Plainly

The barrier

Financial news assumes you already know what bond yields, rate cuts and inflation types mean. Most people don't, so they skip the news that affects their rent, savings and job. That is a learning barrier: the knowledge is public, but the explanation of it isn't.

What it does

Plainly turns finance headlines into three parts: what happened, how it works, and who it affects.

• Daily Brief: one summary of the last 36 hours, written every morning
• Feed: live stories from about a dozen finance sources, refreshed every 10 minutes
• Deep dives: open any story to get the concept behind it explained, plus how it affects you
• Explain: paste any headline or link and get a deep dive
• Ask: follow-up questions on any deep dive
• Saved: keep deep dives to come back to

How we built it

Next.js 14, TypeScript and Tailwind on the frontend (Vercel). FastAPI backend (Railway) that pulls RSS feeds and calls Claude through the Anthropic API with forced tool calls for structured output. Supabase for auth and storage.

Pre-existing work vs. event work

Built before Oct 17, 2026: the full app described above (first commit Sep 26, 2026). Built during AccessED Hacks (Oct 17 to Nov 20): [update as features ship]

Credits

• Explanations are generated by Claude (Anthropic). Code was written with help from Claude.
• News headlines and summaries come from public RSS feeds. Each story links to its original source.
• Explanations are AI generated and are not financial advice.

Testing

Use the demo account, no sign-up needed: Email: [email protected] Password: [your password]

Built With

• anthropic-api
• claude
• fastapi
• next.js
• python
• supabase
• tailwind
• typescript
• vercel