Transactions come from the accounts you connect through open banking. To see automatic categorization in action, connect a bank from the Accounts page. See Bank sync.
What gets filled in
For every transaction, guito works out four things:- Merchant — the canonical merchant name (for example, “Continente”, “Zara”, “Galp”). This is the merchant only: no category words and no role prefixes attached.
- Display name — what you read in the list. When the merchant is known, the display name becomes the canonical merchant name: “Compras Zara” becomes “Zara”, “Gasolineira Galp Oeiras” becomes “Galp”.
- Category — which of your categories the transaction belongs to, so all your spending analysis groups correctly.
- Logo — the merchant logo, matched from the merchant’s web domain.
How guito decides
guito does not call an AI model on every transaction. It works through a series of layers and stops at the first one that can answer, which keeps recurring transactions (your supermarket, your salary, your rent) fast and consistent:1
Your corrections
The category, merchant or name you picked for a transaction carries over to the matching transactions that come next: guito applies your rule on its own, without asking again. You see the result on the transaction and can change it again whenever you want.
2
What you have already classified
If a transaction with the same descriptor has come through before, guito reuses that earlier answer. Because most transactions repeat, this covers the bulk of your activity without any further work.
3
The same merchant under different text
The same merchant often shows up under slightly different bank text (“continente loures” versus “continente s j talha”). When guito recognizes that a new variant points to a merchant you already have, it reuses your earlier answer.
4
An anonymised cross-user hint
guito keeps a shared table that maps descriptors to canonical merchants, but only under strict anonymity: many users must have independently seen the same pattern and their names must agree, and only merchants ever qualify (never people, never government entities). When a pattern clears those gates, it serves as a hint for identifying a merchant your account does not know yet. It does not touch categories, and it does not replace a merchant name you typed by hand. The one exception worth knowing: when a merchant is linked to a brand (it has a domain and a logo), that brand’s official name is the one you see, even if guito had applied a different name for you on its own from an earlier correction of yours. To pin a name that is only yours, type it on the transaction.
5
AI identification
For descriptors whose shape looks like a brand, guito asks the model to identify the merchant, cross-checking against public information so it does not invent one. When nothing genuinely matches, the model abstains rather than guess, and guito leaves the merchant unset.
guito sets a name only when it is confident enough. Ambiguous transactions such as ATM withdrawals or generic card terminals are left without a merchant rather than guessed, so they never pollute the shared merchant directory.
What happens when you correct
Categorization is automatic, but you are always in control. A correction does two distinct things, and they are worth separating: it teaches guito going forward and, if you want, it also tidies up the transactions you already have.Going forward
When you change a transaction’s category, merchant or display name, guito keeps that choice and starts applying it to the matching transactions that arrive next. You do not need to repeat the correction. Every way of correcting counts: clicking the category directly in the list, editing the transaction in the detail panel, or selecting several transactions and changing the category in bulk. The value guito applies for you shows up on the transaction like any other, but it is not recorded as an edit of yours, and that is deliberate: guito keeps the difference between what you changed by hand and what it applied for you. That difference is what keeps your manual edits untouchable and lets the remaining transactions keep improving. You see the value on the transaction and can change it whenever you want. If you change your mind and correct it again, the most recent correction is the one that stands.guito only extends a correction when the bank text actually carries something that identifies the destination. If the shared part of the descriptor also shows up on very different merchants of yours, or if the transaction has nothing distinctive about it (an anonymous ATM withdrawal, for example), the correction stays on that transaction instead of spreading to unrelated ones. A correction made on an expense also never jumps to income, or the other way around.
And the transactions you already have
When you save, guito asks whether to extend the change to past transactions that share the same descriptor, and shows the exact count. That question is only about the past: the forward learning is already done the moment you save, whether or not you accept the offer. That bulk propagation only touches the rows you have not already corrected by hand: your existing manual edits are never overwritten. This is why you can fix a one-off case without fear of undoing work you had already done elsewhere.Renaming a merchant
Renaming a merchant follows the same logic, but applies to everything that shares the same merchant, not just one descriptor. If you type a name of your own, the change is personal: only you see that name, while other users still see the canonical name (for example, “Continente”). If instead of typing you pick one of the suggested brands, guito shows that brand’s official name, with its logo. Underneath, merchants are grouped by web domain, so every spelling variant that shares the same domain (“Continente Loures”, “CONTINENTE LX”) counts as a single merchant in your summaries and charts. A merchant without a domain (a personal payment, a small local shop you type by hand) stays in your own scope without a logo until you later link it to a brand.For the step-by-step of how to edit a transaction or rename a merchant in the interface, see Transactions and cash flow.
How categories interact with the charts
guito treats categories as direction-agnostic. A refund credit that lands on a spending category (for example, a Continente return) stays under Groceries as a reduction in spending, not as income. The charts add up transactions by their sign (money in versus money out), not by the category’s type, so your totals stay correct either way.This is why a refund on the Groceries category lowers your groceries spending instead of showing up as income, and a tax refund counts as income on the cash-flow chart. For the full sign convention, see Cash flow.
Your privacy
- What you correct never leaves your account. What you have classified and corrected stays scoped to you.
- The shared table holds no personal data. It stores only descriptors with personal information stripped out (no IBAN, no tax number, no phone number), and it never propagates people’s names: any descriptor that looks like a person’s name is rejected.
- Custom categories are first-class. The model never assumes specific category names; it receives your catalog at the time and adapts. Rename Market to Groceries, or create Streaming next to Subscriptions, and guito picks the best option from your own list.
Related pages
Transactions and cash flow
View, filter and analyze your bank transactions.
Cash flow
How guito calculates income, expenses and the sign convention.
Bank sync
How automatic open banking sync works.
AI assistant
Ask questions about your spending in natural language.