule.
There are three ways to create one:
- Right on the Rules page. Type the vendor, choose Business expense (with a category) or Personal, and click Create rule. If a name is too generic to match safely, Codex asks for the distinctive part of the name as it appears on your statement.
- Add starter rules. One click seeds rules for common vendors, skipping any you already have.
- From a sorted charge. After you sort a charge as a business expense or personal on the Transactions grid at /admin/codex/bank, click Always sort like this under it.
By default, new charges matching a rule sort themselves when the bank syncs. Turn "Apply my saved vendor rules automatically" off under Settings, then Codex, and rules stop filing on their own.
Deleting a rule only stops it going forward. Charges it already sorted stay exactly where they are.
A rule can't point at a job, because the same vendor shows up across many jobs. Job charges go through the To review inbox or the Sort Wizard, where Codex suggests the right job each time.
Expense categories
Categories live at /admin/codex/bank/categories. This is every label a charge can be sorted into, in one place, with a count of how many charges each one holds. Each category flows through the sorting dropdowns, the P&L, and the tax download.
Built-in categories
The standard set is fixed. Each built-in maps to its IRS Schedule C line, shown right in the table, which is what makes the tax download accountant-ready. Owner Pay / Draw is marked not deductible. The Used for column shows where each label applies: job charges, business expenses, or both.
Your own categories
You can add up to 20 custom categories for anything the built-ins don't cover, like "Safety gear."
- Adding. Type a name and choose whether it's usable on jobs too, or only as a business expense. Names must be at least 2 characters and can't repeat a built-in or another custom category.
- Renaming. Edit the name and save. Every charge already sorted under it just shows the new name. Nothing needs re-sorting.
- Removing. The money stays. Charges keep the old name until you re-sort them, and the category comes out of the pickers so nothing new lands there.
Custom categories all land on Schedule C line 27, "Other expenses," in the tax download. If a built-in fits, prefer it so the expense lands on its own specific line.