Ask a local AI analyst about your spending without uploading bank data
Maali for Mac and Windows tracks spending, budgets, recurring bills, income and net worth from imported CSV or PDF statements or SimpleFIN, and its AI analyst runs on your own computer.
Source
zukhan on Hacker News · 2026-10-19 · Project link
Written in our own words. Credit to the original author. Link checked 2026-10-23.
What they did
Maali for Mac and Windows tracks spending, budgets, recurring bills, income and net worth from imported CSV or PDF statements or SimpleFIN, and its AI analyst runs on your own computer.
Result (as claimed)
Built over a year by someone who would not hand cloud budgeting apps his data; it works with Wi-Fi off.
Tools they used
Cost: Pricing depends on the tools you pick; check each official pricing page.
Set it up
Gather the documents
Collect statements, bills, invoices or tax documents for the period you want reviewed.
Ask for an audit, not actions
Have Maali list findings, amounts and suggested next steps before it does anything.
Approve each action
Approve cancellations, disputes or payments one at a time. Never give an agent open-ended access to move money.
Track the result
Record what changed and what you saved so you can check it next month. This is not financial advice.
Copy the full setup prompt
Paste into your agent and it will walk you through the setup, asking before anything that sends, posts or spends.
You are helping me set up this AI use case end to end in Claude Code. Goal: Ask a local AI analyst about your spending without uploading bank data What the original author did: Maali for Mac and Windows tracks spending, budgets, recurring bills, income and net worth from imported CSV or PDF statements or SimpleFIN, and its AI analyst runs on your own computer. Reported result (as claimed by the author): Built over a year by someone who would not hand cloud budgeting apps his data; it works with Wi-Fi off. Source: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50156825 Tools they used: Maali, SimpleFIN Category: Money Please: 1. Ask me 3 short questions about my situation (accounts I have, budget, what I want the output to look like). 2. Propose a step-by-step plan using these tools or cheaper alternatives, with the time and cost of each step. Use official pricing pages; say "check pricing" if unsure. 3. Then do the setup with me one step at a time, waiting for my OK before anything that sends messages, posts publicly, spends money or deletes data. 4. Finish with a checklist to run it again next time.
You are helping me set up this AI use case end to end in Codex. Goal: Ask a local AI analyst about your spending without uploading bank data What the original author did: Maali for Mac and Windows tracks spending, budgets, recurring bills, income and net worth from imported CSV or PDF statements or SimpleFIN, and its AI analyst runs on your own computer. Reported result (as claimed by the author): Built over a year by someone who would not hand cloud budgeting apps his data; it works with Wi-Fi off. Source: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50156825 Tools they used: Maali, SimpleFIN Category: Money Please: 1. Ask me 3 short questions about my situation (accounts I have, budget, what I want the output to look like). 2. Propose a step-by-step plan using these tools or cheaper alternatives, with the time and cost of each step. Use official pricing pages; say "check pricing" if unsure. 3. Then do the setup with me one step at a time, waiting for my OK before anything that sends messages, posts publicly, spends money or deletes data. 4. Finish with a checklist to run it again next time.
You are helping me set up this AI use case end to end in Grok Bot. Goal: Ask a local AI analyst about your spending without uploading bank data What the original author did: Maali for Mac and Windows tracks spending, budgets, recurring bills, income and net worth from imported CSV or PDF statements or SimpleFIN, and its AI analyst runs on your own computer. Reported result (as claimed by the author): Built over a year by someone who would not hand cloud budgeting apps his data; it works with Wi-Fi off. Source: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50156825 Tools they used: Maali, SimpleFIN Category: Money Please: 1. Ask me 3 short questions about my situation (accounts I have, budget, what I want the output to look like). 2. Propose a step-by-step plan using these tools or cheaper alternatives, with the time and cost of each step. Use official pricing pages; say "check pricing" if unsure. 3. Then do the setup with me one step at a time, waiting for my OK before anything that sends messages, posts publicly, spends money or deletes data. 4. Finish with a checklist to run it again next time.
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Guides for this use case
How to use AI agents for taxes, bills and budgets · How to make money with AI agents
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