Local-first architecture
CFO
Built in
Budget apps
Rare
Sub trackers
Rare
Cloud finance
Cloud-first
Spreadsheets
File-based
In development
Flagship · Finance
Focused financial command center.
CFO is a standalone local-first personal finance application: your financial command center on your machine. Interpret, plan, and decide from structured data and transparent rules. Designed with Steward-guided, locally trainable workflows.
Concept preview
Local
Cfo
Cash outlook
$24,180
Runway · 14 mo (modeled)
Financial OS
A financial operating system, not a dashboard toy
CFO is built for money in motion: structure, planning, and decisions grounded in your data. It is not a generic tracker or a thin budgeting app. It helps you interpret, plan, and act from real inputs that roll up into one coherent picture.
Steward inside CFO reads the records you add, highlights patterns and risks, and helps with projections and runway. Answers follow the same rules every time for the same inputs. Nothing is invented to fill gaps.
Local-first money work
Structured data on your machine, rules-based guidance, optional bank connection only when you choose it.
Your device
Native storage
Local vault
Encrypted where it matters
Steward
User-trainable layer
Optional sync
You choose
Capabilities
What CFO handles
- Budgeting and financial planning
- Forecasting and cash-flow clarity
- Calendar-based awareness for upcoming and recurring obligations
- Predictive scheduling from patterns or user-defined entries
- Manual calendar control when you want full input authority
- Structured financial database: accounts, transactions, documents, relationships
- OCR ingestion for statements and documents
- Optional Plaid integration: explicit and optional, never a silent default
CFO includes a financial calendar that tracks recurring and upcoming expenses, can reflect patterns from your activity, and supports fully manual entry when you prefer direct control. Forward visibility into obligations is part of how the system keeps time and money aligned.
Local-first and privacy-first. Your financial data stays oriented to your machine and your choices.
Structured foundation
Your money, organized as a real system
CFO is not a stack of flat budgeting screens. Under the experience you use every day is a structured, custom financial database, built in, available to every user, and part of the standard product. It holds accounts, transactions, recurring patterns, uploaded documents, and the relationships between them in one coherent model, not as disconnected tiles.
That foundation is what lets CFO behave as a financial operating system: richer organization, clearer visibility, and room for deeper analysis over time. You do not need to be a power user or a business customer to benefit; it is the same layer whether you want a straightforward tool or a more structured view underneath.
- Structured organization
- Richer financial visibility
- User-owned system design
- Stronger recurring pattern support
- Better foundation for document-linked finance
- Built for simplicity and depth
One connected model
Accounts · activity · documents
1
2
3
Linked records · recurring bills · uploads
Clear views
Smart filters
One system
Built into CFO for everyone, not a separate database product and not a developer-only screen.
Steward without guesswork
Steward is a controlled, user-trainable guidance layer, not vague automation. In CFO, projections and signals trace back to sources, policy, and patterns you teach it to recognize.
No fabricated balances or filler numbers. Where information is missing, CFO does not pretend otherwise.
Under the interface, CFO relies on a structured internal financial model that ties accounts, transactions, recurring events, and documents together. It supports consistent tracking and planning and is not presented as a developer-facing tool.
How CFO compares
Why CFO is different
A side-by-side look at what you get with CFO versus common tools.
Most money apps assume the cloud, quick dashboards, and light budgeting. Helpful for a glance, but not a full system for running your finances.
CFO is built as private software on your own computer: your numbers stay with you, not trapped in someone else’s engagement funnel. You get organized views, deliberate inputs, and steady guidance from Steward, meaning clear rules and your real data, not a never-ending feed.
Comparison of CFO to typical budgeting apps, subscription trackers, cloud personal finance apps, and spreadsheet workflows. Icons indicate full support, partial or limited support, or absence.
| Capability |
Financial OS
CFO
|
Traditional budgeting apps
|
Subscription trackers
|
Cloud-based finance apps
|
Spreadsheets
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Local-first architecture | Built in |
File-based |
|||
| User-owned data | You own it |
Vendor-hosted |
Local file |
||
| Zero-knowledge design | By design |
||||
| Forced cloud dependency | None required |
Typical |
No cloud |
||
| Manual entry flexibility | Full control |
Manual only |
|||
| OCR-based financial ingestion | Built in |
Add-ons |
|||
| Receipts, bills, statements, notes & uploads | Structured |
DIY |
|||
| Recurring expense awareness | Core focus |
||||
| Financial calendar (recurring + upcoming visibility) | Built in |
Basic or separate |
Subscriptions only |
Some |
Manual |
| Predictive expense scheduling | Pattern-based + manual |
Limited |
Subscription-focused |
Some |
Formulas |
| Structured financial system foundation | Built in |
Flat structure |
Narrow |
Moderate |
User-built |
| Predictive / watchful behavior | Rules-based |
Formulas |
|||
| Built-in intelligence (Steward) | Orchestrator |
||||
| Plaid optional (non-Plaid path) | Optional |
Common |
N/A |
||
| Personal use + business mode | Both |
DIY |
|||
| Structured visibility beyond budgets | Operating system |
Budget-first |
Subs-first |
Flexible |
|
| Privacy-first product philosophy | Core |
Varies |
User-owned data
CFO
You own it
Budget apps
Limited
Sub trackers
Limited
Cloud finance
Vendor-hosted
Spreadsheets
Local file
Zero-knowledge design
CFO
By design
Budget apps
Uncommon
Sub trackers
Uncommon
Cloud finance
Varies
Spreadsheets
Varies
Forced cloud dependency
CFO
None required
Budget apps
Varies
Sub trackers
Varies
Cloud finance
Typical
Spreadsheets
No cloud
Manual entry flexibility
CFO
Full control
Budget apps
Yes
Sub trackers
Yes
Cloud finance
Varies
Spreadsheets
Manual only
OCR-based financial ingestion
CFO
Built in
Budget apps
Limited
Sub trackers
Rare
Cloud finance
Some
Spreadsheets
Add-ons
Receipts, bills, statements, notes & uploads
CFO
Structured
Budget apps
Narrow
Sub trackers
Narrow
Cloud finance
Moderate
Spreadsheets
DIY
Recurring expense awareness
CFO
Yes
Budget apps
Basic
Sub trackers
Core focus
Cloud finance
Yes
Spreadsheets
DIY
Financial calendar (recurring + upcoming visibility)
CFO
Built in
Budget apps
Basic or separate
Sub trackers
Subscriptions only
Cloud finance
Some
Spreadsheets
Manual
Predictive expense scheduling
CFO
Pattern-based + manual
Budget apps
Limited
Sub trackers
Subscription-focused
Cloud finance
Some
Spreadsheets
Formulas
Structured financial system foundation
CFO
Built in
Budget apps
Flat structure
Sub trackers
Narrow
Cloud finance
Moderate
Spreadsheets
User-built
Predictive / watchful behavior
CFO
Rules-based
Budget apps
Limited
Sub trackers
Minimal
Cloud finance
Some
Spreadsheets
Formulas
Built-in intelligence (Steward)
CFO
Orchestrator
Budget apps
No
Sub trackers
No
Cloud finance
Limited
Spreadsheets
No
Plaid optional (non-Plaid path)
CFO
Optional
Budget apps
Some
Sub trackers
Some
Cloud finance
Common
Spreadsheets
N/A
Personal use + business mode
CFO
Both
Budget apps
Rare
Sub trackers
Rare
Cloud finance
Some
Spreadsheets
DIY
Structured visibility beyond budgets
CFO
Operating system
Budget apps
Budget-first
Sub trackers
Subs-first
Cloud finance
Dashboards
Spreadsheets
Flexible
Privacy-first product philosophy
CFO
Core
Budget apps
Varies
Sub trackers
Varies
Cloud finance
Varies
Spreadsheets
Varies
Most tools help you track money. CFO helps you run it.
CFO is not a budget app, not a subscription tracker, and not a passive dashboard. It is your financial operating system, built for ownership, structure, and disciplined intelligence on your machine.
CFO is being built with optional Plaid connectivity and a fully manual path: explicit choices, no silent defaults. Pick the workflow that matches how you want to work.
Same ecosystem, different jobs
CFO is the flagship financial title. Sentinel is evidence intelligence. Eden is research software. Ledger is identity and document execution. Separate products, shared discipline and Steward.
In development
CFO, Eden, and Ledger are actively being built and are not for sale or download yet. Sentinel is in beta testing. We share more as each title reaches a careful launch.