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Venkatesh Prasanna
Venkatesh Prasanna

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Silent Spend Tracker – A Non-Conversational Agent for Automatic Daily Expense Totals

Algolia MCP Server Challenge: Ultimate user Experience

This is a submission for the Algolia Agent Studio Challenge: Consumer-Facing Non-Conversational Experiences

What I Built

Silent Spend Tracker is a non-conversational AI agent that automatically calculates day-wise spending totals from transaction SMS messages.

In real life, users receive multiple SMS alerts for every transaction made through PhonePe, Google Pay, Paytm, UPI, or net banking. While these messages contain all the information, it is scattered, unorganized, and difficult to track daily spending without manual effort.

This agent removes the need for apps, typing, or conversation. It works silently in the background and presents clear daily totals automatically.

No prompts.

No chat.

No manual entry.


Demo

Demo / Prototype link:

( add your GitHub, mockup, or placeholder link here )

Example workflow:

  1. Transaction SMS arrives (UPI / bank / wallet)
  2. Agent detects sender and amount automatically
  3. Transaction is parsed and indexed
  4. Daily totals update instantly
  5. User opens the dashboard and sees:
    • Today’s total spend
    • Yesterday’s spend
    • Weekly overview

This entire flow happens without user interaction.


How I Used Algolia Agent Studio

Algolia Agent Studio is used to orchestrate the automatic ingestion and retrieval of transaction data.

Parsed SMS data such as:

  • Amount
  • Date
  • Payment source (UPI, bank, wallet)
  • Merchant reference

is indexed into Algolia.

Agent Studio triggers retrieval automatically whenever new data arrives. Algolia’s fast search and filtering capabilities allow transactions to be grouped by date and source, enabling instant calculation of daily spending totals without any user query.


Why Fast Retrieval Matters

This experience depends on immediacy and clarity. Users expect to open the app and instantly see their spending summary without delay or interaction.

Algolia’s fast, contextual retrieval ensures:

  • Instant aggregation of transactions by day
  • Smooth updates as new SMS messages arrive
  • A frictionless, non-intrusive user experience

Because retrieval is fast and automatic, the agent feels invisible yet reliable — exactly what a non-conversational assistant should be.


Thanks for reviewing my submission!

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