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[Feature] Budget-Aware Templates #2911

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opened 2026-02-28 20:32:20 -06:00 by GiteaMirror · 3 comments
GiteaMirror commented 2026-02-28 20:32:20 -06:00
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Originally created by @HStep20 on GitHub (Feb 8, 2026).

Verified feature request does not already exist?

  • I have searched and found no existing issue

💻

  • Would you like to implement this feature?

Pitch: what problem are you trying to solve?

When creating a long-term budget, this might include saving money in multiple 'big buckets' in order to hit goals (emergency fund, down payment, investments, maxing an IRA annually) and Actual doesn't provide an easy, automated way to structure the 'progression' of these goals.

For example, if I fill up my emergency fund bucket, suddenly I have an extra 15% of my income to go towards other templates. If I were to make 0 changes to my templates, that would mean that all of newly-found 'extra funds' each month would go to my #template remainder categories.

Instead, what I would need to do is edit my templates to redirect that 'free cashflow' that used to go to my Emergency Fund every month into new categories. If I ever need to take money from my emergency fund, that means that I need to go back to my templates and readjust them to account for the "cashflow change" and undo my other 'big bucket' goals in order to refill my higher-priority "big bucket" category

Describe your ideal solution to this problem

My ideal solution for this is "budget aware" templates using IF statements. I imagine a solution which would let you "program" a 'flowchart' of budgetary spending according to the values in other categories.

Imagine I have 3 buckets:

- Emergency Fund (15% up to 25,000)
- Down Payment (0%)
- Investments ( 5% up to 7,500)
- every other category (80%)

Eventually, I will fill up my emergency fund, leading my templates to look like this with 0 manual changes:

- Emergency Fund (0% at 25,000 since bucket is full)
- Down Payment (0%)
- Investments ( 5% up to 7,500))
- every other category (95%)

Without human interaction in the templates, I now am assigning the rest of my budget to 'every other category'. I need to go manually change my "Down Payment" category to 'utilize' the 15%.

I do this because I have priorities of 'big bucket' savings. I want one bucket to be full before I start putting money into another bucket

Instead, if Actual supported "budget aware" templates, you could set up templates like this:

- Emergency Fund (15% up to 25,000)
- Down Payment (15% up to 50,000 IF Emergency Fund is 25000)
- Investments ( 5% up to 7,500)
- every other category (80%)

This "automated flowchart" of money template allows you to build direct priorities into a budget which cannot be done when a template remainder is in use. Right now, there is no way to tell the templating engine "Fill this category up all the way, and then use those funds to start filling the next priority bucket"

Teaching and learning

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Originally created by @HStep20 on GitHub (Feb 8, 2026). ### Verified feature request does not already exist? - [x] I have searched and found no existing issue ### 💻 - [ ] Would you like to implement this feature? ### Pitch: what problem are you trying to solve? When creating a long-term budget, this might include saving money in multiple 'big buckets' in order to hit goals (emergency fund, down payment, investments, maxing an IRA annually) and Actual doesn't provide an easy, automated way to structure the 'progression' of these goals. For example, if I fill up my emergency fund bucket, suddenly I have an extra 15% of my income to go towards other templates. If I were to make 0 changes to my templates, that would mean that all of newly-found 'extra funds' each month would go to my `#template remainder` categories. Instead, what I would need to do is edit my templates to redirect that 'free cashflow' that used to go to my Emergency Fund every month into new categories. If I ever need to take money from my emergency fund, that means that I need to go back to my templates and readjust them to account for the "cashflow change" and undo my other 'big bucket' goals in order to refill my higher-priority "big bucket" category ### Describe your ideal solution to this problem My ideal solution for this is "budget aware" templates using `IF` statements. I imagine a solution which would let you "program" a 'flowchart' of budgetary spending according to the values in other categories. Imagine I have 3 buckets: ``` - Emergency Fund (15% up to 25,000) - Down Payment (0%) - Investments ( 5% up to 7,500) - every other category (80%) ``` Eventually, I will fill up my emergency fund, leading my templates to look like this with 0 manual changes: ``` - Emergency Fund (0% at 25,000 since bucket is full) - Down Payment (0%) - Investments ( 5% up to 7,500)) - every other category (95%) ``` Without human interaction in the templates, I now am assigning the rest of my budget to 'every other category'. I need to go manually change my "Down Payment" category to 'utilize' the 15%. **I do this because I have priorities of 'big bucket' savings. I want one bucket to be full before I start putting money into another bucket** Instead, if Actual supported "budget aware" templates, you could set up templates like this: ``` - Emergency Fund (15% up to 25,000) - Down Payment (15% up to 50,000 IF Emergency Fund is 25000) - Investments ( 5% up to 7,500) - every other category (80%) ``` This "automated flowchart" of money template allows you to build direct priorities into a budget which cannot be done when a `template remainder` is in use. Right now, there is no way to tell the templating engine "Fill this category up all the way, and then use those funds to start filling the next priority bucket" ### Teaching and learning _No response_
GiteaMirror added the needs votesfeature labels 2026-02-28 20:32:20 -06:00
GiteaMirror commented 2026-02-28 20:32:21 -06:00
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@github-actions[bot] commented on GitHub (Feb 8, 2026):

✨ Thanks for sharing your idea! ✨

This repository uses a voting-based system for feature requests. While enhancement issues are automatically closed, we still welcome feature requests! The voting system helps us gauge community interest in potential features. We also encourage community contributions for any feature requests marked as needing votes (just post a comment first so we can help guide you toward a successful contribution).

The enhancement backlog can be found here: https://github.com/actualbudget/actual/issues?q=label%3A%22needs+votes%22+sort%3Areactions-%2B1-desc+

Don't forget to upvote the top comment with 👍!

@github-actions[bot] commented on GitHub (Feb 8, 2026): :sparkles: Thanks for sharing your idea! :sparkles: This repository uses a voting-based system for feature requests. While enhancement issues are automatically closed, we still welcome feature requests! The voting system helps us gauge community interest in potential features. We also encourage community contributions for any feature requests marked as needing votes (just post a comment first so we can help guide you toward a successful contribution). The enhancement backlog can be found here: https://github.com/actualbudget/actual/issues?q=label%3A%22needs+votes%22+sort%3Areactions-%2B1-desc+ Don't forget to upvote the top comment with 👍! <!-- feature-auto-close-comment -->
GiteaMirror commented 2026-02-28 20:32:22 -06:00
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@youngcw commented on GitHub (Feb 8, 2026):

You can put multiple template lines at different priority levels to partially accomplish this.

@youngcw commented on GitHub (Feb 8, 2026): You can put multiple template lines at different priority levels to partially accomplish this.
GiteaMirror commented 2026-02-28 20:32:22 -06:00
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@youngcw commented on GitHub (Feb 8, 2026):

I have thought about adding IF type options, but that would probably be fairly difficult to do well. It would be pretty easy to do in a formula based template though. Once there is a template GUI we can add a formula template for as much customization as you can come up with.

@youngcw commented on GitHub (Feb 8, 2026): I have thought about adding IF type options, but that would probably be fairly difficult to do well. It would be pretty easy to do in a formula based template though. Once there is a template GUI we can add a formula template for as much customization as you can come up with.
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