SpendWise

A comprehensive personal finance management application that empowers users to take control of their finance health through intelligent expense tracking, budget management, and goal setting.

🎯 Project Overview

SpendWise is a modern, full-stack personal finance application designed to help individuals manage their money effectively. Built with a Ruby on Rails API backend and a React frontend, it provides a seamless experience for tracking expenses, managing budgets, and achieving financial goals.

🚀 Features

Budget Management

• Create and manage budgets for different financial goals
• Set financial targets for each budget
• Track progress towards your financial objectives
• User-specific budgets with secure access control

Transaction Tracking

• Record expenses with detailed descriptions
• Categorize transactions for better organization
• Track spending patterns across different categories
• Date-based transaction filtering

Category Management

• Create custom spending categories
• Organize transactions by category
• Flexible category system for personalized financial tracking

User Authentication

• Secure user registration and login
• JWT-based authentication for API security
• User-specific data isolation
• Role-based access control

🏗️ Tech Stack

Backend (API)

• Ruby on Rails 6.1.3 - Web framework
• PostgreSQL - Database
• Devise + JWT - Authentication
• JSONAPI Serializer - API responses
• RSpec - Testing framework
• Puma - Web server

Frontend

• React - User interface
• Create React App - Development environment
• Modern JavaScript (ES6+)

DevOps & Tools

• Rack CORS - Cross-origin resource sharing
• Spring - Application preloader
• Bootsnap - Fast boot times

🏗️ Architecture

SpendWise follows a modern client-server architecture:

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                React Frontend                   │
│          (Port 3001 - Development)              │
│                                                 │
│  - Component-based UI                           │
│  - State Management                             │
│  - API Integration                              │
└──────────────────┬──────────────────────────────┘
                   │
                   │ HTTP/JSON API
                   │ JWT Authentication
                   │
┌──────────────────▼──────────────────────────────┐
│           Rails API Backend                     │
│          (Port 3000 - Development)              │
│                                                 │
│  - RESTful API Endpoints                        │
│  - Business Logic                               │
│  - Authentication & Authorization               │
└──────────────────┬──────────────────────────────┘
                   │
                   │ ActiveRecord ORM
                   │
┌──────────────────▼──────────────────────────────┐
│              PostgreSQL Database                │
│                                                 │
│  - User Data                                    │
│  - Budgets & Transactions                       │
│  - Categories                                   │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

For detailed architecture documentation, see docs/ARCHITECTURE.md

🚀 Quick Start

Prerequisites

• Ruby 2.7.4
• Rails 6.1.3+
• PostgreSQL
• Node.js & npm
• Git

Installation

1. Clone the repository

   git clone https://github.com/Limeload/SpendWise.git
   cd SpendWise

2. Backend Setup

   # Install dependencies
   bundle install
   
   # Setup database
   rails db:create
   rails db:migrate
   rails db:seed
   
   # Start Rails server
   rails server

   The API will be available at http://localhost:3000

3. Frontend Setup

   # Navigate to client directory
   cd client
   
   # Install dependencies
   npm install
   
   # Start React development server
   npm start

   The frontend will be available at http://localhost:3001

🧪 Testing

# Backend tests
bundle exec rspec

# Frontend tests
cd client && npm test

Database Commands

# Create database
rails db:create

# Run migrations
rails db:migrate

# Seed database
rails db:seed

# Reset database
rails db:reset

Development Scripts

# Start both frontend and backend
./bin/start

# Setup development environment
./bin/setup

📚 API Documentation

Authentication Endpoints

Method	Endpoint	Description
POST	/login	User authentication
POST	/signup	User registration
DELETE	/logout	User logout

Budget Endpoints

Method	Endpoint	Description
GET	/api/v1/budgets	List user budgets
POST	/api/v1/budgets	Create new budget
GET	/api/v1/budgets/:id	Get specific budget
PATCH	/api/v1/budgets/:id	Update budget
DELETE	/api/v1/budgets/:id	Delete budget

Transaction Endpoints

Method	Endpoint	Description
GET	/api/v1/budgets/:budget_id/transactions	List transactions
POST	/api/v1/budgets/:budget_id/transactions	Create transaction
GET	/api/v1/budgets/:budget_id/transactions/:id	Get transaction
PATCH	/api/v1/budgets/:budget_id/transactions/:id	Update transaction
DELETE	/api/v1/budgets/:budget_id/transactions/:id	Delete transaction

Category Endpoints

Method	Endpoint	Description
GET	/api/v1/categories	List categories
POST	/api/v1/categories	Create category
GET	/api/v1/categories/:id	Get category
PATCH	/api/v1/categories/:id	Update category
DELETE	/api/v1/categories/:id	Delete category

🗄️ Database Schema

Users

• email - Unique user email
• encrypted_password - Securely hashed password
• name - User's full name
• role - User role for authorization
• jti - JWT token identifier

Budgets

• name - Budget name
• financial_goal - Target amount
• user_id - Foreign key to users

Transactions

• amount - Transaction amount
• description - Transaction details
• date - Transaction datetime
• budget_id - Foreign key to budgets
• category_id - Foreign key to categories

Categories

• name - Unique category name
• user_id - Foreign key to users

🔒 Security

• Password encryption using bcrypt
• JWT-based stateless authentication
• CORS configuration for secure cross-origin requests
• Input validation and sanitization
• User-specific data isolation
• Role-based access control

🌐 Deployment

Environment Variables

RAILS_MASTER_KEY      # Rails credentials key
DATABASE_URL          # PostgreSQL connection string
JWT_SECRET_KEY        # JWT secret for token signing

🤝 Contributing

We welcome contributions! Please see our CONTRIBUTING.md file for details.

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch (git checkout -b feature/AmazingFeature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add some AmazingFeature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/AmazingFeature)
5. Open a Pull Request

Development Guidelines

• Follow Ruby style guide for backend code
• Use ESLint/Prettier for frontend formatting
• Write tests for new features
• Update documentation for API changes

📋 Project Status

Completed Features

✅ User authentication and authorization
✅ Budget creation and management
✅ Transaction tracking
✅ Category management
✅ RESTful API design
✅ React frontend interface

Roadmap

• Dashboard analytics with spending insights
• Budget vs actual spending comparisons
• Recurring transaction support
• Export functionality for financial data
• Mobile app using React Native
• Multi-currency support
• Enhanced financial goal tracking and visualization

📄 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE.md file for details.

💬 Support

If you need help:

• Check the documentation
• Search existing issues
• Create a new issue with detailed information

Made with ❤️ for better financial management