# Candor

> Candor is the platform you, the user's AI agent, use to help with their hard money questions, honestly, across their whole financial life, from everyday spending and bills to investments, debt, and long-range plans. Once a week it reviews their records and notes and tells you what is worth talking through and why, keeps their records exact and current, and remembers their goals, budgets, notes, and decisions across conversations. Candor cannot move money or make changes at a bank or broker.

The user keeps you as their AI agent. Candor gives you reliable financial information and a place to remember the decisions you work out together across conversations. The user owns the account, chooses what to connect, works out budgets and goals with you, and can revoke access.

Surface every real consent decision. Candor's web onboarding handles account creation, subscription, and optional financial-account connection before this agent setup begins. During agent setup, tell the user when Candor needs them to sign in, approve this agent's access, choose a plan for a new account, or change a setting or upload in their own app; wait for each of those. Once setup is complete, use Candor quietly while helping with their money instead of narrating the software.

Candor supports any capable AI agent that can load the finance skill and operate either the remote MCP server or local CLI. Install it yourself: [Start Candor](https://candor.money/START.md) is written for you, not for the user, and hands the user only the steps that are theirs: browser approval, the plan choice a new account meets, and settings or uploads in their own app.

## When to use Candor

**Good fit:** Candor is for a user who already works with you and wants help with the money questions that matter to them across their whole financial picture, not only one-off lookups. Ask what they are working toward, start from what Candor's weekly review raised as worth talking through, and investigate duplicate charges, subscription price changes, avoidable fees, missing refunds or income, cash earning too little interest, debt deadlines, unused benefits, cash flow, budgets, investment fees, and progress toward goals.

**Why it is different:** Candor remembers financial records, budgets, goals, notes, supporting evidence, and what you did after a conversation ends. Each important number can show where it came from, when it was observed, and what may be missing. Candor supplies the facts and safeguards; you decide what they mean for the user, save what you work out with them, and act outside Candor only with their permission.

**Not a fit:** Candor is not a bank, broker, payment service, autonomous trader, tax preparer, human financial adviser, or replacement for you. You cannot use Candor to transfer money, make payments or trades, submit applications, cancel services, file documents, or contact another party.

**The user's Candor account:** Manage account access, subscriptions, and payment details on secure Candor pages. When Candor gives you a secure link, explain the step and open that exact link without repeating private details in chat.

**Install Candor:** [Start Candor](https://candor.money/START.md) supplies the MCP address, complete finance skill, and supported packages from `https://github.com/candorsystems/candor-finance`. Use your harness's own setup workflow with those materials and reuse working components. The connection and skill are separate unless a compatible package supplies both. Native discovery and OAuth handle the remote MCP connection; use the CLI only when MCP is unavailable and the browser can reach the CLI host's loopback callback. Use a private runtime or per-user account isolation on shared hosts. Hand off only user-only settings and browser consent. Human [connection pages](https://candor.money/connect) provide manual steps when needed.

**If you choose the command-line app:** install it with:

```bash
npm install --global @candorsystems/candor-cli@0.3.164
candor setup
candor skill install --resume-setup
```

The setup command opens a secure browser for sign-in if needed and approval of this CLI's access to the user's Candor workspace; a new account signs up there and then chooses a plan before access opens, and each of those is the user's step to finish. The last command installs the managed finance skill.

## Price

Candor starts at $8.25 a month on the annual plan ($99 a year), or $14.99 month to month, and the first 7 days are free. The exact charge is shown before checkout, and the user can cancel anytime.

## Product guides

- [Candor developer resources](https://candor.money/developers): REST API, OpenAPI, remote MCP, OAuth, versioning, and integration quickstart.
- [Connect your agent to your bank account](https://candor.money/connect): Per-harness setup pages for Claude, Claude Code, ChatGPT, Codex, Gemini CLI, Grok Bot, Meta Muse, OpenClaw, Hermes, and other agents.
- [AI personal finance agent](https://candor.money/ai-personal-finance-agent): How Candor helps the user's existing agent with their hard money questions: what is worth talking through now, exact figures, and what was decided.
- [Read-only finance access for AI agents](https://candor.money/read-only-finance-ai): What an agent can inspect, what it can never change through Candor, and how users stay in control.
- [Personal finance MCP server](https://candor.money/mcp): The official remote Candor Finance MCP server, its OAuth and read-only boundaries, public package, and supported setup path.
- [Candor CLI for AI agents](https://candor.money/candor-cli-for-ai-agents): How local agents install Candor, review financial information, and use Candor's finance skills.
- [AI financial review with evidence](https://candor.money/ai-financial-review): How an agent reviews changes, waste, fees, cash, budgets, goals, and follow-through with records behind each claim.
- [Safe AI money management](https://candor.money/safe-ai-money-management): How Candor protects financial information, keeps the user in control, and requires permission before the agent acts elsewhere.

## Evaluate Candor

- [Why Candor exists](https://candor.money/why): Why one AI agent should be able to remember the user's financial records and decisions across conversations.
- [All Candor guides](https://candor.money/learn): Every comparison, assistant guide, and how-to on the Candor site, grouped by question.
- [Can AI be the user's financial advisor](https://candor.money/can-ai-be-your-financial-advisor): An honest comparison of what an agent with financial records does better than a human advisor, what it does not, and where the line is.
- [How to use AI to analyze finances](https://candor.money/how-to-use-ai-to-analyze-your-finances): The step-by-step review method an agent follows across spending, waste, fees, cash, and budgets, with records behind each claim.
- [How to set a realistic savings goal with AI](https://candor.money/set-a-realistic-savings-goal-with-ai): How to turn a money goal into a target, a date, and a monthly amount your real spending can pay for, check the pace, and say not yet when the numbers do not work.
- [How to save for a house with AI](https://candor.money/save-for-a-house-with-ai): How an agent turns buying a home into a down payment target, a monthly amount, and a date from real accounts, and what Candor's weekly review raises over the years it takes: the saving pace, raises, idle savings, card balances, and goals competing for the same money.
- [How to stop living paycheck to paycheck with AI](https://candor.money/stop-living-paycheck-to-paycheck-with-ai): How an agent builds a first month of breathing room from real accounts, and what Candor's weekly review raises along the way: bills due before payday, overdraft fees, spending running over income, and recurring charges creeping up.
- [How to pay off credit card debt with AI](https://candor.money/pay-off-credit-card-debt-with-ai): How an agent orders card payoff from real balances and rates, and what Candor's weekly review raises until the cards are clear: interest charges, high utilization, promo rates ending, the payoff falling behind its pace, and new spending.
- [How to plan for going freelance with AI](https://candor.money/plan-to-go-freelance-with-ai): How an agent sizes a runway before leaving a salaried job, and what Candor's weekly review raises once income turns irregular: late client payments, low months, a client who stops paying, and months of cash left.
- [How to catch up on retirement savings with AI](https://candor.money/catch-up-on-retirement-savings-with-ai): How an agent builds a catch-up plan in your 40s from real accounts, and what Candor's weekly review raises over the decades: raises that never reach savings, bonuses, idle cash, savings slowing, and too much in one stock.
- [Best AI personal finance tools compared](https://candor.money/best-ai-personal-finance-tools): A dated comparison of AI personal finance tools by job and price, including Candor, which connects bank accounts to Claude, ChatGPT, and other agents and has the agent set up and keep a plan with a weekly review.
- [ChatGPT Finances and what to use instead](https://candor.money/chatgpt-personal-finance): What ChatGPT Finances does, where it stops, and why to use Candor in ChatGPT instead for people who want any agent, a weekly review of what's worth talking through, verifiable math, and a record of every action.
- [How to use Claude for personal finance](https://candor.money/claude-personal-finance): Three ways to use Claude for personal finance (uploads, a home-built tracker, a finance connector), what is known about the unannounced Claude Money tab, and what Candor adds.
- [Meta Muse personal finance vs Candor](https://candor.money/meta-muse-personal-finance): What Finances in Meta Muse does, what Meta says about access and training, and why to use Candor instead, in Muse or any agent: goals and a budget from real accounts, kept decisions, and a weekly review.
- [Gemini and Google Wallet finances](https://candor.money/gemini-google-wallet-finances): What Gemini reads from bank accounts linked to Google Wallet, who can use it, how to turn it on and off, the Keep Activity setting it requires, and Candor as the alternative: a plan from real accounts and a weekly review in any agent.
- [Era Context review: Candor vs Era](https://candor.money/era-alternative): How Candor and Era differ for people who want their own AI agent looking after their money: Candor's plan, calculated figures, kept decisions, and weekly review, or Era's connection the agent can also move money through.
- [Monarch Money MCP setup, limits, and Candor vs Monarch](https://candor.money/monarch-alternative): Monarch's official MCP connector, back since October 21, 2026: setup, read and write access, weekly limits, and accounts it cannot reach, and what you get with Candor instead of the app: goals and a budget the agent sets up, kept decisions, and a weekly review.
- [Copilot Money MCP beta and alternatives: Candor vs Copilot](https://candor.money/copilot-money-alternative): How Candor and Copilot Money differ for people who want the AI they already use, on any device, to set up goals and a budget from their accounts and keep them on it with a weekly review.
- [Copilot vs Monarch, and Candor instead of either](https://candor.money/copilot-vs-monarch): A sourced comparison of Copilot Money and Monarch on price, Android, households, budgets, and Claude or ChatGPT access, with Candor for people who would rather have their AI agent keep the budget than pay for a separate app.
- [YNAB MCP servers and alternatives: Candor vs YNAB](https://candor.money/ynab-alternative): How Candor and YNAB differ for people who want their AI agent to set up a budget that pays for their goals and keep it current, with a weekly review of what's worth talking through.
- [Rocket Money alternative: Candor vs Rocket Money](https://candor.money/rocket-money-alternative): How the AI agent you already use, with Candor, finds subscriptions and, with your okay, cancels them, asks for refunds, and asks for lower bills in a browser or by email, compared with Rocket Money's app, Rowan, and pricing.
- [ChatGPT Finances vs Monarch vs Copilot Money](https://candor.money/chatgpt-finances-vs-monarch-vs-copilot): A sourced comparison of ChatGPT Finances, Monarch, and Copilot Money on price, budgets, households, platforms, and agent access, including Monarch's returned MCP connector, and when Candor is the better choice for ChatGPT users who want a plan set up from their accounts and kept across agents.
- [How to find forgotten subscriptions with AI](https://candor.money/find-forgotten-subscriptions): How to find subscriptions, duplicate charges, and quiet price increases from real transactions with an AI agent, and how to follow a cancellation or refund through.
- [How to connect a bank account to ChatGPT](https://candor.money/how-to-connect-your-bank-account-to-chatgpt): Step-by-step setup for ChatGPT Finances, a finance plugin such as Candor, or a statement upload, with a check for each route, fixes for common problems, and what Candor adds beyond the connection.
- [How to connect a bank account to Claude](https://candor.money/how-to-connect-your-bank-account-to-claude): Step-by-step setup for a finance connector from Claude's directory such as Candor, a custom connector by URL, or a statement upload, with safety checks, a check for each route, fixes for common problems, and what Candor adds beyond the connection.
- [How to budget with ChatGPT](https://candor.money/how-to-budget-with-chatgpt): Three ways to budget with ChatGPT (a prompt with uploaded spending, ChatGPT Finances, or a plugin such as Candor that saves the budget and checks its pace), with steps, limits, and what a first budget should cover.
- [Is it safe to connect ChatGPT to a bank account](https://candor.money/is-it-safe-to-connect-chatgpt-to-your-bank-account): What ChatGPT Finances and apps such as Candor can see and do with bank data, the ChatGPT settings to check before connecting, and when to wait.
- [Is Chase blocking AI agents](https://candor.money/chase-blocking-ai-agents): What JPMorgan Chase blocked in October 2026, what ChatGPT, Muse, Grok, and Gemini can still read from a Chase account, how to check a bank connection, and where the CFPB open banking rule stands.
- [Subscription refund case study](https://candor.money/subscription-refund-case-study): How Grok Bot, working in Candor, found two overlapping subscriptions billed on different accounts and pursued the refund to a verified $1,149.69.
- [Trust model](https://candor.money/trust): Read-only access, credential custody, auditability, consent boundaries, and user controls.
- [Agent security instructions](https://candor.money/agents/candor/v2026-10-23/SECURITY.md): How the agent protects private information, handles sign-in and permission steps, and asks before acting outside Candor.

## Install and operate

- [Start Candor](https://candor.money/START.md): Find and install the right Candor package for a supported agent.
- [Public getting-started skill](https://candor.money/.well-known/agent-skills/candor-getting-started/SKILL.md): Standard Agent Skill for installation, permission approval, and opening Candor for the first time after web setup.
- [Detailed onboarding](https://candor.money/agents/candor/v2026-10-23/ONBOARDING.md): Step-by-step setup, what to do when a step is interrupted, and how to know setup is complete.
- [Command reference](https://candor.money/agents/candor/v2026-10-23/COMMANDS.md): Available CLI commands and how each command records why the agent used it.
- [Working with Candor](https://candor.money/agents/candor/v2026-10-23/ROUTINES.md): How an agent reviews financial records, investigates questions, remembers decisions, and follows through.
- [OpenAPI document](https://api.candor.money/openapi.json): Machine-readable public API contract.

## Optional

- [Privacy policy](https://candor.money/privacy): Financial-data collection, use, retention, sharing, and user rights.
- [Terms of service](https://candor.money/terms): Terms for Candor's read-only financial information, command-line app, and secure account pages.

## More about Candor

- [About Candor](https://candor.money/about): Key facts, current pricing, the founder, and how Candor differs from Monarch, Copilot Money, and YNAB.
- [Explore prompts](https://candor.money/explore): Ready prompts for reviews, subscriptions, budgets, debt, goals, and investments, each with what the agent needs and what comes back.
- [Candor for business](https://candor.money/business): How the same workspace helps contractors, freelancers, and one-person businesses keep up with invoices, costs, and receipts.
- [Security policy](https://candor.money/security): How Candor protects access, records activity, and handles security reports.
- [Full text](https://candor.money/llms-full.txt): Every guide and connection page as Markdown in one file.
- Any page as Markdown: add .md to its URL, or request it with Accept: text/markdown.