To use Claude for bookkeeping, connect it to LedgerMCP once, then work in plain language. You add LedgerMCP as a connector, ask Claude to set up your books, hand it a bank statement, let it categorize and reconcile, then review the handful of items it flagged and close the month. The five steps below take you from a blank slate to closed books, with the exact prompts to use.
How do I connect LedgerMCP to Claude?
In Claude, open Settings, then Connectors, and add a custom connector with the URL https://ledgermcp.com/mcp. You sign in with a 6-digit code emailed to you, and from then on Claude has all 60 ledger tools available in any chat, on the web, in the desktop app, or in Claude Code. There is no software to install and no separate account to create first. If you would rather see the whole flow with screenshots, the how it works page walks through it.
How do I get Claude to set up my books?
You just ask. Because Claude can open books itself, you do not fill in a signup form first. Try a prompt like:
- Create a business called Maple Design Studio and set up its checking account.
- Open a fresh set of books for my rental property and add the operating account.
Claude uses the create_business tool to open books with a seeded chart of accounts, then adds your bank account. In about a minute you have a real ledger ready to receive transactions.
How do I give Claude my transactions?
You hand over the file directly in the chat. Download a CSV export or a PDF statement from your bank for the period and attach it. A useful prompt:
- Here is my June checking statement. Import it, then categorize everything and flag anything you are unsure about.
Claude normalizes the rows and imports them into a staging area. Nothing posts to the ledger until it is categorized, so you get a review checkpoint by design. It then works through the pile, applying what it has learned about your merchants, and sets aside the genuinely ambiguous charges instead of guessing. For the mechanics of the import itself, see closing the month with Claude.
How do I review what Claude did?
Open the LedgerMCP web app. This is your fallback surface and your control panel. Claude will have flagged the transactions it was not confident about, so you confirm or redirect just those rather than re-checking every line. A few prompts help here too:
- Show me everything you flagged for June and why.
- The Amazon charge on the 12th was office supplies, not personal. Fix it.
- Run my June profit and loss and my balance sheet.
Because every posting is a reversible journal entry, correcting a miss is clean and leaves a clear trail. You are never fighting a silent overwrite.
How do I close the month?
When the period ties out, ask Claude to reconcile against your statement balance and then set a lock date so the closed month is protected from accidental edits. A later correction is still possible, but it shows up as a visible, dated reversal rather than a quiet change. That is the whole loop: connect, set up, import, review, close. To go deeper on any single step, start from Claude bookkeeping with LedgerMCP.
What are good prompts to keep it running each month?
Bookkeeping is a monthly rhythm, and a few reliable prompts turn it into a short routine rather than a project. Once your books are set up, these carry most months:
- Here is last month’s statement. Import it, categorize everything, and match any transfers between my accounts.
- List anything you were not sure about, grouped by why.
- Reconcile my checking account to an ending balance of $12,430.18.
- Run my profit and loss and balance sheet for the month, then flag anything unusual versus last month.
- Set a lock date at month-end so the closed period is protected.
Because the ledger remembers durable conventions, rules like a standing 60/40 split on your phone bill stay applied across sessions, so you are not re-explaining preferences every month. The work shrinks to importing, answering a handful of flagged items, and confirming the reports.
What if Claude gets something wrong?
You correct it in plain language and the fix is clean, because every posting is a reversible journal entry. There is no edit or delete that could quietly rewrite history: a correction is a linked reversal that leaves the original visible. If a whole import went sideways, you can undo it. If a single charge landed in the wrong category, you tell Claude and it reverses and re-posts. Every write is in an append-only audit log, so you can always see exactly what happened and roll it back, which is what makes it safe to let an assistant do the repetitive work.
Quick answers
How do I connect Claude to my bookkeeping?
In Claude, open Settings, then Connectors, add a custom connector with the URL https://ledgermcp.com/mcp, and sign in with the 6-digit code emailed to you. Claude then has the ledger tools available in any chat.
How do I get Claude to set up my books?
Just ask it. Tell Claude to create a business and set up your bank account, and it uses create_business to open fresh books with a seeded chart of accounts. No separate signup or web form is required.
How does Claude get my transactions?
You hand it the file. Export a CSV or download a PDF bank statement and give it to Claude in the chat. It normalizes the rows and imports them into a staging area, where nothing posts until it is categorized.
How do I review what Claude did?
Open the LedgerMCP web app. Claude flags the transactions it was unsure about; you confirm or redirect those, check the reports, and set a lock date to close the month. Every entry is reversible if you change your mind.
