splitwise_get_categories
Browse Splitwise expense categories and their subcategories with IDs to select the correct subcategory ID before creating or recategorizing an expense.
Instructions
List Splitwise's expense categories: each parent with its subcategories and their ids.
Calls GET /get_categories once and caches the answer in-process for 24 h (the list is
static); refresh: true refetches. Expenses must use a subcategory id as
category_id — a parent id is not accepted. When nothing fits, use the "Other"
subcategory under the closest parent (or "General" under "Uncategorized").
Names come back in the account's locale (a Spanish account sees "Supermercado",
"Taxi", "Avión" — not the English names from Splitwise's docs); the ids are the same
everywhere.
When to Use:
To browse the categories before creating or recategorising an expense.
To list one parent's subcategories (
parent: "food").
When NOT to Use:
To turn a category name into an id — use
splitwise_resolve_category, which ranks subcategories by similarity and says when one is a clear match.For currencies — use
splitwise_get_currencies.
Returns:
A markdown table with one row per parent (flagged as not usable for expenses) and its
subcategories as Name (id N), capped at 50 parents; or the raw {"categories": [...]}
objects (with icons and nested subcategories) when response_format is json.
Examples: params = {} params = {"parent": "transport"} params = {"refresh": true, "response_format": "json"}
Error Handling:
A 401 means the API key is missing or was regenerated. A failed fetch is never cached
(a failed refresh keeps the previous cached list); a parent filter that matches
nothing lists the parent names to pick from.
Input Schema
| Name | Required | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| params | Yes |
Output Schema
| Name | Required | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| result | Yes |