AI-native · A private household app for two

A budget that speaks up before the month gets away.

Borrego Budget is the AI-native money app Tony and Maria built with Claude for their own kitchen table. The bank feeds itself in, every dollar gets a job, and a built-in budget coach and advisor points at the one thing worth a look today.

AI-native · Built in a single day with Claude Not for sale. Not open to sign ups.
Bank syncDaily, on its own
Zero basedEvery dollar has a job
Two peopleOne shared plan
Phone firstMade for the couch

The built-in budget coach and advisor

It notices, so you don’t have to go looking.

Most budget apps wait for you to open a report. This one reads the month as it happens and raises a hand only when something deserves it. Each nudge says what happened, why it matters, and the one button that fixes it.

  • Pace overspend. A category running ahead of the calendar, caught mid month instead of after.
  • Large charges. Anything well above what you normally spend at that place.
  • New recurring charges. The free trial that quietly became a subscription.
  • Waiting on a partner. Questions that are still open, so nothing falls through.

AI sorting with Claude. The few charges the rules can’t place get sorted by Claude after every sync, each with a one-line reason like “Madrid hotel”. Anything it isn’t sure about waits for a person.

Built for two

Sorting money together, without the sit down.

Both partners see the same feed on their own phones. Whoever has a spare minute sorts a few charges, and the app remembers how you did it last time.

“Same as last time” hints

When a place has been sorted before, one tap files it the same way. The second month is mostly tapping yes.

Ask Maria

Don’t recognize a charge? Send it to the other person with a question. When they answer, you get a little alert at the top of your feed.

Every dollar has a job

A zero based plan: income in, every dollar assigned to a category until “left to assign” reads zero. Overspend one, and you move money from another.

Made to fit one household

Shaped around how we actually spend and earn.

The first afternoon of real use turned into a wish list, and each wish became a feature the same day.

  • Your own categories. Add, rename, hide or remove them, with sub-categories like Groceries › Costco that roll up into the main line.
  • Income by source. Two paychecks, two side businesses, and the occasional big sale, each planned on its own line.
  • “What was this for?” A note on any transaction, so a $1,000 check still makes sense two months later. Search finds it again in a second.
  • Card payments don’t double count. Paying off a card is a transfer, not spending. The purchases on the card are what count.
  • Tap a budget line to fix it. See exactly what landed in a category this month, and move anything that was sorted wrong.

The quiet parts that make it work

Small, boring, and always on.

⟳

Automatic bank sync

Checking and credit cards flow in through SimpleFIN, read only. No typing in receipts.

☀

Daily auto sync

New transactions land every morning on their own, with a Sync button for when you can’t wait.

✎

Autosave everywhere

There is no Save button. Categories, notes and answers stick the moment you make them.

⤓

Backups

One tap downloads a full copy of the household’s budget, any time.

G

Google sign in, for two

Only Tony and Maria can get in. Everyone else sees a closed door.

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Mobile first

Designed for a thumb on a phone first, then stretched out for a laptop.

How it was built

From idea to real use in a single day.

AI-native from the first line. No agency, no sprint planning. Tony described how the household actually talks about money, and Claude designed it, wrote the code, tested it, and set up the hosting, checking in before every step that touched real accounts.

It is a personal project, not a product. We are sharing it because it is a good picture of what one person and an AI can build for their own family now.

  1. MorningThe first version

    The shared feed, one tap sorting, notes and Ask Maria, running on sample data.

  2. Late morningThe plan and the coach

    Zero based budgets and the nudges for pace, big charges, new subscriptions and open questions.

  3. MiddayReal life

    Bank sync, Google sign in for two, a daily sync, backups and hosting at its own address.

  4. AfternoonMade to fit

    Our own categories and sub-categories, income by source, notes and search, all from a wish list written while using it.

  5. EveningAI sorting

    Claude sorts whatever the rules can’t place, with a one-line reason for each, after every daily sync.