How to connect Meta's Muse to your bank accounts

To connect Meta's Muse to your bank accounts, link them in Era, make an Era API key, and ask Muse to build a Custom Connector from Era's API documentation. Muse then answers from your real balances and transactions across every bank and card you've linked, and with the access you choose, it can recategorize, tag and set rules for you too.

The key can't reach your bank login, because Era never has it. It expires on the date you pick, and revoking it in Era cuts Muse off from its next request, without opening Muse. Era never sells your data or uses it to train models; how Era protects your financial data covers the rest.

This guide gives you the exact request to send Muse, the access to pick for its key, a question that proves the connection works, and what to do when the key expires. Era is an independent company; Muse is made by Meta.

How do I connect Muse to my bank accounts with Era?

Make an API key in your Era dashboard, then ask Meta's Muse to create a Custom Connector using Era's API documentation and that key. Muse asks for the key and uses it on every request to Era. Once the connector is saved, Muse can read your balances and transactions across every bank and card account you've linked to Era.

Before you make the key, know what it is. An Era API key acts as your whole Era account, not one bank or one question: whoever holds it can do anything its permissions allow, across every account you've linked. That's why the steps below start Muse on read-only access with a short expiry.

Here's the whole procedure, start to finish.

1. Link your accounts in Era. Sign up at era.app (the Basic tier is free) and connect your banks and cards. You sign in to each bank inside a connection flow run by a regulated aggregator, never in Muse and never on an Era screen.

2. Make an API key for Muse. In Era, go to Agents → API keys and choose Create key (it reads Create another key if you've made one before). Name it "Muse" so you can spot it later.

3. Choose what the key can do, and for how long. Under Scopes, which is Era's word for permissions, the form starts with a standard set already ticked, and that set includes permission to make changes. For read-only access, untick every box whose name ends in write. Leave the boxes that start unticked as they are, and don't tick All scopes. Under Expiry, pick the shortest period you're happy to renew. Then choose Create key.

4. Copy the key. Era shows it once, on the Save your API key screen. Choose Copy key. Era stores only a SHA-256 hash of the key, never the key itself, so if you lose it before Muse has it, revoke it and make another.

5. Ask Muse to build the connector. Open Muse and send this request:

   Create a Custom Connector for Era, my personal finance service. Its API documentation is at https://era.app/docs/era-api. It authenticates with an Era API key sent in the X-API-Key header. I'll give you the key when you ask for it.
   

   Muse reads the documentation and writes the connector from it.

6. Give Muse the key when it asks. Paste the key you copied. The connector uses it on every request to Era until the key expires or you revoke it.

7. Check that it works. Send Muse this question:

   Using the Era connector, list my accounts with their current balances.
   

   Compare the answer with your accounts in Era. If they match, you're connected. If Muse says its request was refused, the key was probably pasted incompletely or has already expired: make a new one, give it to Muse, and ask again. If Muse says the key isn't allowed to do something, the key doesn't carry the permission that request needs, which happens when a read-only key is asked to make a change. Make a key with write access, as the section on access below explains. If Muse says it's hit a limit, it sent requests faster than your plan allows. Wait a minute and ask again. The free plan also has a daily allowance that frees up gradually over 24 hours; paid plans have none. The limits belong to your account, so every key shares them, and each plan's figures are in Era's API documentation.

8. Ask something real. "What did I spend on groceries last month, across all my cards?" is a good first question, because Muse has to read every account to answer it.

Muse's connectors are managed from Settings → Connectors, or by asking Muse in chat. To cut Muse off from Era without opening Muse at all, revoke its key in Era; the section on expiry below shows how.

Is there a Muse Plaid connector?

Muse's built-in Finances experience links bank accounts through Plaid. A Custom Connector to Era is a separate connection that works alongside it: Muse reaches the accounts you've already linked in Era, along with your categories, rules, tags and the financial memory your other assistants share. You can use either one, or both together.

Plaid describes Muse's Finances experience in its own announcement.

The difference that matters is where your work lives. A category Muse fixes, a tag it adds or a rule it sets through Era stays in Era, so Claude, ChatGPT and every other assistant you connect sees the same tidy ledger the next time you ask.

What can Muse do with your money through Era?

Through Era, Muse can recategorize transactions, tag them, set standing rules in plain English, find every recurring charge, forecast your cash flow, and save what you tell it to Era's memory. Moving money between your own accounts is in private beta and off by default for every key, and any transfer always needs your approval.

Requests worth trying once Muse is connected:

• "Find every recurring charge across my accounts and total what they cost me each month."
• "Recategorize every Costco charge this year as groceries."
• "Make a rule that tags anything from Uber or Lyft as commuting."
• "Compare my dining spending this month with last month."
• "Forecast my cash flow for the rest of the month."

A rule Muse creates starts working straight away and keeps running between conversations, so next month's transactions arrive already sorted. Unless you say otherwise, it also applies to transactions you already have, so describe exactly what you want. You can switch a rule off or delete it on the Rules page in Era at any time, and when you delete one you can choose Undo all changes to reverse what it did.

Reading works on every Era plan. Anything that changes your Era account, including saving to its memory, needs a key with write access. Changing categories, tags and rules also needs one of Era's paid tiers; see pricing for what each tier includes.

Can Muse add a new bank for me?

Yes. Once Muse is connected to Era, Muse can start a new bank connection for you and hand you the link. You sign in to your bank inside a flow run by a regulated aggregator, so your banking login never reaches Muse or Era. The new account then appears in every assistant you've connected to Era.

Try: "Start a new bank connection in Era for my credit union and send me the link." Starting a connection changes your Era account, so it needs a key with write access. Muse can also disconnect an institution you no longer use, with the same access.

Which access should I give Muse's key?

Start Muse's Era key with read access only and the shortest expiry you'll tolerate. If you want Muse to change categories, tags or rules, or save things to Era's memory, make a new key with write access. An Era key acts as your whole account, so treat it like a password.

What each level lets Muse do:

• Read access is the ticked set with every box ending in write unticked. It covers your balances, transactions, spending, linked connections and what Era remembers, which is enough for every question in this guide except the ones that change something.
• Write access is the ticked set as the form offers it. It adds changing categories, tags and transaction details, creating rules, saving to Era's memory, and connecting or disconnecting institutions. Era keeps an edit trail, so you can undo any change Muse makes.

Either way, leave the boxes that start unticked as they are: nothing in this guide needs them.

A key's access is fixed when you make it and never changes afterwards. To give Muse more, make a new key with the access you want, give it to Muse, then revoke the old one. Grant what Muse needs now, not what it might need later.

What happens when my Era key expires?

Muse's Era connector stops working. Every Era key has an expiry date, and you choose it when you make the key. Make a fresh key in your Era dashboard, then ask Muse to update the Custom Connector's credentials. Revoking a key in Era cuts Muse off from its next request.

To renew before the connector goes quiet:

1. In API keys, the Expires column shows when Muse's key lapses.

2. Choose Create another key and make a replacement with the same boxes ticked, then copy it.

3. Send Muse this request, and paste the new key when it asks:

   Update the credentials for my Era connector. I have a new API key for you.
   

4. Ask the balance question from the setup steps again. When it answers, choose Revoke next to the old key, then Revoke key.

The same Revoke button is how you cut Muse off at any time. Your bank connections stay in place for your other assistants. To remove a bank itself, disconnect the institution in Era, which ends access for every assistant at once.

Will Muse remember what I told Claude or ChatGPT?

Yes, if Muse, Claude and ChatGPT all connect to Era. Era keeps one financial memory, such as your savings goal, spending limits and the categories you prefer, and every connected assistant reads it. Tell Claude you're saving for a down payment, and Muse knows it the next time you ask about your money.

It works in every direction. Ask Muse to remember that you're paying off a card before the end of the year, and Claude plans around it tomorrow. Saving something to memory is a change, so Muse needs a key with write access to do it. You can see everything Era remembers on the Shared memory page, and ask any assistant to forget something, which removes it for all of them.

Related guides

• Connect any AI agent to your bank accounts
• Connecting Claude to your bank account
• How to connect ChatGPT to your finances
• How to create AI rules for your money
• Is it safe to give AI your financial data?