Local-first finance · For Mac
Every rupee you spend, already on your Mac.
Stave reads the transaction alerts your bank sends you — and builds your complete ledger on-device. No bank logins. No cloud. Nothing leaves this machine.
Free during beta • Local-first • No bank logins • No external servers
Optional — one email when a new beta build ships. Nothing else, unsubscribe anytime.
macOS 13 or later · Apple Silicon & Intel
How it works
Authorise once.
Stave reads your bank's transaction SMS from Messages and statements from Apple Mail on your Mac. You confirm your accounts and card last-4 digits once. Only messages from bank sender IDs are parsed — your personal conversations are never read.
Everything happens on your Mac.
No third-party servers. No data mining. Where other finance tools parse your data on their servers, Stave reads and sorts every transaction on your Mac's own chip — even offline.
Clear the deck.
New transactions land in a review inbox, ready to go. Use keyboard shortcuts to categorise, tag, and take the list to zero.
Under the hood
The whole pipeline, inside one machine.
Your Mac
Messages & Mail
Bank SMS and PDF statements your bank already sends you
Stave
Parses and categorises every transaction on-device
Your ledger
Stored locally, readable offline, yours alone
There are no servers in this diagram because there are none. Don't take our word for it — run Stave alongside a network monitor like Little Snitch and watch: zero outbound connections.
Philosophy
Taken individually, they are just transactions. Taken together, they tell your story. Your financial history belongs to you.
Also included
Auto-categorisation
Transactions sorted the moment they arrive
PDF statements
Import bank statements from Apple Mail
Recurring payments
Subscriptions and bills tracked automatically
iCloud sync
Optional — keep Mac and iPhone in sync
Tags and notes
Add context to any transaction
Spending charts
Monthly overview at a glance
Multiple accounts
All your banks and cards in one place
One-time price
Pay once. Use forever. No subscription.
Pricing
Simple, honest pricing.
Stave Pro
3-month free trial. Cancel anytime.
- Pro intelligence — Recurring-payment detection and natural-language search
- On-device processing — No account or third-party servers required
- Local-first architecture — Your data stays in your personal control
- iPhone companion app (coming soon) — Review transactions on your iPhone
Free while in beta. Subscriptions open at launch.
Core tracking stays free forever. No account required. 14-day refund policy.
People often ask
(for anything else, email us at stave@avysion.studio)
- No. Stave never connects to your bank, never asks for your bank login, and never accesses your account directly. It reads the SMS alerts your bank already sends you — messages that are already on your Mac via Apple Messages.
- No. Stave only parses messages from bank sender IDs — like HDFCBK or ICICIB. Your personal conversations are never read, stored, or indexed.
- Your data never leaves your Mac. Stave processes everything locally — no cloud upload, no external servers, no analytics. Don't take our word for it: run Stave alongside a network monitor like Little Snitch and watch — zero outbound connections.
- Two things, both granted by you during setup: the Apple Messages database (where your bank SMS already live) and your Apple Mail folder (for PDF statements). Nothing else — no Full Disk Access, no contacts, no browsing data. You can revoke either at any time.
- Any Indian bank that sends SMS transaction alerts is supported — HDFC, ICICI, SBI, Axis, Kotak, Standard Chartered, Slice, and many more. If your bank sends you an SMS when you spend, Stave can read it.
- Yes. Stave works completely offline. Internet is only needed for optional iCloud sync between your Mac and iPhone.
- Fully supported. Stave tracks credit card transactions, outstanding balances, and payment due dates from your bank SMS.
- The App Store sandboxes apps from accessing Apple Messages data. Stave needs direct access to read your SMS — which requires distributing outside the App Store. This is a deliberate technical decision, not a workaround. Stave is signed with an Apple Developer ID and notarised by Apple, so Gatekeeper verifies every build before it runs.
- Yes. The core app — tracking, categorisation, history — is free and stays free. Stave Pro (recurring-payment detection, natural-language search) comes with a 3-month free trial, no payment details required. Subscribe only if it earns its keep.
Download Stave
Free while in beta. The download starts immediately — no email required.
Free during beta • Local-first • No bank logins • No external servers
Optional — one email when a new beta build ships. Nothing else, unsubscribe anytime.