One of the key features of YNAB is using it to actually inform you before you make purchases. By having it near instant (manual, or by this method), your decisions are fully informed when you make them.

Yes, but a DB of "transaction notifications" your bank sent you could still be useful so you can reconcile/debug if needed, much like the actual bank statement.

I do agree that the DB could be removed from the system, adding the transaction directly from the SES-triggered event, and that would work for most cases.

Yeah it could probably do without it, but initially made this for a hackathon so it’s by no means perfect