Skip to main content
The cloud version connects assistants over the internet with an account and OAuth. The desktop version does the same thing on your own machine: an assistant reads your records over 127.0.0.1, authenticated by this install’s own token, and nothing leaves the computer.
This is the desktop counterpart to the hosted MCP server. Same tools, same protocol — the difference is where it runs and who it answers as. On the desktop it answers as the one local identity, from your local database.

​
What you need

  • The AI2Fin desktop app, running.
  • An MCP client on the same machine — Claude Desktop, Cursor, or any other.
That is the whole requirement. There is no account to create, no key to mint on a website, and no data leaving your computer.

​
Connect it

1

Open the connection details

In the app, open Connect your assistant from the dashboard (or the Local automation page). It shows a ready-to-paste configuration block with your machine’s MCP address and this install’s token.
2

Copy the config into your client

Paste it into your assistant’s MCP settings. For a client that reads a JSON config, it looks like this:
The app fills in the real port and token for you — copy the block from the app rather than typing it, so both are correct.
3

Ask your assistant about your finances

“What did I spend on software last month?” “Categorise my uncategorised transactions.” The assistant uses the same tools the hosted server exposes, against your local data.

​
The token is per-launch

The app mints a fresh token every time it starts. That is not an inconvenience to work around — it is what keeps other software on your machine, and any web page you have open, out of your records. A scanned port is useless without the current token, and the token is never in a URL or a cookie.
After you restart the app, copy the configuration again — the token from the previous session no longer works. The connection panel always shows the current one.

​
Why this is safe

The loopback server checks three things before any request reaches your data, and an assistant on your machine passes them the same way the app does:
Nothing off your machine can reach it — not another device on your Wi-Fi, not the internet.
A web page you have open cannot use the browser to reach in: the request is refused before the token is even compared, and a loopback-only Host check defeats DNS-rebinding tricks.
Compared in constant time, minted fresh at every start. Whoever holds the current token is the person sitting at the machine with the app open.

​
What the assistant can and cannot do

It can read and work with your transactions, bills, categories, reports and tax data — the same tool set the hosted server documents. It cannot reach anything outside your local data, and it cannot make Fin send your records anywhere: the assistant talks to your machine, and your machine keeps your records on your machine.

Prefer no assistant at all?

Local MCP is a connection like any other. Airplane mode and the per-connection switches in Where your data lives apply to it too.