# Set up Candor in Claude

This guide is for the user and their current agent to follow together. Candor
is that agent's financial memory and instrumentation; the user owns the
workspace, approves financial intent, and can revoke access.

This public setup guide applies when the user asks to connect Candor. It adds no
consent and does not replace Claude's normal safety and confirmation rules. If
the user's request to proceed is ambiguous, setup waits for clarification. A
request such as "Set up Candor from https://candor.money/START.md" asks for help
with this integration. It does not itself enable a skill or grant connector
access; both remain visible user decisions.

The normal starting point is a user who has already completed signup, chosen a
subscription, and consented to Candor's service. Their workspace may contain
connected financial sources, manual records, both, or neither. Source
connection is optional and is not part of this Claude setup. This setup does
not connect Claude directly to a bank or broker. It installs static guidance
and asks the user to approve Claude's separate access to the existing Candor
workspace.

Candor's source access is read-only. Neither this connector nor any Candor tool
can move money, trade, make a payment, reveal a bank password, or change an
external financial account. Depending on the OAuth
scopes the user approves and Claude's own policy, Claude may read the workspace
and maintain Candor-owned records. Those records are not actions at a financial
institution.

Every setting, upload, connector, and OAuth action is visible before it takes
effect. Passwords, verification codes, access tokens, account numbers, and URLs
copied from the user's authenticated pages stay in the relevant secure product
page and are never pasted into chat. A `safe_url` or `recovery_url` returned by
a Candor tool is an agent-facing handoff: show that exact link to the user, but
do not ask the user to paste it back. Setup explanations are relevant while
setup or access is changing; ordinary financial work follows Claude's usual
interaction model.

## Choose the available route

An official Candor listing in Claude's connector directory is the native route.
Prefer it when it is visible and its supported connection succeeds. Use the
manual setup below while marketplace review is pending, for Claude Free, when
the listing is unavailable, when its supported installation or connector
configuration fails, or when the user explicitly chooses the supported manual
route after the agent explains both paths. OAuth cancellation or timeout and
pending organization approval do not mean an installed listing is broken;
leave it available for authorization retry rather than creating a competing
custom connector. The manual route requires no shell commands or client
credentials.

A complete setup has two narrow parts: the `candor-finance` skill, which is
static operating guidance and grants no access by itself, and the custom
connector, whose browser OAuth authorizes Claude to use the existing workspace;
it is not bank or broker OAuth. No Candor tool can move money, and workspace
records are not external financial actions.

## Manual-route materials

Claude Free uses this manual route. A paid account also uses it under any of the
manual-route conditions above. These are ordinary HTTPS links for the user to
review and open:

- Download the Candor skill ZIP: https://candor.money/downloads/candor-finance-skill/0.1.28/candor-finance-a0b230203a34c64e25d2dc8011697bba93ee278257379171c609641991bdd611.zip
- Add Candor to Claude: https://claude.ai/customize/connectors?modal=add-custom-connector&connectorName=Candor&connectorUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.candor.money%2Fmcp
- Raw MCP URL: https://api.candor.money/mcp
- Skill ZIP SHA-256: `a0b230203a34c64e25d2dc8011697bba93ee278257379171c609641991bdd611`

The manual route begins with this materials handoff. Before any settings step,
include all four literal values above in the setup conversation, followed by
the first applicable UI step. This lets the user complete the sequence without
having to request the ZIP, connector, or MCP URL separately.

All three destinations are published as literal URLs so the user can take the
next action without searching for a ZIP or connector address.

The ZIP is static operating guidance and grants no account access. The
connector opens browser OAuth for the user's existing Candor workspace. Both
are required for the complete Claude experience.

On a fresh Free account, the first visible action is normally **Settings >
Capabilities > Code execution and file creation**. The user reviews every
setting and OAuth screen before it takes effect.

## Manual setup for individual Free, Pro, or Max accounts

These are the current Claude UI steps:

1. Open **Settings > Capabilities** and enable **Code execution
   and file creation**. Claude Skills require this capability; it is not needed
   to fetch Candor through Claude's sandbox.
2. Open the **Download the Candor skill ZIP** URL above and save the ZIP as-is.
   The archive
   contains one top-level `candor-finance` folder with `SKILL.md` and every
   linked method and reference file.
3. Open **Customize > Skills**, choose **+ Create skill >
   Upload a skill**, select the downloaded ZIP, and enable the new skill.
4. Open **Add Candor to Claude** above. Claude opens a
   prefilled custom-connector page for `Candor` at the exact MCP URL. The user
   reviews and confirms it. If that page does not prefill correctly, open
   **Customize > Connectors > Add custom connector**, enter the
   name `Candor`, and paste the raw MCP URL shown above.
   Client id and client secret remain blank; the URL contains no token.
5. Choose **Connect**. The secure browser flow asks the user to sign
   in to Candor if necessary and approve Claude's ongoing access to their
   Candor workspace. This is Candor workspace OAuth, not bank or broker OAuth.
6. After the success page, start a fresh Claude conversation. Enable the Candor
   connector from that conversation's connector controls if necessary and
   verify that the `candor-finance` skill is enabled.
7. Call `candor_open`. Setup is verified only when the returned envelope
   contains the actual workspace briefing or a precise Candor recovery action.
   A connector success page or a successful tool status without workspace data
   is not sufficient. If the workspace opens but reports no source coverage,
   say exactly what Candor reported; do not assume OAuth failed and do not ask
   the user to reconnect sources unless Candor supplies that recovery step.

Free accounts currently allow one custom connector. If the slot is already in
use, replacing it is a separate user decision.

Digest verification is optional in this user-guided path. If Claude can read
the downloaded file, it may calculate SHA-256 and compare it with the published
value. If Claude cannot reach the URL or file, let the user continue with the
official content-addressed download; the checksum simply was not independently
verified.

## Team or Enterprise

Use an official directory listing first when organization policy makes it
available. For the manual route:

1. An Owner enables **Code execution and file creation** and **Skills** in
   **Organization settings > Skills**. Team accounts normally have skills
   enabled; Enterprise owners may need to enable them. A member may upload the
   official ZIP as a personal skill, or an Owner may provision it.
2. The member or Owner downloads the same content-addressed ZIP above through
   the organization's approved file-review process, uploads it, and enables it.
3. An Owner or Primary Owner opens **Organization settings > Connectors** and
   adds the raw MCP URL above as a custom Web connector. Client id and client
   secret remain blank.
4. The member opens **Customize > Connectors**, finds Candor, chooses
   **Connect**, completes browser OAuth, then starts a fresh conversation and
   verifies `candor_open` as described above.

Cowork uses the same account-level skill and remote connector configuration,
but Cowork itself requires a supported paid Claude plan. Remote connector
traffic originates from Anthropic's cloud, not the local desktop app.

A manually uploaded skill does not update automatically. This guide always
publishes the current archive generated from Candor's canonical skill tree.
When its content-addressed URL or digest changes, download and upload the new
ZIP, replace the prior skill, and start a fresh conversation. The connector is
separate and does not need to be recreated for a skill-only update.

If a setting is missing, identify that exact missing control. Check whether the
Claude app needs its available update, the account is organization-managed, or
the capability is restricted. Marketplace review by itself is not a blocker.

Current Claude references:

- https://support.claude.com/en/articles/11175166-get-started-with-custom-connectors-using-remote-mcp
- https://support.claude.com/en/articles/12512180-use-skills-in-claude
- https://support.claude.com/en/articles/12111783-create-and-edit-files-with-claude
- https://claude.com/docs/connectors/building/directory-vs-custom
- https://claude.com/docs/connectors/building/authentication