Introduction

Crane Ledger is a headless double-entry accounting system. Your AI tool of choice — ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot, Gemini, Perplexity, Grok, Cursor, or a custom agent — is the generative UI. The API is organized around REST; MCP exposes the same capabilities as tools for assistants.

Base URL

https://api.craneledger.ai

All API requests must be made over HTTPS. Calls made over plain HTTP will fail.

Just getting started?

  1. Quick Start — account → connect AI → first prompts
  2. Connect your AI — per-client setup
  3. Why Choose Crane Ledger? — positioning

Create an account

In the browser at craneledger.ai — any of these sign-in methods:

MethodWhat you use
Continue with GitHubGitHub account
Continue with GoogleGoogle account
Continue with AppleApple ID (Hide My Email is fine)
Email me a sign-in linkPasswordless link to your inbox

First sign-in creates a master organization with 500 free credits. Accounts from different providers stay separate even if they share an email.

Agents / scripts (no browser): POST https://api.craneledger.ai/accounts/master with {"name":"…","base_currency_code":"USD"}. Save the one-time api_key. See Quick Start and llms.txt.

API protocols

Credit-based billing

OperationCredits
Read operations (GET)0 (free)
Write operations (POST/PUT/PATCH/DELETE)1
Report generation0 (free)
Document upload1
1 credit (transaction_create)≈ $0.0100 USD

Authentication

Use OAuth 2.1 (MCP connectors) or API keys (ha_live_ / ha_test_). Both send:

Authorization: Bearer <token>

Keep your API keys secure

Your API keys carry many privileges. Do not share them in publicly accessible areas such as GitHub, client-side code, etc.

Details: Authentication.

Next steps

Need help?

Create a free account (GitHub, Google, Apple, or email) to access our support portal. Once signed in, use the Support tab in your dashboard to submit a support ticket — no GitHub account required. Our team typically responds within 24 hours.