What Lucius can do
Lucius is the assistant built into Open Net Worth. He reads the same accounts, transactions, budget and portfolio every screen shows, and when he changes something he uses the same actions the screens do — so what he tells you always matches what you see.
Get started
- Give him a model. Lucius needs an AI provider — a Claude or ChatGPT subscription, an API key, or a model on your own computer. You set one up during first run, or any time in Settings → AI. See Connecting an AI provider.
- Open a chat. Click Lucius in the sidebar, or Ask Lucius on any other screen.
- Ask something real, for example:
- “What’s my net worth, and how has it changed this month?”
- “How much did I spend on groceries in the last 30 days?”
- “Import this statement” — with a PDF or CSV attached.
- “Catch me up” — brings your books up to date.
More on phrasing, attachments and files in How to talk to Lucius.
What he’s good at
| Area | What he does |
|---|---|
| Transactions | Find, add, edit and categorize transactions; import a statement (CSV, Excel, OFX, QIF, CAMT, MT940, or a PDF or photo); spot likely duplicates; explain why something got a category |
| Accounts and net worth | Create and reconcile accounts; “what’s my net worth” or “how has it moved”, over any period |
| Budgeting | Assign and move money between envelopes, set targets, explain why one is over or under |
| Investments | Holdings, lots, cost basis and gains across stocks, funds, crypto, commodities and property; record a buy, sell, vest or option event; correct a recorded purchase |
| Payees and rules | Set a payee’s default category, write a categorization rule, apply either to past transactions |
| Reports and files | A chart or report right in the chat; a report for any period (net worth, income, spending, cash flow, budget vs. actual); a PDF, Excel or CSV file to keep |
| Your documents | Read and answer questions about statements, receipts and files in Documents |
| Connectors (once set up) | Sync a bank or broker, search the web, read and send email, message you on Telegram, use tools from another app over MCP |
| Memory, skills and Automations | Remember things about you (Memory), follow your saved playbooks (Skills), and do jobs on a schedule (Automations) |
You never need to know his tools’ names. He has a few hundred; the common ones are always at hand and he looks up the rest from what you ask. Describe what you want in plain words.
When he asks first
Whether Lucius changes something straight away or shows you a card to approve first depends on the conversation’s approval mode and each tool’s permission. A new conversation lets ordinary changes through and asks about risky ones; you can make him ask about everything. Every change can be undone with the Restore button on the reply. See Permissions and Confirm cards.
What he can’t do
- Move money or trade at your bank or broker. Connectors bring data in; there’s no built-in way for Lucius to pay someone, transfer money or place an order. If you connect another app over MCP that can, its tools ask you first unless you set them to Always allow.
- Reach anything outside your installation. No other person’s books, no cloud copy — everything lives in your own database on your own machine. The only thing sent out is what goes to your AI provider (and to a connector, when he uses one).
- Approve the transactions an Automation logged. Those wait in your review queue for you.
- Bulk-delete or re-categorize without showing you. Deleting a filtered set of transactions or re-applying a payee rule across your whole ledger asks first, unless the conversation is set to Skip all approvals.
- Guarantee the answer is right. He reasons over what’s in your book. A mis-imported statement or a stale price gets a confident answer from wrong data — fix the data, then ask again.