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SHAVVE

Connect Claude or ChatGPT to your financial data in Shavve (MCP)

You can connect Claude, ChatGPT or any other MCP client to your own data in Shavve, so the assistant answers questions from your real numbers. The connection is read-only: the assistant cannot move money or change anything, every call is recorded in an audit log, and you can disconnect it with one tap.

  • Read-only
  • Audit log for every call
  • One-tap revoke

What MCP is, in one paragraph

MCP (Model Context Protocol) is a protocol that lets an AI assistant request specific data from a connected source, instead of you copying documents into the chat by hand.

In Shavve, the server exposes a list of read-only tools to the assistant, such as net worth, transactions or a cash-flow forecast, and the assistant calls them when it needs a number. It sees only the tools for the scopes you approved, and only through a personal key that you create and can disconnect.

That way answers rest on your connected data and not on the model's memory. It is still worth checking important numbers against the source, because an AI assistant can be wrong.

What the assistant can and cannot do

The assistant can read data within the scopes you approved and answer questions about it. It cannot change data, move money or open a new bank authorization, because no write tool exists.

What it can do

  • Read net worth, pension, insurance, debts, property and crypto, if you approved the "Net worth" scope.
  • Read transactions, recurring charges, a monthly summary, budget status and an aggregate household summary, if you approved the "Transactions" scope.
  • Read a cash-flow forecast, test one hypothetical scenario against it and see the emergency buffer you configured, if you approved the "Forecast" scope.

What it can never do

  • Move money, open a new bank authorization or change any data: access is read-only.
  • See other household members' data beyond what your account scope includes. In the household summary the assistant gets an aggregate only.
  • Get access just because you connected a data source to Shavve: connecting a bank and authorizing an assistant are two completely separate permissions.
  • Use a tool whose scope you did not approve: such a tool does not appear to the assistant at all, it is not merely blocked.

Scopes and tools: what each permission opens

Three scopes drive the tools: transactions, net worth and forecast. Each tool belongs to one scope, and the assistant sees only the tools for the scopes you granted.

Transactions

transactions.read

See your transactions: amount, date and where they went.

Tools

  • get_transactions

    Recent transactions across accounts, credit cards and manual entries, with search and a source filter. Up to 100 rows per call.

  • get_recurring

    Detected recurring movements: salary, standing orders and subscriptions.

  • get_month_summary

    Six months of income and expenses, and this month's category breakdown.

  • get_budget_status

    This month against your budgets: how much was budgeted, spent and what remains per category.

  • get_household_summary

    The household's combined spending this month, as an aggregate only.

Net worth

networth.read

See your total net worth.

Tools

  • get_net_worth

    Full net worth: accounts, savings and investments, pension, insurance, property, crypto and liabilities.

  • get_pension_summary

    Pension, provident and study-fund products: balances, fees actually charged, track and return against a benchmark.

  • get_insurance_summary

    Insurance cover by type, active versus expired, and duplicate cover.

  • get_debt_summary

    Loans and mortgages: balance, rate, term and annual interest cost.

  • get_real_estate

    Properties with an automated valuation, presented as an estimate and not a transaction price.

  • get_crypto

    Crypto wallet balances: total value, currency and the as-of date.

Forecast

forecast.read

See forecasts and scenarios already calculated.

Tools

  • get_forecast

    A 30-day cash-flow projection, including the low point of the balance and its date.

  • get_scenario

    Tests one hypothetical money decision against the forecast, such as a spend, an income change or a debt payment. Changes nothing for real.

  • get_cash_buffer

    The emergency buffer you configured: mode, amount and how it was derived. If no buffer is set, it says so.

You may also see a fourth scope in the app, "Read accounts and balances" (accounts.read). It exists on the server, but no assistant tool needs it at the moment, so there is no need to tick it.

Ready-made documents and prompts

Beyond tools, the server offers two ready-made documents, a monthly summary and a holdings snapshot, and five starter prompts: monthly-summary, anomaly-check, pension-fees, coverage-check and cost-of-debt. They are subject to the same scopes.

The tools also return the limits of the data itself: a management fee that was not reported is marked as such and not as zero, and a property value is shown as an automated estimate and not a transaction price.

How to connect, step by step

You create the connection in the app: More → Developer → Assistant access (MCP), start the guided authorization, choose scopes, copy the key and paste it into the assistant's MCP settings.

The five steps

  1. Open the connection screen in the app

    In the app go to More → Developer → Assistant access (MCP), and tap "Start guided authorization".

  2. Name the assistant and choose scopes

    Type a name for the assistant, for example Claude, and tick at least one scope: transactions, net worth or forecast. You cannot continue without an explicit choice, so the assistant never gets everything just because nothing was ticked.

  3. Review the permission and choose a duration

    The review screen shows what will be granted and what is marked "Not requested access to". Choose a duration: no expiry, 30 days, 90 days or 1 year, and confirm with "Confirm and connect".

  4. Copy the key

    The key is shown once. The server keeps only a hash of it and it cannot be recovered, so copy it right away.

  5. Paste it into the assistant's MCP settings

    In the assistant, add a custom MCP connection with the server address and the key. The app shows the server address, and the instruction to add an Authorization header of type Bearer followed by the key, on the Developer screen, in the "Connect an AI" card, when you create a connection.

In Claude and in ChatGPT

Both assistants talk to the same server over the same protocol. The only difference is each assistant's own setup screens.

Claude

In Claude Desktop and claude.ai you add a custom connector that points at the server address, with the key set as the connector's authorization header. Claude discovers the tools, documents and prompts by itself.

ChatGPT

In ChatGPT you add a custom connector the same way: the server address and the key. ChatGPT's setup screens differ from Claude's, but the protocol and the server are the same.

Menu names and the availability of custom connectors change between versions and plans of each assistant, so we do not describe third-party screens here. Follow the assistant's own documentation for adding a custom MCP server.

Once connected, start with the monthly-summary prompt: it is built so that the assistant uses the tools and returns real numbers instead of reasoning from memory.

Example prompts

These are example wordings only, not real answers: what you get depends on the data you connected and the scopes you approved. The assistant chooses which tool to use by itself.

  • Example

    Summarise my month: income, expenses and the biggest categories, compared with last month.

    Relevant tool: get_month_summary

  • Example

    Which recurring charges and subscriptions do I have, and what is the usual amount of each?

    Relevant tool: get_recurring

  • Example

    How much do I actually pay in management fees in each pension product, and how does it compare with the market median?

    Relevant tool: get_pension_summary

  • Example

    Do I have duplicate insurance cover, or a policy that has expired?

    Relevant tool: get_insurance_summary

  • Example

    Where is the low point of my cash flow in the next 30 days?

    Relevant tool: get_forecast

  • Example

    What happens to my cash flow if I add a one-off expense next week?

    Relevant tool: get_scenario

  • Example

    Where am I over budget this month?

    Relevant tool: get_budget_status

A general question, such as "how do management fees work?", needs no access to your data at all. And questions that call for a personal decision are worth taking to a licensed professional.

Trust and privacy: what is recorded, what is masked and how to disconnect

Every call the assistant makes to a tool is recorded in an audit log, and you can revoke the key with one tap from the app. Revoking blocks future access immediately, but we cannot guarantee deletion of copies the assistant already holds.

  • Audit log

    Every call to every tool is recorded individually, not just the general request to the server, so you can tell what was read and when.

  • Immediate revoke

    In the "Authorized assistants" list in the app each assistant is marked active, expired or disconnected, and you can disconnect it with one tap. Every request re-checks the key, so revocation takes effect immediately.

  • The key is shown once

    After creation only the key's prefix is visible (for example shv_ab12), which is enough to recognise it and useless as a key.

  • A duration you choose

    You can create a key with no expiry, or one that expires after 30 days, 90 days or 1 year.

  • Sensitive identifiers are masked

    Policy numbers are reduced to their last four digits, and national ID and employer identifier numbers are masked entirely before data leaves the server.

  • Outside text is marked as data

    Text that originates outside Shavve, such as merchant names and transaction descriptions, is marked as content and not as an instruction, so it cannot be used to give the assistant orders.

  • A cap per call

    A single call returns at most 100 transactions, so there is no way to drain the whole history at once.

Privacy notes

  • What the assistant reads goes into your conversation with the assistant's provider and is subject to that provider's privacy policy and settings. Check in the assistant's settings how conversations are kept and used, and grant only the scopes the question needs.
  • Do not paste passwords, one-time codes or a full card number into the chat. A legitimate assistant does not need them to help you understand your money.
  • Create a separate key for each assistant, so you can disconnect one without touching the others.

Before you disconnect: Disconnecting stops future access immediately, but we cannot guarantee deletion of copies already held by the assistant.

An AI assistant can be wrong. Check important numbers against the source. This is general information and not advice; for a professional decision, speak to a licensed professional.

Frequently asked questions

Can the assistant move money or change data?

No. Access is read-only and no write tool exists on the server, so a connected assistant cannot move money, open a new bank authorization or change data.

What data can the assistant read?

Only what the scopes you approved allow: transactions, net worth (including pensions, insurance, debts, property and crypto) and forecast. A tool whose scope was not approved does not appear to the assistant at all.

How do I disconnect an assistant?

In the app, go to More → Developer → Assistant access (MCP), tap "Disconnect" in the "Authorized assistants" list and confirm. Access is blocked immediately, but we cannot guarantee deletion of copies the assistant already holds.

Does the assistant receive my bank password?

No. The assistant receives only a personal Shavve key. Connecting a bank and authorizing an assistant are two separate permissions, and when you connect a bank you authenticate with the bank itself.

Can I see the key again after I created it?

No. It is shown once and the server keeps only a hash of it. If it is lost, disconnect it and create a new key.

Do I have to grant every scope?

No. You can choose a single scope, and the review screen shows explicitly which data was not requested.

Does it only work with Claude and ChatGPT?

The connection is built on the MCP protocol, so it suits Claude, ChatGPT and any other MCP client that lets you add a custom server.

Are the assistant's answers advice?

No. It is general information. An AI assistant can be wrong, so check important numbers against the source and make big decisions with a licensed professional.

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