FAQ

Frequently asked

What is Spencewell?

Spencewell is a local-first macOS app for households who shop in bulk. It plans meals, generates shopping lists, parses warehouse-store receipts (Costco, Sam’s Club, Amazon, Walmart), and reconciles them into a budget that matches what you actually spent. It ships in late 2026.

Does Spencewell require a subscription?

No. Spencewell is a $99 one-time license. You buy it once and own that version of the app. No recurring charges, no renewal nag, no feature gating tied to a billing cycle.

What macOS versions does Spencewell support?

Spencewell targets macOS 14 (Sonoma) and later, on both Apple Silicon and Intel Macs. The minimum-supported version will be confirmed in the launch notes.

Does Spencewell work with YNAB?

Yes. Spencewell sends reconciled receipt splits into YNAB as line-item transactions, so a $487 Costco receipt becomes the actual category-by-category breakdown rather than a single uncategorized lump. YNAB is optional — households not using YNAB get the same reconciliation inside Spencewell’s own budget surface.

Where does my data live?

Locally, in a SQLite file on your Mac. Spencewell does not run a cloud service that stores your shopping data, recipes, or receipts. You can back the file up with any tool you already use — Time Machine, iCloud Drive, Arq, Backblaze.

What AI provider does Spencewell use?

Spencewell uses Anthropic’s Claude models for receipt parsing and meal-plan suggestions. You provide your own Anthropic API key in Spencewell’s settings, and AI calls go directly from your Mac to Anthropic. Spencewell never proxies your data through our servers, and you pay Anthropic’s per-token rate directly — typically a few dollars per month for normal household use.

How is Spencewell different from a recipe app like Mealime or Plan to Eat?

Recipe apps stop at the shopping list. Spencewell continues the loop: it parses the actual warehouse-store receipt that came back from the store, reconciles what you bought against what the recipes called for, tracks what entered the freezer, and feeds that information back into the next week’s plan.

How is Spencewell different from a personal-finance app like YNAB or Copilot Money?

Bank-feed personal-finance apps see the total at the register — a $487 Costco transaction. Spencewell sees the receipt itself and splits it into the categories that actually moved (groceries, household supplies, gas, returns, instant rebates). Spencewell complements YNAB and similar tools by feeding them the line-item detail bank feeds don’t carry.