Guide

Using AI with Kove

How Claude or ChatGPT can work with your own Kove budget, goals, and spending, what that means for your data, and how to set it up. Skip to whatever you need.

AI is optional in Kove. Kove AI is on by default, and you can turn it off anytime in your AI settings on the web or in the mobile app. The setting follows your account, and budgeting, tracking, and categorization work the same without it. AI connectors stay off unless you turn them on. How Kove uses AI

What is MCP?

MCP stands for Model Context Protocol. It’s an open standard that lets an AI assistant like Claude or ChatGPT safely connect to another app and use it on your behalf.

Think of it as a secure plug. Without it, an AI assistant only knows what you type or paste into the chat. With it plugged into Kove, the assistant can look up your real budget, goals, and transactions while you talk to it, and, if you allow it, make the same kinds of updates you’d make yourself in the app.

What it isn’t:

It doesn’t give the AI app your Kove password.
It doesn’t give the AI app access to your bank. It can’t move money.
It isn’t on unless you turn it on and approve a specific app.

What you can do with it

Once connected, you can ask about your money in plain language, from inside Claude or ChatGPT. A few examples:

“Am I on track with my budget this month?”
“What did I spend on dining out compared to last month?”
“How close am I to my emergency fund goal?”
“Which subscriptions am I still paying for?”
“Move $50 from my dining budget to groceries.”
“Log a $100 contribution to my vacation goal.”

The last two make changes, so they only work if you grant change access when you connect.

You’re in control

Off by default. Nothing is shared until you turn it on in Kove and approve a specific app.
You pick the access. Kove’s approval screen spells out what the app can read and change before you say yes. Read only is an option.
Every change is logged. You can see each change a connected app made, with before and after values, inside Kove itself.
Disconnect anytime. Access stops immediately. Disconnecting can’t pull back data the app already received, so use that app’s own controls to delete it there.

The technical details are in the reference docs at the bottom of this page.

How to connect today

Until Kove is listed in each app’s directory (see the next section), connecting takes a few manual steps. There’s no secret or API key to copy.

First: turn it on in Kove

In Kove, go to Settings, then AI Assistant, and switch on Enable MCP access. Kove will ask you to verify your identity. Until this is on, the approval step below will refuse to connect.

Claude

In Claude, go to Settings, then Connectors.
Click the "+" button, then "Add custom connector."
Server URL: https://kovefinance.app/mcp
Open "Advanced settings" and enter Client ID: kove-claude. Leave the secret blank.
Click Add, then Connect, and sign in to Kove to approve.

ChatGPT

In ChatGPT, go to Settings, then Plugins. Click the + button next to "Search plugins" and choose "Create app" (not "Create plugin"). If an upload screen appears, click "Create MCP App."
Name it Kove, set Server URL to https://kovefinance.app/mcp, and set Authentication to OAuth.
Open "Advanced OAuth settings." ChatGPT fills in Kove's sign-in details on its own. Enter Client ID: kove-chatgpt and leave the client secret blank.
Check the risk acknowledgment and click Create.
Click Connect, sign in to Kove in the tab that opens, and click Allow access. You land back in ChatGPT, connected.

Coming to the Claude & ChatGPT directories

Claude and ChatGPT each have a directory of approved apps, kind of like an app store. Once Kove is listed, you’ll be able to find it there and connect in one click, with no server URL or client ID to enter. We’re working through each platform’s review now.

In the works

ChatGPT

Hoping for November 1, 2026.

In the works

Claude

Hoping for late November to early December 2026.

These are targets, not promises. Each platform runs its own review, and we’ll update this page as things move. The manual steps above work in the meantime.

Frequently asked questions

Yes. Kove AI is on by default, and you can turn it off anytime in your AI settings on the web or in the mobile app. The setting follows your account, and budgeting, tracking, and categorization work the same without it. AI connectors are separate and stay off unless you turn them on.

No. This is an optional feature, off by default. Nothing about your account changes if you never turn it on.

No. Kove AI lives inside the Kove app. An AI connector is for when you'd rather ask questions from Claude or ChatGPT directly, using your own account with that app.

Yes, but there will not be much for it to summarize. Every tool still works on a brand new account, most will just return empty results until you connect a bank account through Plaid.

No. Each connection is tied to exactly one signed in Kove user, and every request is scoped to that user's own data with no exceptions.

No. A connected app can't move money, connect or disconnect a bank, or change your account or billing settings. The full list of what it can and can't do is in the reference docs below.

Data the app reads goes to the company that runs it (Anthropic for Claude, OpenAI for ChatGPT) under your agreement with them. Connecting doesn't change who else can see your data on Kove's side. Our Data page under Transparency has the complete list.

In Kove, go to Settings, then AI Assistant. Every connected app is listed there along with a log of every change it has made, and disconnecting takes effect immediately.

It can flag the gap to Kove's team, but only after asking you first and only after you agree to send it. This never happens silently.

Reference docs

The full detail on Kove’s MCP server at kovefinance.app/mcp, for users who want the specifics and for reviewers evaluating the connector for a platform directory.

What it can read

Accounts & net worth: balances across linked accounts, and net worth split into cash, investments, and debt.
Budget: planned amounts by category against actual spending, on whichever plan, monthly or long term, is active.
Goals: savings goals, current progress, and target dates.
Transactions: recent activity, plus search by merchant, amount, or date.
Spending patterns: category totals by month, month over month comparisons, and spending that departs from your own baseline.
Recurring charges & subscriptions: what Kove has detected as recurring.
Investments: investment accounts and manually tracked holdings.
Retirement plan: saved retirement assumptions and the resulting projection.
Debt payoff: a projection comparing avalanche and snowball payoff strategies on credit card debt.

Connected apps never receive your password, verification codes, or Plaid access tokens.

What it can change

Only if you grant change access when you connect. Every change is scoped to your own data and recorded in Kove’s change log. The app makes changes without asking you each time.

Goals: create one, update it, or log a contribution.
Budget: adjust planned amounts, or add a custom category, on either the monthly or long term plan.
Transactions: recategorize one, or mark it reviewed.
Credit cards: update a card’s limit, APR, or minimum payment.
Recurring charges: accept a detected candidate as a tracked recurring charge, or dismiss it.
Retirement plan: update the saved assumptions.
Feedback: tell Kove’s team about something you asked for that no current tool can do, only sent after you say yes.

It can’t move money, connect or disconnect a bank, or change your account or billing settings.

Authentication & security

Each connection is tied to exactly one signed in Kove user. There is no way for a connected app to see or touch another user’s data.
Authentication uses OAuth 2.1 with PKCE. Kove never gives the connected app your password, and there is no client secret to leak, the app proves who it is with a code challenge it generates locally.
Only apps Kove has registered can connect. The two registered clients are public OAuth clients: kove-claude and kove-chatgpt.
External app access must be switched on in Kove, with identity verification, before any app can connect.
Before you approve a connection, Kove’s own consent screen lists exactly what read access and change access include, in plain language, every time.
Every change a connected app makes is written to an audit log, with before and after values, and shown to you inside Kove.
Kove may suspend external app access for an account in cases of misuse, as described in our Terms of Service.

Managing your connection

Every connected app, when it last ran, and every change it has made are visible inside Kove at Settings, then AI Assistant. Disconnecting an app there, or turning off MCP access entirely, revokes access immediately, not at the connection’s next token refresh. The change log is kept until you delete your account, including after you disconnect.

For how Kove handles data generally, see our Data transparency page and our Privacy Policy. For anything specific to this connector, we’d rather you ask than guess.

Last reviewed September 2026.

Image credit: Deep on Unsplash.

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