FAQ & guides

Everything you need to know

A quick start, and answers to the questions people ask most.

Quick start

  1. 1Connect your bank account

    After signing in with Google and being approved, connect your first bank:

    1. Go to Accounts and choose "Connect a bank"
    2. Search for your bank in the Plaid window
    3. Sign in to your online banking (secure and encrypted)
    4. Select which accounts to connect
    5. Wait for the first sync: it brings in 60 days of transactions

    Your bank credentials are never stored. Plaid gives us read-only access.

  2. 2Organize with categories

    Transactions are categorized automatically, and you can shape the categories:

    1. Go to Categories
    2. Review the default categories (Food, Transportation, and so on)
    3. Create your own categories with subcategories
    4. Give them colors and icons so they are easy to spot
    5. Use tags for another way to group them (e.g. "Tax deductible", "Business")

    CoinFlow remembers how you categorize each merchant, so the more you correct, the less there is to correct.

  3. 3Create your first budget

    Set spending limits and track your progress:

    1. Go to Budgets and choose "Create budget"
    2. Pick the month
    3. Set amounts for each category, or copy last month's
    4. Watch your progress as transactions sync

    The budget shows actual against planned spending for each category.

  4. 4Analyze your spending

    Find the patterns:

    1. Open Trends
    2. Filter by date range, category or tag
    3. Break spending down by category, tag or time
    4. Export to CSV for your own analysis
    5. Adjust your budgets accordingly

Frequently asked questions

General

Is CoinFlow really free?

Yes: we're in free beta, with no hidden costs and no credit card. There isn't even a way to pay us yet. Access starts as a 30-day trial with every feature switched on; if you'd like longer, just ask, and during beta we'll say yes.

How does CoinFlow make money?

Right now, it doesn't: CoinFlow costs money to run. Every bank account you connect carries a monthly fee from our bank-data provider, so we will most likely charge for live bank sync eventually. We'd rather say that plainly than promise a free tier we might not be able to keep.

What we will commit to: your data is never held hostage. If you don't pay, the app goes read-only instead of locking you out: you keep reading and exporting everything you ever put in, at no cost, for as long as you want it.

Security & privacy

Is my bank information secure?

We use Plaid, the industry-leading banking API trusted by Venmo, Robinhood and thousands of apps. Your bank credentials go to Plaid, never to our servers. We only have read-only access: we cannot move money or make changes to your accounts.

Can CoinFlow move money from my accounts?

No. We only have read-only access to your transaction history and account balances. We cannot initiate transfers, make payments, or modify your accounts in any way.

Do you sell my data?

Never. Your financial data is private and belongs to you. We do not sell, share, or monetize your personal information. See our Privacy Policy for details.

Can I sign in without Google?

You sign up with Google. Once you are in, you can add a passkey on your Account page and sign in with it from then on.

Features & usage

How often do transactions sync?

Whenever you ask: choose "Sync latest" on Transactions, or "Sync all" on Accounts, and we pull the latest from your banks through Plaid. Most transactions appear within 1-4 hours of being made, depending on your bank.

Can I split a transaction across multiple categories?

Yes. Split a single transaction across several categories: for example, a Target purchase into "Groceries" and "Household items". Use the split button on the transaction's row.

How does automatic categorization work?

It's rule-based, not AI. When you categorize a transaction, CoinFlow saves the merchant and the category you chose. New transactions are matched against those saved pairs, first on merchant name and then on the description, and filed automatically. If a merchant has no saved pair yet, it uses whichever category you've most often given that merchant before.

It only ever learns from your choices; nothing is shared between accounts, and your transactions are never sent to a third-party model. You can always override a categorization, and doing so updates the rule.

Can I connect multiple bank accounts?

Yes: up to 10 accounts and credit cards, from as many different institutions as you like. All transactions come together in one place.

Can I use it with an AI assistant?

Yes. CoinFlow is an MCP server: add it as a connector in Claude (or another MCP client), sign in, and approve the assistant. It can then look up your transactions, budgets, categories and tags, and categorize, tag or split transactions for you. You can disconnect it from your Account page at any time.

Bitcoin

How do bitcoin wallets work?

Add a wallet by its extended public key (xpub, ypub or zpub). It is watch-only: we can see its addresses and transactions, but we can never spend from it. You can also add transactions by hand or import them from CSV.

Where do my wallet addresses go when it syncs?

To an Electrum server, which looks up their transactions. Set your own server in Settings and nothing goes anywhere else. A shared server is there if you have none, but only after you agree to send your addresses to it.

Which cost basis methods are there?

FIFO, LIFO and HIFO. Choose one, compare all three side by side for any tax year, and download the realized gains as a Form 8949 CSV. We do not give tax advice: check the report with your tax professional.

Troubleshooting

My bank connection failed. What should I do?
  • Check that your bank credentials are correct
  • Check whether your bank requires multi-factor authentication
  • Try again in a few minutes (banks have temporary outages)
  • Some banks require you to allow third-party access in your online banking settings
  • If it still fails, your bank may not be supported by Plaid yet
Some transactions are missing. Why?

The first sync imports the last 60 days of transactions. Pending transactions may not appear immediately. Sync again to get the latest. If transactions are still missing, check whether they show in your online banking: Plaid can only see what your bank makes available.

Can I delete my account and data?

Yes. You can export everything as CSV at any time, from inside the app. To delete your account, go to Account, choose "Delete my account", and type your email address to confirm.

Deletion waits 14 days before it happens. Your account keeps working normally during that window, and you can cancel at any point from the banner shown on every page. After that everything is permanently removed: transactions, budgets, categories, tags, bitcoin wallets, and your bank connections at Plaid. Prefer we did it for you? Email privacy@mattraydub.com.

Still have questions?

The best way to learn is by trying it out.

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