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Guide

Using Era Context in a developer workflow

Era Team

Product

"How much did I spend on AWS this month?" You can ask that question without leaving your terminal. If you use Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code with GitHub Copilot, or any other MCP-compatible development tool, your coding assistant already speaks the same protocol as Era Context. One configuration line, and your AI has secure access to your financial data alongside your codebase.

Why this matters for developers

Developers live in their tools. Switching to a banking app to check a balance or review transactions is a context switch — small, but frequent. If you are already talking to an AI assistant while you code, that same assistant can answer financial questions without you opening a new tab.

This is not about building fintech. It is about convenience. You are mid-flow, you wonder if that AWS bill posted yet, and you ask. Your AI checks Era Context, gives you the answer, and you keep coding. Same conversation, no app switching.

The connection works because Era Context is a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server. MCP is an open standard for giving AI assistants access to external data sources. Your dev tools already support it — Claude Code, Cursor, and VS Code use MCP to connect to codebases, databases, and APIs. Era Context is just another MCP server, except it connects to your bank accounts instead of your database.

Setup: Claude Code

Claude Code supports MCP servers natively. Add Era Context to your configuration:

  1. Open your Claude Code MCP settings.
  2. Add a new MCP server with the URL: https://context.era.app
  3. Authenticate with your Era account when prompted.

That is it. Claude Code now has access to your financial data. Ask it anything: "What is my checking account balance?" "Show me my recurring subscriptions." "How much did I spend on food this week?"

Claude Code will use Era Context's tools automatically when your question is about finances and your codebase when your question is about code. No mode switching required.

Setup: Cursor

Cursor supports MCP servers through its settings panel:

  1. Open Cursor settings and navigate to the MCP section.
  2. Add a new server with the URL: https://context.era.app
  3. Authenticate with your Era account.

Once connected, you can ask financial questions inline while coding. Cursor routes the query to Era Context and returns the answer in the same chat panel you use for code assistance.

Setup: VS Code with GitHub Copilot

VS Code supports MCP through GitHub Copilot:

  1. Open VS Code settings and find the MCP server configuration.
  2. Add Era Context with the URL: https://context.era.app
  3. Authenticate when prompted.

GitHub Copilot will route financial queries to Era Context and code queries to your workspace — seamlessly, in the same conversation.

Setup: any MCP-compatible client

The pattern is the same for every MCP-compatible tool: add https://context.era.app as an MCP server and authenticate. Era works with any client that supports the Model Context Protocol — the list includes Gemini, Perplexity, Cline, OpenClaw, and more. If your tool can connect to an MCP server, it can connect to Era Context.

What you can ask

Once connected, your coding AI has access to 33 tools across 7 groups within Era Context. You do not need to know the tool names — just ask questions in natural language, and your AI selects the right tools automatically.

Account queries:

  • "What is my checking account balance right now?"
  • "List all my connected accounts and their balances."

Transaction searches:

  • "How much did I spend on AWS this month?"
  • "Show me all transactions over $100 this week."
  • "What recurring subscriptions am I paying for?"

Spending analysis:

  • "Compare my spending this month versus last month."
  • "Break down my spending by category for March."
  • "What is my daily average spend this week?"

Financial context:

  • "What are my financial goals?" (if you have told any AI agent about them — Era remembers across agents).
  • "What did I tell Claude about my savings plan?" (cross-agent memory means any connected agent can recall this).

Rule management:

  • "Create a rule to tag all GitHub and Vercel charges as 'dev tools.'"
  • "Show me my active automation rules."

Cross-agent memory in practice

Here is where it gets interesting for developers who use multiple AI tools. Era Context has cross-agent memory: tell one AI something about your finances, and every other connected AI knows it too.

Say you are using Claude on your phone and mention, "I am saving for a new MacBook Pro — target is $3,000 by September." That fact is stored in Era Context. Later, you are in Cursor working on a project and ask, "How am I tracking toward my savings goals?" Cursor queries Era Context, retrieves the MacBook Pro goal you told Claude about, and gives you an update — all without you repeating yourself.

This works because Era Context is the memory layer, not any individual AI. Your preferences, goals, and financial context persist across every connected client. You can also ask any agent to forget something, and it is gone everywhere.

Privacy and access control

A reasonable question: "Should I connect my bank accounts to my dev tools?"

Here is how the security works. Your dev tool connects to Era Context, not to your bank. Era Context connects to your bank through MX, a regulated financial data aggregator. Your bank credentials are never stored by Era — the connection uses OAuth, so you authenticate directly with your bank.

Your AI agent sees structured financial data — balances, transactions, categories. It does not see raw database rows, full account numbers, or bank credentials. Every interaction requires explicit authorization. You can revoke access to any client at any time.

Data is encrypted with AES-256 at rest and TLS 1.3 in transit. Your financial data is never sold, never used for advertising, and never used to train AI models.

You choose what to share and with whom. If you want Cursor to have access but not VS Code, you control that. Each client connection is independent.

A practical developer day

Here is what a typical day might look like with Era Context connected to your dev tools:

9:00 AM — You start coding in Cursor. Mid-morning you wonder if your freelance client's payment hit yet. "Did I receive any deposits over $2,000 this week?" Cursor checks Era Context: yes, the payment posted yesterday.

12:30 PM — Over lunch in Claude Code, you ask: "What is my total spend on SaaS subscriptions this month?" Claude lists your recurring charges — Vercel, GitHub, Notion, Linear, Figma. You notice you are still paying for a tool you stopped using. You ask Claude to flag it.

4:00 PM — You switch to ChatGPT on your phone for a non-coding question. You ask: "How much have I spent on dev tools this year?" ChatGPT pulls the same data, sees the tag you created through Cursor, and gives you the total. You did not re-explain anything.

That is the workflow. Your financial data is there when you need it, invisible when you do not, and consistent across every tool you use.

Getting started

Create an Era account at era.app. The free Basic plan gives you read-only MCP access with two connected accounts — enough to try the workflow. The Organize plan ($14.99/month) adds full read-write MCP access, unlimited categories and tags, and the full rules engine.

Add https://context.era.app to your dev tool's MCP configuration. Authenticate. Start asking questions.

Your coding AI already knows your code. Now it knows your money too.