The short answer
Lumen connects the financial accounts you select to Claude through a custom connector. Claude can request account information and use it to answer your questions. You do not need to download a new statement for each conversation, and Lumen cannot move money, pay bills, or make trades.
Before you start
- A Lumen account and a supported financial institution you can sign in to.
- A Claude account with custom remote connectors available. Workspace rules may require an owner to add the connector.
- Your Lumen connection link from the signed in setup page. Use that link rather than an endpoint copied from an unrelated tutorial.
From connected accounts to a useful question
Follow Lumen’s guided setup
Create your Lumen account and follow the setup flow to connect your AI and financial accounts. Choose the accounts you want to include. Already signed up? Your AI connection page has your connection link and the current walkthrough.
Add Lumen in Claude
In Claude’s Connectors settings, choose the option to add a custom connector. Name it Lumen and paste your Lumen link as the remote MCP server URL. Follow Claude’s authentication prompts. MCP is the standard that lets Claude connect to services such as Lumen.
Review and approve access
Sign in to Lumen when prompted and review the requested permissions. Lumen may allow financial reads, categories or labels, and connection refreshes, depending on the permissions granted. Those abilities do not include moving money. You can revoke an AI app’s access from your Lumen profile.
Enable Lumen and ask one specific question
Enable the connector for your Claude conversation. Start with a period and a question, such as “How much did I spend eating out last month across my connected accounts?” Then ask Claude to explain the transactions behind its answer.
One question can become a useful plan.
A personal spending conversation in Claude
Sample dataYou
How much did I spend eating out last month?
Your AI, using Lumen
You spent $310 across 8 visits in your connected accounts.
You
Give me the total per restaurant.
Your AI, using Lumen
Oak & Olive: $128. Green Bowl: $96. Corner Cafe: $86. Total: $310.
You
What if I kept it to $25 a week?
Your AI, using Lumen
If that month’s pace continued for a year, it would be $3,720. A $25 weekly limit would total $1,300 over 52 weeks, a difference of $2,420. That is a scenario, not guaranteed savings.
Scripted example with invented figures. Actual answers depend on your connected data and AI. Lumen supplies the account context. Claude explains and calculates. You decide what to do.
Make the answer worth relying on.
Confirm the accounts and dates
Ask which accounts and date range were included. Missing connections or unavailable history can change the answer.
Inspect the source transactions
If a total surprises you, ask for the underlying transactions. Review ambiguous merchants, refunds, and categories before relying on the result.
Know who receives the information
Claude receives the financial information used in your conversation. Its own privacy and retention policies apply in addition to Lumen’s.
A few practical questions
Do I need to understand MCP or write code?
You do not need to write code for the Claude web setup. MCP is simply the connection standard. The setup page gives you the Lumen link and walks you through adding it to Claude.
Does connecting Lumen give Claude my bank password?
No. Connect your institution through the financial connection flow, not by pasting credentials into chat. Lumen does not receive your bank username or password. Claude receives the financial information requested through the connection.
Is Lumen an official Claude partner?
This guide describes adding Lumen as a custom connector. Compatibility with Claude does not mean that Anthropic has endorsed Lumen or verified its custom connector.
Sources and current instructions
Provider interfaces and eligibility can change. Use the current setup walkthrough and provider documentation if the controls look different.