# List rules

URL: https://docs.hanzo.ai/docs/openapi/books/get-books-rules

> Returns the org's auto-categorization rules, highest priority first.

`GET /v1/books/rules`

> [Books →](https://docs.hanzo.ai/docs/openapi/books) · [All API references →](https://docs.hanzo.ai/docs/openapi) · [Get started →](https://docs.hanzo.ai/docs/guides)

|               |                                        |
| ------------- | -------------------------------------- |
| **Address**   | `https://api.hanzo.ai/v1/books/rules`  |
| **Method**    | `GET`                                  |
| **Operation** | `get_books_rules`                      |
| **Auth**      | `Authorization: Bearer $HANZO_API_KEY` |

Returns the org's auto-categorization rules, highest priority first. A rule
is a standing instruction — "anything whose merchant contains X books to category Y" —
and it overrides a vendor's default category, so this is the list that decides how a
future bill classifies itself.

## Request

1 field.

| Field     | In    | Type   | Required | Description                                                                                         |
| --------- | ----- | ------ | -------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `sandbox` | query | string | —        | Sandbox reads the org's SANDBOX ledger when it is exactly "true"; anything else reads the live one. |

## Response

| Status    | Body            | Meaning |
| --------- | --------------- | ------- |
| `200`     | books.rulesOut  | ok      |
| `default` | problem-details | refused |

`200` body — 4 fields.

| Field              | In   | Type            | Always | Description                                                                                  |
| ------------------ | ---- | --------------- | ------ | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `rules`            | body | books.Rule\[]   | —      | Rules is every rule the org has set, highest priority first — the order they are matched in. |
| `rules[].category` | body | string          | —      | Category is the COA expense account a matching bill books to.                                |
| `rules[].pattern`  | body | string          | —      | Pattern is the merchant substring the rule matches on, case-insensitively.                   |
| `rules[].priority` | body | integer (int64) | —      | Priority breaks ties: when several patterns match, the highest wins.                         |

Failure carries the platform error shape — see [Errors](https://docs.hanzo.ai/docs/errors).

## Examples

**CLI**

```bash
hanzo books rules get
```

**SDK**

**.ts**

```ts
import { Configuration, BooksApi } from 'hanzoai';

const api = new BooksApi(new Configuration({ accessToken: process.env.HANZO_API_KEY }));
const { data } = await api.getBooksRules();
```

**.py**

```python
from hanzoai.cloud import ApiClient, Configuration
from hanzoai.cloud.api import BooksApi

client = ApiClient(Configuration(access_token=os.environ["HANZO_API_KEY"]))
result = BooksApi(client).get_books_rules()
```

**.go**

```go
cfg := hanzoai.NewConfiguration()
cfg.AddDefaultHeader("Authorization", "Bearer "+os.Getenv("HANZO_API_KEY"))
client := hanzoai.NewAPIClient(cfg)

resp, _, err := client.BooksAPI.GetBooksRules(context.Background()).Execute()
if err != nil {
	return err
}
```

**.rs**

```rust
use hanzo_client::apis::{configuration::Configuration, books_api};

let mut cfg = Configuration::new();
cfg.bearer_access_token = std::env::var("HANZO_API_KEY").ok();

let result = books_api::get_books_rules(&cfg, Default::default()).await?;
```

**.java**

```java
import ai.hanzo.cloud.ApiClient;
import ai.hanzo.cloud.api.BooksApi;

ApiClient client = new ApiClient();
client.setBearerToken(System.getenv("HANZO_API_KEY"));

var result = new BooksApi(client).getBooksRules();
```

**HTTP**

```bash
curl https://api.hanzo.ai/v1/books/rules \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $HANZO_API_KEY"
```

**MCP**

MCP reaches **books** through the `books` tool, which names its 20 operations with its own verbs — this one among them, under a name only MCP declares. `describe` explains any of them:

```bash
curl -X POST https://api.hanzo.ai/v1/mcp \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
       "jsonrpc": "2.0",
       "id": 1,
       "method": "tools/call",
       "params": {
         "name": "describe",
         "arguments": {
           "op": "list_book_accounts"
         }
       }
     }'
```

---

[Books API](https://docs.hanzo.ai/docs/openapi/books) · [All Hanzo APIs](https://docs.hanzo.ai/docs/openapi) · [Interactive reference](https://docs.hanzo.ai/docs/openapi/reference)