Expense Tracker

Inspiration

As an international student, managing personal expenses wisely is extremely important. I wanted to make sure that even in emergencies — like sickness or unexpected events — I could still stay financially stable, save efficiently, and even support my family.
That inspired me to create Expense Tracker — a smart tool that helps users monitor their finances and make informed spending decisions.

What it does

Expense Tracker tracks both income and expenses in a clean, visual way.
It integrates AI (Google Gemini) to:

Automatically categorize expenses.
Analyze spending habits.
Provide reminders, insights, and recommendations for smarter budgeting and increasing income.

How we built it

We built the project using the MERN Stack (MongoDB, Express.js, React, Node.js).
AI features were integrated using the Google Gemini API, which processes natural language to provide context-aware financial insights.
The backend follows a RESTful API architecture, ensuring smooth, secure, and scalable communication between frontend and backend.

Challenges we ran into

The biggest challenge was integrating AI meaningfully — making sure Gemini gives relevant, personalized insights instead of generic ones.
We also faced technical hurdles in synchronizing real-time financial data efficiently while maintaining system performance and stability.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We successfully built an AI-driven finance app that not only tracks data but also “thinks” — helping users make smarter financial decisions.

What we learned

We gained strong technical experience in REST API development, JWT authentication, and AI integration,
but more importantly, we learned the value of teamwork, communication, and time management in completing a real-world project.