How to vibe codeCopilot Money

Prerequisites

• Node.jsfree

  Runtime for building the full-stack web and backend synchronization engine.

• GitHubfree

  Source control and integration with deployment platforms.

• 

  Plaid Developer Accountfree tier

  Required to test bank account aggregation and transaction webhooks.

AI coding tools

• Claude Code

  Best-in-class terminal coding agent for scaffolding multi-file backend sync logic and database schemas.

• Cursor

  Ideal for iterative frontend component design and reviewing dashboard UI diffs.

Build guide

1. 01Project Scaffolding and Database Schema

   Initialize the Next.js project with Tailwind CSS, configure better-auth for single-user security, and set up Turso with Drizzle ORM to model accounts, transactions, categories, and budgets.

   Scaffold a new Next.js TypeScript project with Tailwind CSS. Set up Drizzle ORM connected to Turso. Create database schemas for users, financial_accounts (id, name, type, balance, institution), transactions (id, account_id, date, amount, raw_description, clean_merchant, category_id, pending), categories (id, name, icon, budget_limit, rollover_enabled), and monthly_budgets. Implement better-auth for secure local authentication ensuring only the owner can access the dashboard. Ensure the setup is clean, modular, and ready for API integrations.

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2. 02Plaid Integration and Account Linking

   Integrate Plaid Link SDK to allow secure connection of financial institutions, token exchange, and initial account balance retrieval.

   Build a Plaid integration service in Next.js backend API routes. Create an endpoint to generate a Plaid Link token (`/api/plaid/create-link-token`), and a callback endpoint (`/api/plaid/exchange-public-token`) that exchanges the public token for an access token and stores it securely encrypted in the database. Add a frontend settings page with a 'Link Account' button that triggers Plaid Link, saves the connected accounts to the `financial_accounts` table, and displays a list of currently linked institutions with their last sync time and current balance.

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3. 03Transaction Ingestion and AI Categorization Pipeline

   Implement background fetching of transactions from Plaid and build an AI text-cleaning pipeline to categorize messy strings into clean merchant names.

   Implement a transaction sync routine (`/api/transactions/sync`) that fetches transactions for all linked Plaid items using the `/transactions/sync` endpoint. Write an automated normalization function that processes raw transaction strings (e.g., 'AMZN MKTPLACE PMT*HC92') using an LLM prompt or rules engine to assign clean merchant names, icons, and default categories. Store the cleaned results in the `transactions` table and handle duplicate prevention via Plaid transaction IDs.

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4. 04Dashboard and Cash Flow Visualizations

   Build the main financial dashboard featuring net worth summaries, account balances, and interactive cash flow charts.

   Build the main dashboard view in Next.js using Recharts. Include a summary header showing total net worth, total cash, and total investments across all linked accounts. Create a cash flow line chart tracking monthly income versus expenses over time. Add a responsive account list component showing recent balances, institution logos, and last updated timestamps. Ensure the UI closely mimics a clean, dark/light mode personal finance tracker with crisp typography and card layouts.

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5. 05Budgeting and Rollover Logic

   Develop category-level budgeting features with monthly rollover calculations for unspent funds.

   Implement the budgeting module with category spending limits and rollover tracking. Create a backend calculation engine that computes monthly spending per category by aggregating transaction amounts. Implement rollover logic where unspent budget from previous months automatically rolls over and adds to the current month's allowance. Build a budgeting dashboard view showing spent vs. budgeted amounts, progress bars, and rollover metrics.

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6. 06Subscription Detection and Alerts

   Add recurring transaction detection algorithms to surface active subscriptions and upcoming bills.

   Build a subscription detection utility that scans transaction history for recurring charges with similar amounts and cadences (monthly, annual). Create a dedicated 'Subscriptions' view on the dashboard listing active recurring charges, upcoming renewal dates, and total monthly recurring expenditure. Add a server cron job or API endpoint to check for upcoming bills due in the next 7 days and display alerts on the main overview screen.

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7. 07Investment and Net Worth Tracking

   Incorporate investment holding data synchronization and manual asset valuation (such as real estate).

   Extend the Plaid integration to fetch investment holdings (`/investments/holdings/get`) for connected brokerage accounts and crypto wallets, displaying allocation breakdowns (equity, crypto, cash, ETFs) using Recharts pie charts. Add a manual asset form where users can input physical assets like real estate addresses or estimated values to factor into total net worth calculations.

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Cost vs paying for Copilot Money