Skip to content
Candor
Start free
Menu

Connect Claude Code to your bank accounts without running a server.

Search for a way to give Claude Code your bank data and you mostly find analyst plugins or open-source Plaid servers you host yourself with your own API keys. Candor is a hosted alternative for household money. Its plugin brings the finance skill and a read-only connection to your accounts, so Claude Code can work through them with you, set up goals and a budget, and keep the plan for the next session.

Start freeAlready have an account? Copy the setup message

Set up Claude Code in three steps

  1. 1

    Create a Candor account.

    Create your account
  2. 2

    Copy this message into a conversation with Claude Code.

    Set up Candor from https://candor.money/START.md and walk me through connecting it here.

  3. 3

    Claude Code handles the setup its tools support and asks you to approve access to your Candor account.

    Setup got stuck? Get help

What you need in Claude Code

Candor's plugin comes from Candor's own marketplace on GitHub and carries the finance skill and the MCP connection together. Claude Code can install it from inside a session, where you choose its scope, or from your shell. Third-party marketplaces, Candor's included, do not update on their own by default. Signing in to Candor opens your browser.

Check it worked

Start a new conversation with Claude Code, turn Candor on if asked, and send the message below.

In a new session, ask Claude Code to open Candor. It should have both the candor-finance skill and the candor_open tool. If the plugin was just updated, check in a fresh session before trying a manual setup.

What you should see: Claude Code names the accounts in Candor and how recent they are. A missing account means limited coverage, not a failed setup.

Check whether the candor-finance skill and Candor access are ready. Tell me about anything missing. If access works, continue my financial task, or start a first check-in on my money if I have not named one. Be clear about gaps in the records.

What Claude Code has for finance

Claude Code has no personal finance feature. Anthropic's financial services marketplace covers professional work such as comparable company analyses and discounted cash flow and leveraged buyout models. Claude Code comes with Pro, Max, Team, Enterprise, and Console accounts.

What it does well is long, careful work: reading a year of transactions, checking every category rule, and writing down what it could not settle. Candor gives that work a home outside your repositories, with the records, rules, budgets, and notes kept in your Candor account.

Candor or your own Plaid MCP server?

A self-hosted Plaid MCP server gives Claude Code your balances and transactions, and you supply the Plaid account and API keys, link each bank, and keep the server running. With Candor you install one plugin and link your banks in Candor, which connects through Plaid too. Claude Code also gets goals, a budget, saved decisions, and a review of what matters most.

Plaid's own MCP servers are developer tools for building and debugging a Plaid integration, and none of their documented tools return your balances or transactions. A personal setup needs a community server such as bank-mcp or personal-finance-mcp.

Those two are read-only and run on your own machine, which is the reason to pick one. Plaid's free Trial plan, open to new US and Canadian developers, gives them real bank data for up to 10 Items. An Item is one login at one bank.

Routines run in Anthropic's cloud and cannot reach a server on your laptop, and neither can Claude on your phone. Candor is a remote server, so the Candor Finance connector works in both and reads the same plan you keep in the terminal.

  • Bank access

    Your own Plaid server
    A Plaid developer account, your own client ID and secret, and a stored access token for each bank
    Candor
    Link each bank through Plaid in Candor, with no Plaid account, keys, or tokens of your own

  • Running it

    Your own Plaid server
    You keep the server up, on your machine or a host you secure
    Candor
    Candor runs it, and your agent signs in with OAuth

  • Expired bank sign-ins

    Your own Plaid server
    You catch the error and run Plaid's repair flow yourself
    Candor
    Candor tells you and your agent which bank stopped updating, and you reconnect it in the app

  • Cost

    Your own Plaid server
    Plaid's free Trial plan covers 10 Items, and removing one does not free its slot. Past that you need a paid Plaid plan
    Candor
    Personal plan with your banks connected: $14.99/mo or $99/yr, 7-day free trial. Or try it free with your history from Monarch, YNAB, Copilot, or your bank.

  • Where it works

    Your own Plaid server
    A local server works only on the machine running it
    Candor
    Every agent you connect, including Claude and ChatGPT on your phone

  • What your agent gets

    Your own Plaid server
    Tools for bank data such as balances and transactions
    Candor
    Those records, plus calculated figures, goals, a budget, saved decisions, and a review of what matters most

  • Where your records live

    Your own Plaid server
    On your own machine or host
    Candor
    In your Candor account, which you can export or delete

Why Candor and not a folder of CSVs

Exported statements go stale the day you download them, and the conclusions end up in files only that session can find. Candor keeps your accounts current, calculates the figures, and keeps the goals, budget, and notes Claude Code works out with you.

Candor also reviews your records and notes and raises what's worth talking through, so a session can start from a goal slipping or a price that went up instead of a blank prompt. The same plan is there when you switch to Claude on your phone or to another agent.

Run a check-in on a schedule with routines

Routines, in research preview on Pro, Max, Team, and Enterprise, run Claude Code in Anthropic's cloud on a schedule, at most hourly. You can create one on the web or from a Claude Code session.

A cloud session does not load plugins installed on your own machine, so a routine reaches Candor through the Candor Finance connector added at claude.ai. Routines can use every tool of an included connector without asking. Candor's tools read records and save notes, goals, and budgets; none of them moves money.

When Claude Code setup stops

  • Claude Code asks you to sign in to Candor again

    What to do
    The sign-in expired. Send Claude Code the setup message again; Candor's Connections page, linked below, shows when it reconnects.

  • Sign-in stops because another program is using its port

    What to do
    That clash is on your machine, and Anthropic's MCP help for Claude Code, linked below, covers it. If sign-in still stops, we can finish setup with you.

  • No browser opens when you work over SSH

    What to do
    Anthropic's MCP help for Claude Code, linked below, covers signing in on a remote machine. Candor's Connections page shows the moment it connects.

  • Installed, but the skill or tools are missing

    What to do
    Ask Claude Code to check its setup against the setup message; it reports what loaded and what is left. Claude Code's known hiccups are on Candor's Connections page.

  • A scripted run cannot sign in

    What to do
    Scripted runs and the Agent SDK cannot open a browser to sign in. Set Candor up with the setup message in an ordinary session first.

What to try with Claude Code and Candor

A good first job is transaction cleanup: apply your categories, collect the merchants it cannot place for you to clarify, and propose rules. Have it leave a note in Candor about what still needs checking so the next session continues the work.

What Candor can and cannot do

Candor is read-only toward your money. It has no tool to move money, pay a bill, trade, or cancel a service, it does not train AI models on your financial information, and it records every agent read and change with its reason. You can revoke an agent, export your data, or delete it from your account.

Candor provides records and calculations, not financial advice; your agent advises and acts only through its own tools, with your okay.

Common questions

Should I add a second MCP server by hand?
No. The plugin already carries Candor's connection, and a second copy makes problems harder to trace.
Can I use Anthropic's financial services plugins too?
Yes. They model companies and deals; Candor holds your household records and plan. They do different jobs and can sit side by side.
Do I need a Plaid account to use Candor?
No. Candor holds the Plaid connection. You link each bank in Candor, and there are no API keys, access tokens, or environment variables to manage.
Can I use Plaid for personal use?
Yes. Plaid's free Trial plan gives new US and Canadian developers real bank data for up to 10 Items, and past that you need a paid plan. You become the Plaid customer, so its terms are yours to follow and the server is yours to host. If you use Candor instead, Candor is the customer and hosts the server.
What does Candor cost?
Candor's Personal plan connects your US banks, cards, and brokerages, so every account and transaction comes in on its own and Candor always reviews current records. It costs from $8.25 a month on the annual plan ($99 a year), or $14.99 month to month, and its first 7 days are free. You can also try Candor free first. Bring your history over from Monarch, YNAB, Copilot, or your bank. Download your transactions there, and your agent adds your accounts from the file. Claude Code's own plan and usage charges are separate.

Sources

  1. Discover and install plugins Anthropic
  2. Connect Claude Code to tools via MCP Anthropic
  3. Routines Anthropic
  4. Set up Claude Code Anthropic
  5. Financial services plugins Anthropic
  6. Pricing and billing Plaid
  7. Update mode Plaid
  8. Plaid MCP servers Plaid
  9. bank-mcp GitHub
  10. personal-finance-mcp GitHub

Setup files for agents: Claude Code connection materials

If setup gets stuck

Let’s get you connected.

Claude Code does the setup. When it stops, the answer is usually one of a few things it can ask for, and all of them are ready in your Candor dashboard.

Already connected? Check it worked

Finish setup from your Candor dashboard

Sign in, pick Claude Code, and follow the three steps. The page shows the moment Claude Code connects, and it has the connection details ready if Claude Code asks.

Open setup for Claude Code
Stuck? Tell us where it stopped.Email us
Claude Code asks for a server address or connection details

Most apps only need the address. Choose OAuth for authentication and leave Client ID and Client Secret blank; the app registers itself and discovers the rest from the address.

https://api.candor.money/mcp

If Claude Code asks for more than the address, every connection setting is on the connect page.

Claude Code needs the finance skill file

Most apps install it with the connection. If Claude Code asks for the file, download the complete skill and upload it through the app’s skill control, not as a chat attachment. Keep the whole candor-finance folder, including methods and references.

Official Claude Code instructions

Button names move. When they do, the app’s own instructions win; the Candor values above stay the same.

Give Claude Code a money job worth a long session.

The Personal plan connects your US banks, cards, and brokerages, so every account and transaction comes in on its own and Candor always reviews current records. You can also try Candor free first, with your history from the app or bank you use now. Either way, setup is one message to your agent.

Start free