Kiro: Instant Finance & Expense Tracking

Source: Dev.to

A lightweight finance and budget calculator built using Kiro, designed to help users quickly calculate expenses, track budgets, and understand their financial status in a fraction of a second.

This project is intentionally kept simple and beginner‑friendly, making it ideal for learning Kiro, building demos, or showcasing how Kiro’s chat‑based intelligence can power practical applications.

📌 Overview

Managing finances does not always require complex accounting software. Many users simply need a fast way to:

• Enter a budget
• Add expenses
• See how much they have spent
• Know how much money is left

Kiro – Simple Finance & Budget Calculator solves exactly this problem using a clean UI and Kiro’s AI‑driven chat assistance.

✨ Features

• Budget Input – Enter a total budget or income
• Expense Tracking – Add multiple expenses with name and amount
• Instant Calculations
  • Total expenses
  • Remaining balance
• Overspending Detection – Alerts when expenses exceed the budget
• Kiro Chat Interface – Ask finance questions in natural language
• Minimal & Clean UI – Easy to understand for all users

🛠️ Tech Stack

• Kiro – AI assistant and chat logic
• JavaScript / HTML / React
• Node.js
• Python

Note: This project focuses on logic simplicity rather than heavy backend architecture.

⚙️ Installation & Setup

1️⃣ Prerequisites

• Node.js (v16 or above recommended)
• npm or yarn
• Kiro account

2️⃣ Install Kiro

Follow the official Kiro getting‑started guide:
🔗

3️⃣ Clone the Repository

git clone https://github.com/Shreya111111/tracker-kiro

▶️ How It Works

1. User enters a budget amount.
2. User adds individual expenses.
3. The app processes the data instantly and calculates:
   • Total expenses
   • Remaining balance
4. Results are displayed clearly on the screen.

How Kiro Helps

• Understands user intent
• Performs calculations accurately
• Responds with simple, human‑readable answers

💬 Using Kiro Chat & Spec for Design & Implementation Phases

Kiro Chat was used throughout this project as a design‑thinking and implementation assistant, guiding the development step‑by‑step from idea to a working finance and budget calculator.

Instead of writing all logic or UI upfront, the development followed phased guidance using Kiro Chat, as recommended in Kiro’s official workflow approach.

Core Components of a Kiro Spec

Kiro typically generates three primary markdown files for every new feature or project to ensure alignment between requirements and code:

• requirements.md – Captures user stories and acceptance criteria, often using EARS (Easy Approach to Requirements Syntax) notation.
• design.md – Documents the technical architecture, including sequence diagrams (via Mermaid) and data‑flow models.
• tasks.md – Provides a detailed, trackable implementation plan. Kiro breaks the design into discrete tasks that agents can execute one by one.

🧠 Phase 1: Problem Understanding & Scope Definition

The first step was to clearly define what the app should and should not do.

Kiro Chat Usage (example prompts)

• Help me define a finance and budget calculator for beginners
• What features should a basic budget calculator include?
• What should I avoid to keep the app simple?

Outcome

• Clear scope defined
• No complex finance rules
• Focus on budget, expenses, and balance only

This aligns with Kiro’s guidance to start with clarity before implementation.

🎨 Phase 2: UI / UX Design Assistance

Kiro Chat assisted with basic UI planning.

Kiro Chat Usage (example prompts)

• Suggest a UI layout for a budget calculator
• What input fields are required for this app?
• How should results be displayed clearly?

Outcome

• Budget input field
• Expense name + amount inputs
• Summary section for totals
• Minimal, clean layout

Kiro helped translate functional requirements into simple UI components.

🧩 Phase 3: Logic & Calculation Design

Before coding, Kiro Chat was used to validate the calculation logic.

Kiro Chat Usage (example prompts)

• How to calculate total expenses and remaining budget?
• What happens if expenses exceed the budget?
• Explain the logic in simple steps

Outcome

• Clear calculation flow
• Overspending condition defined
• Easy‑to‑implement logic

This phase reduced errors before implementation.

💻 Phase 4: Implementation Support

During development, Kiro Chat acted as a real‑time coding assistant.

Kiro Chat Usage (example prompts)

• Help me write simple logic for adding expenses
• How to update total dynamically when a new expense is added?
• Explain this code in simple terms

Outcome

• Faster implementation
• Cleaner logic
• Better understanding of each step

💬 Phase 5: Chat‑Based User Interaction

Kiro Chat was also integrated as a user‑facing feature.

Example User Queries

• What is my total expense?
• How much budget is left?
• Am I overspending?
• Summarize my expenses

Kiro interprets these queries and responds with calculated results in plain language.

🔁 Phase 6: Review & Refinement

Finally, Kiro Chat was used to:

• Review app flow
• Identify missing edge cases
• Suggest small UX improvements

Example prompts

• Review my budget calculator flow
• Identify edge cases for expense entry
• Suggest UX tweaks for the summary section

---

What improvements can make this more user‑friendly?

✅ Alignment with Kiro Best Practices

As referenced from the Kiro official documentation and guides, this phased approach follows:

• Clear problem definition
• Iterative design
• Incremental implementation
• Continuous validation using chat

Kiro Chat proved effective not just for coding, but for thinking, designing, and refining the application end‑to‑end.

📸 Screenshots

Attached screenshots:

• Budget input screen
• Expense entry screen
• Expense summary
• Kiro chat interaction

📂 Project Structure

kiro-finance-budget-calculator/
├── kiro.
├── vscode/
├── index.html
├── script.js
├── styles.css
└── README.md

🔗 GitHub Repository

Repo Link

🎯 Use Cases

• Personal monthly budgeting
• Student expense tracking
• Kiro learning project
• Demo or hackathon submission
• Proof of concept for AI‑powered calculators

🚀 Added Features

• Expense categories (Food, Rent, Travel, etc.)
• Monthly history tracking
• Visual charts
• Mobile‑friendly UI

🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome!

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch
3. Commit your changes
4. Open a pull request

If you found this project useful, please ⭐ the repository and share your feedback!