Budge-It
Buddy.

AI Financial Tracker

The Overview

Budge-It-Buddy is an intelligent personal finance application designed to simplify expense tracking. Instead of forcing users to manually enter every transaction, it leverages AI to categorize spending and provide actionable financial advice.

As the Backend & AI Developer, I was responsible for architecting the secure API infrastructure and engineering the AI logic that powers the "financial advisor" features.

Project Presentation

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Backend Architecture

Security and data integrity were paramount. I built a robust REST API that handles:

Secure Authentication: Implemented JWT (JSON Web Tokens) and Bcrypt hashing to ensure user financial data remains private.
Database Optimization: Designed normalized SQL schemas to efficiently query complex transaction histories across multiple categories and timeframes.

"The goal was to make the backend invisible—secure, fast, and able to handle complex AI queries without lag."

The AI Integration

I integrated a Large Language Model (LLM) to act as a personalized financial coach.

The system analyzes user spending patterns (e.g., "You spent 20% more on dining out this month") and generates friendly, constructive nudges to help users stay on budget. I engineered specific prompts to ensure the AI output remains consistent, helpful, and mathematically accurate.

Tech Stack

Node.js / Express (Backend)
Python (AI Logic)
PostgreSQL (Database)
OpenAI API (LLM)
JWT Auth
Docker

My Role

Database ArchitectDesigned the schema for users, budgets, and transactions.
Security LeadImplemented end-to-end encryption for user data.
AI EngineerFine-tuned prompts for financial advice generation.

Case Study: Budge-It-Buddy