--- title: "Why Can't My Agent See My Bank? A Troubleshooting Checklist" slug: why-cant-my-agent-see-my-bank url: https://bankbridge.money/guides/why-cant-my-agent-see-my-bank category: how-to published: 2026-07-10 updated: 2026-07-10 --- # Why Can't My Agent See My Bank? A Troubleshooting Checklist > If Claude (or any agent) can't see your bank, it's almost always one of five things: the BankBridge MCP server was never added to your host, the API key is wrong or revoked, the bank connection expired, the tools are disabled in host settings, or you're asking about a bank you never connected. Each check below takes under a minute. Why Can't My Agent See My Bank? Fix It Fast | BankBridge | BankBridge [How-to](/guides/how-to) # Why Can't My Agent See My Bank? A Troubleshooting Checklist Updated Jul 10, 2026ยท6 min read If Claude (or any agent) can't see your bank, it's almost always one of five things: the BankBridge MCP server was never added to your host, the API key is wrong or revoked, the bank connection expired, the tools are disabled in host settings, or you're asking about a bank you never connected. Each check below takes under a minute. ## What "my agent can't see my bank" usually means You ask Claude how much you spent last month and it tells you it can't access your bank account. Maybe it worked last week. Maybe it never worked and you're not sure what you missed. Either way, the response feels like a dead end. It isn't. This failure has a short list of causes, and in practice it's one of five: the MCP server was never added to the host you're using, the API key is wrong or revoked, the bank connection expired, the tools are toggled off in the host's settings, or you're asking about a bank you never connected in the first place. One thing worth knowing up front: BankBridge fetches your data live on every question and stores nothing on its servers. That means there's no stale cache muddying the picture. If your agent can't see your bank, something in the chain is genuinely disconnected, and the five checks below will find where. Each takes under a minute, and they're ordered from most common to least. ## Check 1: Is the BankBridge server added to this host? The most common cause is also the simplest: the BankBridge server was never added to the app you're currently sitting in. Adding it to Claude Desktop does nothing for Claude Code, Cursor, or ChatGPT. Every host keeps its own list of MCP servers, and none of them share. > What MCP tools do you have available right now? If the answer includes nothing bank-shaped (no list\_accounts, no list\_transactions, no get\_spending\_summary), the server isn't registered in this host. That's the whole diagnosis. Head to the docs page for your specific app and follow the setup steps; there's a separate page for each of the 29 supported hosts because the config lives somewhere different in each one. Sometimes it's a JSON file, sometimes a settings screen, sometimes a single CLI command. This check also catches the "works on my laptop" case. Host configs don't follow you between machines unless the app itself syncs settings, and most don't. ## Check 2: Is your API key pasted correctly, and still active? If the tools show up but every call fails with an authentication error, look at the key. BankBridge keys start with bbk\_. The classic failures are mundane: a trailing space picked up during the copy, a key truncated by a terminal, or quotes mangled inside a shell config file. Open your host's config and read the key with your own eyes. It should start with bbk\_, end cleanly, and have no whitespace on either side. Keys also die on purpose. If you rotated your key recently, every host still holding the old one stops working at the same moment. That's actually a useful tell: several apps breaking at once points to the key, while one app breaking points to that app's config. Generate a fresh key in your dashboard, paste it carefully, and restart the host app. Using OAuth instead of an API key? Disconnect and reconnect BankBridge in the host's connector settings. That refreshes the grant and clears out any expired token. ## Check 3: Did the bank connection itself expire? Bank links don't last forever. If you changed your online banking password, reset your MFA, or your bank simply decided enough time had passed, the link goes stale and needs to be re-established. When that happens the aggregator can't pull fresh data, and since BankBridge fetches live, there's no old copy to fall back on. You get an error instead of numbers, on purpose. The symptom here is specific: the agent lists its tools happily, but calls for a particular bank come back with a connection error rather than data. The fix lives in your BankBridge dashboard. Log in, find the bank marked as needing attention, and click reconnect. You'll verify with your bank again, which takes about a minute, and the very next question your agent asks gets live data. If a password change kicked this off, we've got a full walkthrough in the reconnect guide. ## Check 4: Are the tools switched on in host settings? Some hosts add a second gate. The server can be configured, connected, and authenticated, and still be switched off. Several apps let you disable a whole server, or individual tools within it, without removing anything from the config. The tell: your setup looks perfect on paper, but the agent acts like the server doesn't exist, or it names the tools and then refuses to call them. Open the host's MCP or connectors settings and confirm BankBridge is enabled and its tools are allowed. Some hosts also ask for approval the first time a tool runs in a conversation. It's easy to dismiss that prompt without noticing, and the host may remember the refusal. After flipping anything, restart the app fully. A few hosts only reload their server list on launch. ## Check 5: Are you asking about a bank you never connected? This one's humbling, and it happens constantly. You connected your checking account months ago, and now you're asking about a credit card at a different bank. The agent isn't broken. It just can't see an account that was never linked. > List every account you can see, with the institution name and the last four digits of each. If the account you're asking about isn't in that list, that's your answer. Each bank is its own connection at $5 a month, and you can link as many as you want. One more thing that's easy to forget: if you cancelled a bank's subscription at some point, that connection is gone too. The list from the prompt above settles it either way. ## Still stuck? The two-minute reset If all five checks pass and something still fails, do a clean reset. Quit the host app completely (actually quit, not just close the window), reopen it, and run one diagnostic prompt: > Call list\_accounts and tell me exactly what comes back, including any error message, word for word. The raw error is the shortcut. An authentication error means the key, so go back to check 2. A connection error names the bank that needs re-linking, that's check 3. "No such tool" means host config, checks 1 and 4. And a successful call that returns an empty list means nothing's connected yet, which is check 5. That's the whole tree. No support form required, and because everything is fetched live, the fix takes effect on your very next question. ## FAQ Why does Claude say it has no bank tools at all? The BankBridge MCP server isn't registered in that specific app. Server setup is per host, so adding it to Claude Desktop doesn't affect Claude Code or Cursor. Follow the setup page for your exact app at bankbridge.money/docs, then restart the app so it loads the server. My agent saw my bank yesterday but not today. What changed? Usually one of two things: the API key was rotated or revoked, or the bank connection expired and needs a re-link. Check your BankBridge dashboard first. A bank marked as needing attention means you reconnect it there; otherwise generate a fresh key and update your host's config. How do I know if my bank connection expired? Tool calls for that bank return a connection error instead of data, and the bank shows as needing attention in your BankBridge dashboard. This usually follows a bank password change or an MFA reset. Reconnecting takes about a minute and restores live access immediately. Does BankBridge show old cached data when the connection breaks? No. BankBridge fetches from your bank live on every question and stores nothing on its servers. If a connection breaks you get a clear error rather than stale numbers. Once you reconnect, the very next question returns current data with no sync delay. What's the fastest way to test whether everything works? Ask your agent to call list\_accounts and report exactly what comes back. A successful list means the whole chain works. An authentication error points to your API key, a connection error points to the bank link, and missing tools point to host setup. ## FAQ ### Why does Claude say it has no bank tools at all? The BankBridge MCP server isn't registered in that specific app. Server setup is per host, so adding it to Claude Desktop doesn't affect Claude Code or Cursor. Follow the setup page for your exact app at bankbridge.money/docs, then restart the app so it loads the server. ### My agent saw my bank yesterday but not today. What changed? Usually one of two things: the API key was rotated or revoked, or the bank connection expired and needs a re-link. Check your BankBridge dashboard first. A bank marked as needing attention means you reconnect it there; otherwise generate a fresh key and update your host's config. ### How do I know if my bank connection expired? Tool calls for that bank return a connection error instead of data, and the bank shows as needing attention in your BankBridge dashboard. This usually follows a bank password change or an MFA reset. Reconnecting takes about a minute and restores live access immediately. ### Does BankBridge show old cached data when the connection breaks? No. BankBridge fetches from your bank live on every question and stores nothing on its servers. If a connection breaks you get a clear error rather than stale numbers. Once you reconnect, the very next question returns current data with no sync delay. ### What's the fastest way to test whether everything works? Ask your agent to call list_accounts and report exactly what comes back. A successful list means the whole chain works. An authentication error points to your API key, a connection error points to the bank link, and missing tools point to host setup.