Ask GrandTotal: The AI of Your Choice, Without Revealing Client Data
Ask the AI of your choice about your invoices without revealing client names: the AI gets random placeholders instead of names, and you see the answer with the real names.
Which invoices are overdue? How much revenue did a client bring in this year? Ask GrandTotal answers right inside GrandTotal, creates drafts on request and shows figures as a chart.
Privacy
What the agent reads goes to the provider of its model, but always with placeholders instead of names, including in your question. The context menu command Show as Ask GrandTotal sees it shows how a document arrives there. More on this: “Privacy with AI: Client Names Stay on Your Mac”.
Setting Up
Under Settings › Ask GrandTotal you choose agent and model and decide whether it only answers questions or also creates drafts. The agent runs on your Mac with your account at the provider (see table). Test asks a sample question.
Ask Wherever You Are
The symbol next to the search field or ⇧⌘K opens Ask GrandTotal on top of your work. “This invoice” means the selected one, and follow-up questions refer to the previous ones.
| Agent | Works with |
|---|---|
| Claude Code | Claude Pro, Max, Team or Enterprise, or an API key from Anthropic. Not with the free Claude account. |
| Codex | Your ChatGPT account, including Free and Go, within the usage limits of your plan, or an API key from OpenAI. |
| Gemini CLI | Only a paid Gemini API key. Signing in with a personal Google account has not worked since June 2026, not even with Google AI Pro. |
| Mistral Vibe | Your Mistral account or an API key from Mistral. |
As of September 2026. The terms are set by each provider.
What the Assistant May Do
The agent works only with GrandTotal's tools and only in the open file. With Questions it answers questions.
With Questions and drafts it also creates drafts. Existing invoices, clients and payments stay untouched.
Files and Routes
In shared folders, the assistant reads spreadsheets, PDFs and texts and saves new files, such as an Excel spreadsheet or a PDF report with charts, with the real names. GrandTotal does not overwrite existing files.
GrandTotal calculates distances and travel times with Apple Maps, even if the AI only knows the address as a placeholder.
Ask GrandTotal or MCP Server?
Both give an AI access to your GrandTotal data, with the same permissions: read only or also create, and neither changes existing records. The difference is privacy. Ask GrandTotal replaces names with random placeholders, including in your question, and puts the real names back only on your Mac. You prompt the MCP server from your AI program and read the answer there, so GrandTotal only shortens the names, and what you type goes to the provider unchanged.
| Ask GrandTotal | MCP Server | |
|---|---|---|
| Client names | Random placeholders, including in your question | Shortened (“E*a M*u”), your question goes to the provider unchanged |
| Where you prompt | In GrandTotal, with ⇧⌘K | In your AI program, such as Claude |
| AI | Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI or Mistral Vibe | Any program that speaks MCP, including with a local model or as your own script |
| Edition | GrandTotal L, XL & Classic | GrandTotal XL |
More: MCP Server.
At a Glance
Pseudonymization
Names always hidden, even in the question
Four agents
Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI, Mistral Vibe
Knows the selection
“This client” means the selected client
Only GrandTotal's tools
Only the open file
Drafts
Existing records stay untouched
Charts and reports
As PDF or Excel in the shared folder
Distances
Calculated by GrandTotal with Apple Maps
Ask GrandTotal runs inside the app on your Mac: the question goes out with placeholders, the answer comes back with the real names.