AI (Gemini)

Arca can use Google’s Gemini for a few helpful extras. It’s completely optional and off until you add your own key and switch it on.

What it does today

• Category suggestions in Needs a category: Ask AI suggests a category for the transaction in front of you and the next ones in the queue. The pick is marked; you still choose.
• A written summary on Insights → Overview: Write with Gemini turns the period’s facts into a few plain sentences with a budgeting tip.

More ideas are on the roadmap.

Ground rules

AI explains, the app computes

Every number you see comes from Arca itself.

The AI writes sentences and picks from your own categories. It never makes up an amount, a balance or a date. And it never saves anything without you choosing it.

What is sent, and what never is

When you use an AI feature, Arca sends only what that feature needs, and only when you tap the button.

For category suggestions: the description of each transaction (cleaned up: account numbers, card numbers and long reference numbers are stripped, and it’s cut short), its amount, whether money came in or went out, and the names of your categories.

For the summary: the period’s dates and totals (income, spending, saved, what’s left per day), your biggest categories with their budgets, and your top merchants with what you spent there.

Never sent: account numbers (IBANs), account balances, your name or email address, or your whole transaction history.

The free tier

On Gemini’s free tier, Google may use what’s sent to improve its products. If that’s not okay for you, leave AI off: everything else in Arca works without it.

Your key is stored on your own server and never sent back to the browser.

Switch it on

1. Get a free API key in Google AI Studio.
2. In Arca, open Settings → AI and paste it into Gemini API key.
3. Leave Model on Automatic (a Flash model): Flash models have the most generous free tier.
4. Choose Test connection. When Gemini answers, choose Save.
5. Switch on Use AI features.

To stop, switch it off again, or Remove key (this also switches AI off).

If something goes wrong

Message	What it means
Today’s free-tier limit for this model is used up	It resets tomorrow, or pick another model.
Too many requests in a short time	Wait a minute and try again.
Google didn’t accept this key or model	Check the key in Google AI Studio.
This model isn’t on the free tier for your key	Choose Automatic or another Flash model.