How Walnut works: an AI that reads the portfolio you already own

You connect the brokerage account you already have. Walnut reads your holdings, read-only by default, and then an AI assistant can answer questions about them in plain English: how each position is doing, where you are concentrated, what has drifted from target. You can use Walnut's own assistant, or connect Claude, ChatGPT, Perplexity or any MCP client to the same data. Nothing moves to Walnut, and no order is placed unless you approve it.

Your positions and share counts, live prices for them, performance against the S&P 500, drift from your target weights, the thematic portfolios you have built, your Walnut order history, and which brokers you have connected. It cannot see your broker password, because you never give it one.

No, and that is the point of it. Walnut sits on top of the broker you already use. Your account stays where it is, your money stays where it is, and Walnut reads it. This is the main difference from a robo-advisor, which takes custody of your money and manages it for you.

Yes, through Walnut's own assistant on the web, and only with your explicit approval each time. The assistant previews the order first, shows the exact breakdown, states plainly that it places real orders with your own money, and asks you a direct yes or no. Only a clear yes places anything. The connector you add to Claude or ChatGPT is read-only and never places orders.

The preview mints a one-time confirmation token, and the order tool will not run without that exact token from that exact preview. An assistant cannot skip the preview, reuse an old one, or place an order larger than the one you saw. You also always get a link to place the same order yourself in the app instead.

Your broker login stays with your broker. Walnut connects through a secure connection and never sees or stores your broker password, and the AI never sees it either. Holdings are read-only by default. You authenticate to the connector with your own Walnut account and approve access before anything is shared.

Most major US brokerages connect for reading your holdings. A smaller set also supports placing orders, because many brokers expose data but not trading. Walnut checks your specific connection and tells you which one you have rather than promising a list that goes stale.

The Walnut MCP server is https://walnutinvest.com/api/connector/mcp. Add it as a custom connector in Claude, ChatGPT, Codex or Cursor, then sign in with your Walnut account and approve access. There is nothing to download and no API key.

ChatGPT on its own cannot see what you own, so it answers from general knowledge and assumptions. Once Walnut is connected it answers from your actual positions, at current prices. The question changes from "is NVDA a good stock" to "what has NVDA done for me, and how much of my portfolio is it now".

A robo-advisor holds your money and makes the decisions for you, for a fee that is usually around 0.25% of assets per year. Walnut does the opposite: you keep your broker and every decision, and there is no percentage-of-assets fee because nothing is under management. The trade-off is real in both directions: nobody rebalances for you.

Walnut is free to use, including the connector. There is no percentage-of-assets fee, because Walnut never takes custody of your money.

No. Walnut is not an investment adviser and does not provide investment advice. It describes what you own, how it has performed, and what trades would move a portfolio toward the targets you set. Every decision and every order is yours.

It does not manage money for you, does not move your money, does not place an order you have not just approved, and does not promise to beat the market. It also cannot see settled cash at your broker, so a funded-looking account can still reject an order.