manager-mcp

MCP server for self-hosted Manager.io: ask your AI about invoices, balances, and books.

What is Manager.io?

Manager.io is free, self-hosted accounting software for Windows, macOS, and Linux (also available as Cloud Edition). It covers sales, purchases, banking, payroll, and the full ledger, with an HTTP API (/api2) for automation.

This project wires that API into the Model Context Protocol so Cursor, Claude, VS Code Copilot, and other MCP hosts can query your live books in natural language.

Useful Manager.io links:

• Download
• Guides
• Forum
• Releases

What this server does

Default is read-only. You get:

• 10 read tools - discovery, six searchable collections, seven report shortcuts
• Task tools (opt-in) - intent-shaped writes such as record_customer_payment, issue_sales_invoice, record_customer_deposit (register when matching write scopes are set)
• Deprecated CRUD tools - per-resource create_* / update_* / delete_* still register under scopes until 0.3.0; prefer task tools
• raw escape hatch - restores the full CRUD set for advanced use
• Hard denylist - access tokens, chart of accounts forms, tax/currency, email templates, and similar high-risk paths stay blocked even when writes are on

Transport is stdio. No HTTP server. No global install required if you use uv / uvx.

Branding / icons

• stdio hosts (Cursor, Claude Desktop via mcp.json): the server advertises Manager branding in MCP serverInfo.icons (embedded PNG data URI, plus a GitHub raw HTTPS fallback).
• Cursor plugin: .cursor-plugin/plugin.json uses docs/manager-icon.svg.
• Claude Desktop Extension: pack mcpb/ (includes icon.png). See Installation → Claude Desktop below.
• Claude.ai remote connectors: Claude.ai ignores serverInfo.icons and uses the root-domain favicon of the connector URL. If you host a remote MCP later, serve docs/favicon.ico at the registrable domain root (e.g. https://acme.com/favicon.ico for https://mcp.acme.com/...).

Requirements

• Python ≥ 3.10 (pulled in automatically by uvx)
• uv (provides uvx)
• A reachable Manager.io API: MANAGER_API_URL + MANAGER_API_KEY

Access token

1. In Manager, open Settings → Access Tokens.
2. Create a token and copy the value into MANAGER_API_KEY.
3. Set MANAGER_API_URL to your API base (desktop often http://127.0.0.1:55667/api2).

manager-mcp sends the token as the X-API-KEY header. Full walkthrough: Access Tokens.

Quick start

Run the PyPI package with uvx:

uvx manager-mcp

Paste a client config below, set MANAGER_API_URL / MANAGER_API_KEY, restart the host, then ask: “Who owes me money?” or “Show bank balances.”

From a git clone (dev): uvx --from git+https://github.com/flumpiey/manager-mcp manager-mcp or uv run --directory /path/to/manager-mcp manager-mcp.

Installation

Configs below pull manager-mcp from PyPI. Leave write-scope env vars unset for read-only.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "manager": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["manager-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "MANAGER_API_URL": "http://127.0.0.1:55667/api2",
        "MANAGER_API_KEY": "your-token"
      }
    }
  }
}

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "manager": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "uv",
      "args": ["run", "--directory", "/path/to/manager-mcp", "manager-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "MANAGER_API_URL": "http://127.0.0.1:55667/api2",
        "MANAGER_API_KEY": "your-token"
      }
    }
  }
}

"MANAGER_MCP_WRITE_SCOPES": "quotes",
"MANAGER_MCP_DELETE_SCOPES": "quotes"

npx @anthropic-ai/mcpb pack mcpb

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "manager": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["manager-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "MANAGER_API_URL": "http://127.0.0.1:55667/api2",
        "MANAGER_API_KEY": "your-token"
      }
    }
  }
}

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "manager": {
      "command": "uv",
      "args": ["run", "--directory", "/path/to/manager-mcp", "manager-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "MANAGER_API_URL": "http://127.0.0.1:55667/api2",
        "MANAGER_API_KEY": "your-token"
      }
    }
  }
}

claude mcp add manager --env MANAGER_API_URL=http://127.0.0.1:55667/api2 --env MANAGER_API_KEY=your-token -- uvx manager-mcp

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "manager": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["manager-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "MANAGER_API_URL": "http://127.0.0.1:55667/api2",
        "MANAGER_API_KEY": "your-token"
      }
    }
  }
}

{
  "servers": {
    "manager": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["manager-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "MANAGER_API_URL": "http://127.0.0.1:55667/api2",
        "MANAGER_API_KEY": "your-token"
      }
    }
  }
}

{
  "servers": {
    "manager": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "uv",
      "args": ["run", "--directory", "/path/to/manager-mcp", "manager-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "MANAGER_API_URL": "http://127.0.0.1:55667/api2",
        "MANAGER_API_KEY": "your-token"
      }
    }
  }
}

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "manager": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["manager-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "MANAGER_API_URL": "http://127.0.0.1:55667/api2",
        "MANAGER_API_KEY": "your-token"
      }
    }
  }
}

{
  "context_servers": {
    "manager": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["manager-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "MANAGER_API_URL": "http://127.0.0.1:55667/api2",
        "MANAGER_API_KEY": "your-token"
      }
    }
  }
}

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "manager": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["manager-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "MANAGER_API_URL": "http://127.0.0.1:55667/api2",
        "MANAGER_API_KEY": "your-token"
      }
    }
  }
}

mcpServers:
  - name: manager
    command: uvx
    args:
      - manager-mcp
    env:
      MANAGER_API_URL: http://127.0.0.1:55667/api2
      MANAGER_API_KEY: your-token

uvx manager-mcp

Environment

Valid scopes: quotes, orders, parties, items, sales, purchases, banking, payroll, ledger, raw. No wildcards (*, all).

Recommended (covers most bookkeeping without 82 tools):

"MANAGER_MCP_WRITE_SCOPES": "banking,sales,parties",
"MANAGER_MCP_DELETE_SCOPES": "sales,banking"

Default with no scopes: 10 tools. All nine domain scopes plus every CRUD verb: up to 82 tools. Use raw only when you need the full CRUD escape hatch.

Legacy MANAGER_MCP_ALLOW_WRITES / ALLOW_WRITES / MANAGER_MCP_WRITES hard-fail if set. Use the scoped vars instead.

See .env.example. Prefer a secret manager for the API key in production configs.

Write scopes and task tools

When a scope is listed in MANAGER_MCP_WRITE_SCOPES, the server registers task tools for that domain plus deprecated CRUD twins. MANAGER_MCP_DELETE_SCOPES enables void_document and delete_* per domain.

Task tools (preferred)

Bodies for composite tools use Manager-native JSON where noted. Clone get_record templates; do not invent field names.

Deprecated CRUD (0.2.0, removed 0.3.0)

Per-resource create_* / update_* / delete_* still register when their domain scope is enabled. Descriptions are prefixed [DEPRECATED in 0.2.0; use task tools] except create_customer / create_supplier. Set raw in MANAGER_MCP_WRITE_SCOPES to register CRUD without deprecation prefixes.

Example with recommended scopes only:

"MANAGER_MCP_WRITE_SCOPES": "banking,sales,parties",
"MANAGER_MCP_DELETE_SCOPES": "sales"

Denylist (always blocked): access-token forms, chart-of-accounts / *-account-form (except bank-or-cash), bank reconciliation, customer portal, starting balances, tax codes, exchange rates, currencies, custom fields/buttons, themes, email templates/settings.

Customer deposit workflow

A deposit is not revenue. Money received before delivery must not be booked to an income account. Confirm tax/VAT treatment with your accountant.

1. Ensure a Customer deposits bank/cash account exists in Manager (Settings → Bank and Cash Accounts).
2. record_customer_deposit - posts cash to that account. If the account is missing, the tool returns precondition_failed with exact setup steps (Option A: guide only, no auto-create).
3. issue_deposit_invoice (optional) - quote styled as a deposit document for the customer.
4. issue_sales_invoice when the real invoice is raised.
5. apply_deposit_to_invoice - journal entry moving deposit balance to the invoice (clone an existing journal via get_record).

Required scopes: banking, quotes (deposit doc), ledger (apply), sales (final invoice via MCP).

Migration from 0.1.x

• 0.2.0: Task tools added; CRUD tools deprecated but still present under scopes.
• 0.3.0: CRUD tools removed (except create_customer / create_supplier). Use task tools or raw scope.
• Update MANAGER_MCP_WRITE_SCOPES to the recommended narrow set above instead of enabling all domains.

Tools

Read tools

Collections for list_records / get_record: customers, suppliers, sales_invoices, purchase_invoices, chart_of_accounts, bank_accounts.

chart_of_accounts is list/search only (no single-form GET).

Bank dual path (intentional): bank_balances answers “what are my balances?”; list_records / get_record on bank_accounts answers “find account X and show detail.”

Write tools (deprecated)

Registered only for resources in enabled scopes. Prefer task tools above.

Agent Skill

Companion skill: skills/manager-accounting/SKILL.md.

The Cursor plugin discovers this skill from skills/. Without the plugin, copy or symlink that folder into your agent skills path. It tells the model to call list_resources first, verify after writes, and which report tools to prefer.

Development

uv sync --extra dev
uv run manager-mcp

Offline tests only (respx). No live Manager required:

uv run ruff check src tests
uv run pytest

GitHub Actions matrix: Python 3.10 and 3.12.

Caveats

• One process ↔ one MANAGER_API_URL. Multi-instance routing is out of scope.
• Multi-business disambiguation on a shared host is unverified. Do not claim multi-business support until validated against a live multi-business setup.
• Vendored src/manager_mcp/spec/api2.json is provenance only; runtime always hits the live URL.
• ChatGPT Apps need a hosted HTTP MCP endpoint. This package is stdio-only.

License

MIT. See LICENSE.