Check your Claude plan
Plugins are available on the paid Claude plans — Pro, Max, Team, and Enterprise. On Team and Enterprise, an admin may need to allow the marketplace first. On the Free plan, skip to Without a plugin below.
Add the Penny marketplace
Open Customize → Plugins in Claude (in the desktop app, or at claude.ai). Click Add → Add marketplace and enter:
HelperLabs/mypenny-pluginThis points Claude at the Helper Labs plugin marketplace on GitHub — the same one the Claude Code plugin ships from.
Install Penny
Find the plugin listed as Penny (mypenny-claude) in the marketplace and click Install. The plugin bundles two things: the Penny connector, and the skill that teaches Claude to act like an assistant who already knows you — reading your profile, saving as you work, and knowing what each Penny tool is for.
Because the connector needs sign-in, Claude prompts you to authorize it during install. Sign in or create a Penny account, then approve the access request. Claude keeps the token, so you stay authenticated across restarts.
You'll see hooks and sub-agents listed in the plugin but grayed out in chat — that's expected. They only run in Cowork and Claude Code; chat needs just the skill and the connector.
Verify the connection
Start a fresh Claude chat, enable Penny in the composer’s tools menu, and run this read-only check:
Search Penny for the exact phrase "Penny connection check 7c98e2". An empty result is fine. Do not save or change anything.Look for a successful Penny tool result. An empty result is valid. A connector badge or a listed tool alone does not prove an authenticated call works. You can also review the connection in Penny Settings → Connections; its label can vary by Claude client.
Get set up
This button opens a new chat with the setup request already typed. Press Enter to send it:
Or start a new conversation yourself and say:
Let's set up Penny.The assistant will ask what to call you, who you are, how you like to communicate, and what you're working on, then save your answers to Penny as your profile. This runs once. After that, every conversation starts from your profile.
Try it out
In a new chat with Penny enabled, ask it to use saved context for a task. To try writing, ask it to save a single harmless test note, check the note in Penny, then remove it. Keep private conversations out of connection tests.
The plugin’s skill guides recall and saving. Claude chat uses the skill and connector; hooks and sub-agents run only in the hosts that support them.
Without a plugin
On the Free plan, or if you'd rather not install a plugin, add Penny as a custom connector instead. You get the same memory tools; the habit that the skill would carry moves into your custom instructions.
Add Penny as a custom connector
Open the connector dialog below, check the name and server URL, and continue. Claude detects the server’s authentication settings. Choose Sign in now or sign in when first using the connector. If a client-registration choice appears, choose Register automatically; Penny supports dynamic registration and does not require you to paste a client secret.
To enter it yourself, open Customize → Connectors → Add custom connector and use this remote MCP server URL. Review the detected authentication settings, complete the browser sign-in, and choose Add:
https://app.mypenny.ai/mcpThe Free plan allows one custom connector, so this uses your slot.
On Team and Enterprise, an owner may need to configure the connector before members can authorize their own Penny accounts.
Add memory to your custom instructions
This is the step that makes the assistant use Penny proactively. Without it, the assistant only touches your memory when you explicitly ask for it. Paste this so every conversation begins by reading your profile, searches before answering, and saves as it goes:
Penny is your long-term memory about me and our work, which you access by using the Penny connector's tools. Use it as a working habit, not on request.
At the start of each conversation, read my profile and search Penny before answering. This step is mandatory, no matter the topic. Don't reason from scratch about something that might be saved — search first, then answer.
When something durable emerges — a decision, a finding, a plan, a correction I make, a fact about how I work — save it right then with the Penny connector tools, mid-conversation, without asking permission. A one-line "noting that" is enough; depth can come later. Saving is yours to do; correcting is mine.
Before ending any reply that produced something real — research, a plan, a diagnosis, a draft — save what got figured out and what's still open.
Don't save small talk, transient task mechanics, or anything already on file, and don't ask "want me to save this?" — just save and mention it in a line. If you've gone several substantive turns without saving, treat that as the signal you've drifted, and save now.In Claude: Settings → Profile → add it to your personal preferences (same place on claude.ai and in the desktop app — it's account-level, so you only paste it once).
It spells out the habit directly: read your profile and search before answering, save the moment something worth keeping comes up, and check in at the end of each substantive reply. It also tells the assistant to read your profile, where Penny hands it the finer detail (confidence, tagging, when to stay quiet), which we keep improving on our side.
Want more control? Append any of these:
- “Propose saves to me first rather than writing silently.” — approve every note before it's stored.
- “Only use Penny for <project or area>.” — confine memory to one part of your life.
- “Read from Penny but don't write yet.” — try recall before letting it save.
Get set up
This button opens a new chat with the setup request already typed. Press Enter to send it:
Or start a new conversation yourself and say:
Let's set up Penny.The assistant will ask what to call you, who you are, how you like to communicate, and what you're working on, then save your answers to Penny as your profile. This runs once. After that, every conversation starts from your profile.
Verify the connection
Start a new Claude chat with Penny enabled and run the read-only check above. Confirm an actual Penny tool result, then review the connection under Penny Settings → Connections.
Having trouble? If you don't see Customize → Plugins, update the Claude desktop app to the latest version or use claude.ai — plugins are account-level, so an install on the web shows up in the desktop app too. If you installed the plugin and already had Penny as a custom connector, Claude now has two copies of the same tools; remove the custom connector under Customize → Connectors. If Claude connects but reports no tools, open the plugin's connector and complete the sign-in. You can always confirm the connection under Settings → Connections. Also confirm your Penny subscription is active; a canceled subscription blocks all tool calls.
Permissions and privacy
Sign in with your own Penny account. The public installer contains no account credentials or someone else’s memory. After authorization, the app can call the Penny actions you allow. Notes returned by a tool become part of the AI conversation, so review the app’s history, sharing and data controls before using private notes. Disconnecting stops future access; it does not remove context already returned to a chat or notes already saved in Penny.
Update or disconnect
Manage the installed Penny plugin under Customize → Plugins. Use its available update or removal controls; organization-required plugins may need an owner’s help. For the fallback connector, manage or disconnect Penny under Customize → Connectors. Start a new chat after changes so the tool set reloads.
To revoke future Penny access, open Penny Settings → Connections and disconnect this app’s connection. Remove Penny’s custom instructions if you added them. Reconnect later with your own account and repeat the read check in a fresh conversation.
Keep these instructions handy
Open this guide in your Penny dashboard · Read as Markdown
Need help with your connection? Email support@mypenny.ai. Keep passwords, tokens and private notes out of support messages.