Coach & AI assistants

You decide how much AI help you want, from none at all to a built-in coach. Nothing is turned on unless you choose it.

Your Three Options

Option	What it is	Cost	Setup
No AI	No AI can see your budget	Included	Nothing to do. This is the default
Your own AI assistant	Connect Claude, ChatGPT, or another assistant that supports MCP	Free	Connect with a sign-in link or an API key
Coach	A budgeting coach built into the app	$10/month	One click in Settings

Every account starts with no AI. It’s completely opt-in: your data stays with us unless you choose otherwise.

Option 1: No AI

This is the default. No outside AI service can see your accounts, transactions, or budget.

If you never change the AI settings, your data is never shared with an AI provider.

Option 2: Your Own AI Assistant

If you already use Claude, ChatGPT, or another AI assistant, you can connect it to your budget. Your assistant can then read your budget, categorize transactions, move money between categories, and more.

There are two ways to connect:

Connect with a link (recommended)

The easiest way. Your assistant connects through a secure sign-in (OAuth).

For Claude (claude.ai, Claude Desktop, or Claude mobile):

1. In Claude, go to Settings > Connectors
2. Click Add Custom Connector
3. Enter a name (for example, “Meridian”) and this URL: https://mcp.meridianmoney.app
4. You’ll be sent to sign in and approve access
5. Once approved, the budget tools show up in Claude automatically
6. The connection works across Claude web, desktop, and mobile

For ChatGPT and other assistants:

Any assistant that supports MCP (Model Context Protocol) can connect at https://mcp.meridianmoney.app. The assistant walks you through signing in.

API keys (advanced)

For local setups or your own tools, you can create API keys.

1. Go to Settings > API Keys
2. Click Create API Key
3. Pick a name and choose permissions (read only, or read and write)
4. Copy the key. It’s shown only once
5. Add the key to your assistant’s settings

Claude Desktop example:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "meridian": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/path/to/meridian-mcp-server/index.js"],
      "env": {
        "MERIDIAN_API_KEY": "mrd_sk_your_key_here"
      }
    }
  }
}

You can revoke API keys any time in Settings. You can have up to 5 keys.

Option 3: Coach

The Coach is a budgeting coach built right into the app, so there’s nothing else to install. Its name is Plutus. Open the chat and ask a question or tell it what you’d like to do.

1. Go to Settings > Subscription and add Coach ($10/month)
2. Click Coach in the navigation to open the chat
3. Ask in plain English, like “How much is left for groceries?”

The Coach can do everything a connected assistant can, and it already knows your budget, so it can suggest improvements on its own.

When the Coach wants to change something (moving money, categorizing transactions, creating categories), you’ll see a confirmation first so you can say yes or no. Questions like “How much did I spend on dining out?” are answered right away, with nothing to confirm.

You can keep several conversations, rename them, and pick up where you left off. Lifetime members get the Coach at no extra cost.

What AI Can Help With

Whether you use your own assistant or the Coach, it can help with:

Budget overview

• See your budgets and switch between them
• Get a summary of balances, spending, and highlights
• See spending trends over the last 6 months
• See spending by category

Accounts

• List accounts and balances
• See your net worth (what you own minus what you owe)
• Add accounts
• Rename accounts and change their settings

Categories and budgeting

• List categories with assigned and available amounts
• Add categories and groups
• Set how much goes into each category this month
• Move money between categories
• Find categories that are overspent, underfunded, or unused

Transactions

• Find transactions with filters
• Add transactions
• Categorize transactions that don’t have a category yet
• Approve imported transactions
• Update transaction details

Repeating transactions

• List repeating bills and income
• Set up new repeating transactions (bills, subscriptions, paychecks)

Transfers

• Move money between your accounts

Payees

• Find payees
• Rename payees and set their default categories
• Combine duplicate payees

Debt Payoff

• See your debts with balances, rates, and interest costs
• Compare all four payoff approaches
• Change your plan settings (approach, extra payment)
• Start or stop a payoff plan
• Check your progress

Privacy & Security

Your data, your choice

• No AI by default. You have to turn it on
• Turn it off any time. Delete API keys, disconnect your assistant, or cancel the Coach
• Limited access. API keys can be read only
• You see every change. Connected assistants can’t change your data without showing you the action

What AI providers see

When you connect an AI assistant:

• It can see the budget data (accounts, categories, transactions) you allow
• Your password is never shared. A secure sign-in token is used instead
• AI providers have their own rules for how long they keep conversations

Disconnecting AI

To disconnect your own assistant:

1. Go to Settings > API Keys and revoke any active keys
2. Or remove the connector in your assistant’s settings

To cancel the Coach:

1. Go to Settings > Subscription
2. Cancel the Coach add-on
3. Access stops right away

Tips

Start with questions

Before asking for changes, try a few questions:

• “How much did I spend on dining out last month?”
• “Which categories are overspent?”
• “What’s my net worth?”

Let it categorize

One of the most helpful things AI can do is categorize imported transactions. After a bank sync, ask:

• “Show me transactions without a category”
• “Categorize my recent transactions”

Look for patterns

AI is good at spotting patterns you might miss:

• “How has my spending changed lately?”
• “Am I spending more on groceries than last month?”
• “Which categories have extra money I could move?”

Plan your debt payoff

If you use Debt Payoff, AI can help you compare options:

• “Show me a payoff plan with $200 extra per month”
• “Compare Snowball and Avalanche for my debts”
• “How much interest would I save with Avalanche?”

Next Steps

• Want no AI? You’re all set. That’s the default.
• Want to connect your own assistant? See Settings to create an API key, or connect from your assistant’s settings.
• Want the Coach? Go to Settings > Subscription, add Coach ($10/month), then click Coach in the navigation.