MCP (Model Context Protocol) - AI-Powered Accounting

Crane Ledger's Model Context Protocol (MCP) server enables AI assistants to perform accounting operations through natural language conversations. Instead of manual API calls and complex workflows, users can simply describe what they want to accomplish.

🤖 What Can MCP Do?

With MCP, AI assistants can help users with:

✅ Complete Accounting Workflows

• Chart of Accounts Setup: "Create a basic chart of accounts for my business"
• Transaction Recording: "Record a $500 payment from Acme Corp"
• Invoice Management: "Create an invoice for consulting services"
• Financial Reporting: "Show me my profit and loss for Q4"

✅ Credit Management

• Balance Checking: "How many credits do I have left?"
• Credit Purchasing: "I need to buy more credits for my accounting operations"
• Usage Monitoring: "Why did my credits decrease so much this month?"

✅ Multi-Step Processes

• Bank Reconciliation: "Help me reconcile my bank statement"
• Month-End Closing: "Walk me through closing the books for this month"
• Tax Preparation: "Set up accounts for tax filing"

🚀 Getting Started

1. Enable MCP for Your Organization

MCP uses the same API keys as the REST API. Simply use your existing Crane Ledger API key:

# Your existing API key works with MCP
API_KEY=cl_live_your_existing_key_here

2. Connect Your AI Assistant

Claude Desktop

Add this configuration to your Claude Desktop config (~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json on macOS):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "crane-ledger": {
      "command": "/path/to/mcp-server",
      "env": {
        "API_BASE_URL": "https://api.craneledger.ai",
        "API_KEY": "cl_live_your_key_here",
        "ORGANIZATION_ID": "org_your_org_id",
        "RUST_LOG": "info"
      }
    }
  }
}

You can also provide the API key during the MCP initialize handshake instead of setting it as an environment variable.

Other AI Assistants

Most MCP-compatible assistants can connect using:

• Binary: mcp-server (the Crane Ledger MCP server binary)
• Transport: JSON-RPC 2.0 over stdio
• Environment Variables: API_BASE_URL, API_KEY, ORGANIZATION_ID

3. Start Using Natural Language Accounting

Once connected, you can use natural language commands:

"Set up my chart of accounts for a small service business"
"Create an invoice for $2,500 to TechCorp for web development"
"Show me all transactions over $1,000 this month"
"How much cash do I have available?"
"I need to reconcile my bank statement"

🛠️ Available MCP Tools

Crane Ledger provides 82 MCP tools covering all accounting operations:

Core Accounting Operations

• Account Management: Create, list, update accounts
• Transaction Processing: Record, post, reverse transactions
• Financial Reports: Trial balance, balance sheet, P&L

Business Document Management

• Invoice Lifecycle: Create, send, track payments, generate PDFs
• Bill Management: Process purchase bills and payments
• Contact Management: Manage customers and vendors

Advanced Features

• Multi-Currency: Handle international transactions
• Bank Reconciliation: Match transactions to statements
• Recurring Transactions: Set up automated entries

System Operations

• Organization Management: Handle multi-tenant setups
• API Key Administration: Manage access credentials
• Credit Management: Monitor and purchase credits

💰 Credit System Integration

Automatic Credit Tracking

Every MCP tool call consumes credits from your organization's pool:

• Read operations: 0 credits (free)
• Write operations: 1-10 credits ($0.01-$0.10)

Smart Credit Management

MCP can help you manage credits:

• Check your balance: "How many credits do I have?"
• Purchase more: "I need 5,000 more credits"
• Monitor usage: "Why did I use so many credits yesterday?"

Flexible Purchasing

Purchase any amount of credits (100-100,000) at $0.01 each:

• 1,000 credits = $10
• 5,000 credits = $50
• 25,000 credits = $250

🔄 How MCP Works

The MCP server is a lightweight wrapper around the Crane Ledger REST API:

AI Assistant → MCP Client (stdio) → MCP Server → REST API → Database

All Operations Go Through REST

• Every MCP tool call translates to one or more REST API calls
• The same authentication, rate limiting, and credit deduction applies
• Results are returned in real-time from the REST API

🔐 Security & Compliance

Enterprise-Grade Security

• API Key Authentication: Same security as REST API
• Organization Scoping: Operations limited to your organization
• Audit Trails: Complete logging of all operations
• Rate Limiting: Prevents abuse and ensures fair usage

Data Privacy

• Encrypted Communications: All data transmitted securely
• Access Controls: Role-based permissions
• Compliance: SOC 2, GDPR, CCPA compliant

📊 Performance & Reliability

High Performance

• Sub-100ms response times for real-time operations
• Optimized database queries for fast results
• Scalable architecture handles high-volume operations

Reliability

• 99.9% uptime with automatic failover
• Data consistency across all operations
• Automatic retries for transient failures

🎯 Use Cases

For Individual Accountants

"Set up a new client with basic chart of accounts"
"Record monthly recurring revenue entries"
"Generate financial statements for tax preparation"

For Accounting Teams

"Create invoices for all outstanding projects"
"Reconcile bank statements for multiple accounts"
"Set up recurring journal entries for depreciation"

For Business Owners

"How much profit did we make last month?"
"Create an invoice for that new client"
"What's our current cash position?"

For Developers

"Set up test accounts for development"
"Create sample transactions for QA testing"
"Monitor API usage and credit consumption"

🔍 Monitoring & Support

Built-in Monitoring

• Real-time dashboards for usage and performance
• Credit consumption tracking with detailed breakdowns
• Error logging with actionable insights

Ready to revolutionize your accounting workflow? Enable MCP today and let AI handle the complexity while you focus on growing your business.

• ✨ For LLMs/AI assistants: Read our structured API reference