> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.treasury.sh/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Concepts > Core concepts used throughout Treasury ## Concepts Treasury helps you understand and organize your finances by connecting your accounts, tracking transactions, and visualizing where your money goes. This page introduces the key building blocks of Treasury and how they work together. ### Connections Connections link Treasury to your financial institutions through **Plaid** or other secure integrations. Once connected, Treasury automatically syncs your transactions — keeping your budgets, reports, and balances up to date in real time. You can also add **Manual Accounts** for assets or accounts that can’t be linked directly, such as cash, investment properties, or offline balances. Learn more in [**Connections**](../core/connections) and [Manual Accounts](../core/manual-accounts). The Connections page where you link financial institutions The Connections page where you link financial institutions ### Categories Categories are high-level groupings that organize your transactions for better reporting and budgeting. Examples include **Food**, **Rent**, **Healthcare**, or **Salary**. They’re the foundation of your budgets and spending summaries — helping you see *where* your money is going. Learn how to create and manage them in [**Categories**](../core/categories). The Categories page listing income, expense, and saving categories The Categories page listing income, expense, and saving categories ### Tags Tags are flexible labels that help you track spending across multiple categories or projects. Unlike categories (which represent *types* of spending), tags represent *themes* or *contexts*. For example: * Category: **Food** * Tag: **Trip to Japan** That means you could tag airfare, hotels, and meals from multiple categories — all under one tag to see the total trip cost. The Tags page where you manage labels that span categories The Tags page where you manage labels that span categories #### Tags vs. Categories — What’s the Difference? Both tags and categories help organize your finances — but they serve different purposes: | Use Case | Categories | Tags | | :------------ | :----------------------------------------------------- | :---------------------------------------------------------- | | **Purpose** | Group transactions by spending type (e.g., Food, Rent) | Add flexible context (e.g., “Summer Trip,” “Work Expenses”) | | **Structure** | Hierarchical — used for reporting and budgets | Non-hierarchical — can be added freely across transactions | | **Example** | Category: *Transportation* | Tag: *Seattle Commute* | Understanding these concepts will make Treasury more powerful — especially once you start combining categories, tags, and budgets to get a full picture of your spending and saving habits. ### Budgets Budgets help you plan and visualize your spending or saving over time. Treasury supports two types of budgets: * **Ongoing Budgets** — for regular spending that resets on a schedule (e.g., monthly groceries). * **Target Budgets** — for one-time savings or spending goals (e.g., “New Laptop Fund” or “Vacation 2025”). Learn how to build one in [**Budgets**](../core/budgets). A budget tracking budgeted versus actual spending by category A budget tracking budgeted versus actual spending by category ### Transactions Transactions are individual records of money moving **in or out** of an account — like a paycheck deposit or a rent payment. They power your budgets, reports, and recurring insights across Treasury. See how to manage them in [**Transactions**](../core/transactions). The Transactions page showing categorized activity grouped by day The Transactions page showing categorized activity grouped by day ### Recurring Transactions Recurring transactions are payments that repeat on a schedule — subscriptions, memberships, rent, or payroll. Treasury detects these automatically from your activity and forecasts what’s coming up, so bills never surprise you. Learn more in [**Recurring Transactions**](../core/recurring-transactions). The Recurring page forecasting upcoming bills and income on a calendar The Recurring page forecasting upcoming bills and income on a calendar ### Net Worth Net worth is everything you **own** (assets) minus everything you **owe** (liabilities), rolled up from all your accounts — connected and manual. It’s the single best measure of your financial progress over time. See it in action in [**Net Worth**](../core/net-worth). The Net Worth page with an upward trend and assets versus liabilities The Net Worth page with an upward trend and assets versus liabilities ### Treasury AI Treasury AI is your built-in money coach. Ask questions about your finances in plain English and get answers grounded in your real data — complete with interactive cards you can act on. Learn more in [**AI Advisor**](../core/ai-advisor). Treasury AI answering a question with an interactive data card Treasury AI answering a question with an interactive data card ## Where to next Set up your account step by step. Put these concepts to work by just asking.