Xero MCP

Xero + AI - for Claude, the ChatGPT desktop app, GitHub Copilot, Gemini CLI, and any agent that speaks MCP

Unofficial. Community-built Claude Code Skill and MCP server for the Xero API. Not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Xero Limited.

[Xero demo - animated preview]

_{▶ Watch the 30-second demo - demo data is simulated; every command shown exists in the real CLI.}

Every Xero Accounting read plus a local SQLite ledger - aging, reconciliation, and GL tie-out that no other Xero tool computes offline. Works with the AI you already use - ChatGPT (desktop app), Claude Desktop, Codex, Claude Code, Claude Cowork, and GitHub Copilot - plus Gemini CLI. Free, open source, runs on your laptop. Built for MSP owners. No code required.

Works with your agent

Security note (until this connector is reprinted). Do not run HTTP mode (--transport http), not even on localhost. This build has no password, listens on every network interface, and predates the browser-rebinding guard, so a web page you open can reach it. The MCP tools can also make changes with your credentials. Use the default stdio transport. If you set up a tunnel for a remote agent, shut it down. A fix is on the way.

The six agents MSP owners actually use (self-serve, works today):

The ChatGPT desktop app runs xero-mcp locally and shares MCP configuration with Codex (OpenAI). ChatGPT on the web needs a remote (HTTP) server, and this connector's HTTP mode is paused until it is reprinted (see the security note in mcp-install.md), so msp-skills does not support it yet. If your team works there, a hosted gateway is the better pick; check that your AI app is on the gateway's setup list.

Also for the Microsoft and Google stacks

Big install base, but an honest heads-up: Gemini CLI runs the local binary you just installed, while Microsoft 365 Copilot and the Gemini app need a remote server, which msp-skills does not support yet.

Skill-native agents (also covered): Hermes and OpenClaw read this skill's SKILL.md directly and speak MCP - see their install sections below. Also works with Cursor, Windsurf, Cline, Continue.dev, and Zed via MCP. Full per-tool wire-up: docs/which-agent.md.

Run more than one agent? Install across all 51+ supported agents in one command: npx skills add Servosity/msp-skills@latest (requires Node.js, then run the per-skill installer for the CLI/MCP binaries). See docs/which-agent.md.

Install in 60 seconds

Fastest for Claude Desktop - one-click .mcpb

Claude Desktop bundle: the .mcpb launches on macOS (Intel and Apple Silicon), Windows x64 and Linux x64. Every tool shells out to the companion xero-cli. Releases cut from 2026-09-18 on ship that CLI inside the bundle; older bundles contain only the MCP server, so if yours lacks the companion, run the Path A or Path B installer below first (or set XERO_CLI_PATH to an existing binary). Details: #331.

Download Xero MCP (.mcpb) - then open Claude Desktop > Settings > Extensions and select the file. One click, no JSON, no shell. (Browse every Xero release on the releases page.)

Prefer the Claude Code plugin? Add the marketplace once, then install - works immediately, no directory listing required:

/plugin marketplace add Servosity/msp-skills/plugin install xero@msp-skills

Path A - paste one prompt into your AI agent (recommended)

Copy this into Claude Code, Codex CLI, or Claude Cowork:

Install the Xero Skill and MCP server from Servosity/msp-skills in this agent workspace. If this workspace uses a POSIX shell (macOS, Linux, WSL, or Bash), run bash <(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Servosity/msp-skills/main/skills/xero/install.sh). If it uses Windows PowerShell, run iwr -useb https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Servosity/msp-skills/main/skills/xero/install.ps1 | iex. Then authenticate per the README and run xero-cli --help to explore.

The same prompt works in any agent that can run shell.

Path B - run the installer yourself

Windows (PowerShell):

iwr -useb https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Servosity/msp-skills/main/skills/xero/install.ps1 | iex

macOS / Linux:

bash <(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Servosity/msp-skills/main/skills/xero/install.sh)

The installer drops both xero-cli (the CLI) and xero-mcp (the MCP server) into your user bin path. Claude Code, Codex, and Cowork discover the Skill via SKILL.md in this directory.

Verify:

xero-cli --version

Upgrade to the latest version

The installer always fetches the current release - re-run it to upgrade:

macOS / Linux:

bash <(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Servosity/msp-skills/main/skills/xero/install.sh)

Windows (PowerShell):

iwr -useb https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Servosity/msp-skills/main/skills/xero/install.ps1 | iex

Claude Desktop .mcpb users: download the latest .mcpb (top of this section) and re-select it in Settings > Extensions. Claude Code plugin users: /plugin update xero@msp-skills.

Add to Claude Desktop, the ChatGPT desktop app, GitHub Copilot, Gemini CLI, or another MCP client

After the installer runs, see mcp-install.md and docs/which-agent.md for the per-agent wire-up - one section per agent, including the GitHub Copilot servers key and the ChatGPT desktop app. Claude Desktop's Settings > Extensions panel is the simplest path; the MCP config block (for users who prefer editing JSON) is documented in mcp-install.md.

Install for Hermes

From the Hermes CLI:

hermes skills install servosity/msp-skills/skills/xero --force

Inside a Hermes chat session:

/skills install servosity/msp-skills/skills/xero --force

Hermes speaks MCP natively, so it can also use the xero-mcp server directly - same install path, same env vars.

Install for OpenClaw

Tell your OpenClaw agent (copy this):

Install the xero skill from https://github.com/servosity/msp-skills/tree/main/skills/xero. The skill defines how its required CLI (xero-cli) can be installed via the openclaw: frontmatter block.

OpenClaw isn't generally available yet; the frontmatter wiring is pre-shipped and will activate the moment OpenClaw launches.

Authenticate

Set the two credentials the CLI needs - an OAuth2 access token (mint a Custom Connection in the Xero developer portal) and your organisation's tenant id:

XERO_ACCESS_TOKEN=<value> XERO_TENANT_ID=<value> xero-cli doctor

doctor confirms the credentials work before you run anything that touches data. It exits 0 even when the credential is rejected, so scripts should add --fail-on error.

What this skill does

Full command reference: guide.md. For the AI-agent operating contract (--agent, --dry-run, when to confirm before mutating), see AGENTS.md.

What makes this different

Most Xero integrations and MCP servers proxy each question into a live API call. That's fine for one record. It dies at scale, when you're asking "who owes us across every authorised invoice and how overdue is each one" - and it burns through Xero's 60-call-per-minute, 5,000-per-day rate limit doing it.

This skill syncs Xero into a local SQLite mirror with full-text search. Aggregate questions become one local SQL join: instant, offline, and the AI sees the answer, not the raw data. Compound commands like reconcile (authorised invoices cross-joined to applied payments) and tie-out (the immutable journal control accounts compared against outstanding invoices) join across invoices, payments, journals, and accounts - work a stateless API wrapper can't do.

The pain this closes

Cash flow is what kills small service businesses, and the slowest loop in it is collections. On r/msp and r/bookkeeping the same complaint recurs: the weekly AR chase and the month-end close are manual rituals. You export the Aged Receivables report, paste it into a spreadsheet, pivot by days overdue - a chase list already a day stale by the time it's built. Reconciling applied cash to authorised invoices, and unreconciled bank lines to the invoices they settle, is click-back-and-forth one row at a time. And scripting around it hits Xero's 60-calls-per-minute, 5,000-per-day API ceiling, so the cross-endpoint answers you actually want never come back in a single call.

This skill closes that loop by syncing the org into a local mirror, then answering offline:

• xero-cli aging --agent - this week's chase list, bucketed by days overdue (--payable for what you owe).
• xero-cli exposure --agent - receivable risk ranked by contact, with an overdue split.
• xero-cli reconcile --agent - the cash-application gap: authorised invoices still owed with no applied payment.
• xero-cli bank-recon --agent - unreconciled bank lines matched to their likely invoices and payments.
• xero-cli tie-out --agent - proof the GL control accounts tie to outstanding invoices at close; variance zero is the signal.

See pain-point.md for the longer narrative.

Frequently asked questions

Does this work with ChatGPT?

Yes, in the ChatGPT desktop app. It runs MCP servers locally (STDIO), the way xero-mcp runs, and shares MCP configuration with Codex (OpenAI): add xero-mcp under Settings > MCP servers as a STDIO server, or add it once to Codex's ~/.codex/config.toml. ChatGPT on the web is not supported by msp-skills yet: it needs a remote (HTTP) server, and this connector's HTTP mode is paused until it is reprinted; the security note in mcp-install.md explains why. If your team works there, a hosted gateway is the better pick; check that your AI app is on the gateway's setup list.

Does this work with Codex, Cursor, Windsurf, Cline, Copilot, or Gemini?

Yes - all of them speak MCP. Cross-tool install commands are in the matrix above and the deep-dive in docs/which-agent.md.

Do I need to know how to code?

No. The recommended install is to paste one sentence into Claude Code or Codex - your agent reads SKILL.md and does the install. The fallback is a one-line installer per OS (bash or PowerShell). Neither path requires writing code. You'll enter your Xero credentials once.

Is my Xero data safe?

Your data stays on your machine. The CLI and MCP server are local binaries. The SQLite mirror sits in a directory under your user account. The AI agent only sees what the CLI returns - typically a query result, not raw bulk data. Credentials are read from your environment or your agent's config; never bundled into this repo or transmitted anywhere by MSP Skills.

Will this hit my Xero API rate limits?

Rarely. After one sync into the local mirror, aging, reconciliation, tie-out, exposure, ledger, and search run entirely offline - zero API calls. Only sync, explicit live reads, and writes touch the API, which Xero caps at 60 calls per minute and 5,000 per day per organisation. The local-first design exists precisely to stay under that ceiling.

Which Xero credentials does it need, and does it create them?

You mint an OAuth2 token in the Xero developer portal - a Custom Connection is the simplest for machine-to-machine use - then pass it plus your organisation's tenant id via XERO_ACCESS_TOKEN and XERO_TENANT_ID. The CLI never creates or rotates tokens; it only uses the one you give it. Run xero-cli doctor to confirm both are set before syncing.

Does it cover one organisation or several?

One organisation per XERO_TENANT_ID. The local mirror holds a single tenant; for a multi-entity portfolio, point the tenant id at each organisation in turn and loop.

Will it replace the Xero web app?

No. It complements the portal you still use for editing and day-to-day bookkeeping. This skill is for the cross-report questions - aging, reconciliation, GL tie-out - answered in the AI agent you already work in, computed offline.

What does it cost?

Free. Apache-2.0 licensed. You pay only for whichever AI agent you use (Claude, ChatGPT, Codex, etc.), and that's billed by your AI provider, not by us.

Safety model

The strongest control is the scope you grant the Xero credentials - the CLI can only do what the credentials are permitted to do. Full details, including how to lock it down, are in governance.md.

Status

Beta. Validated against the Xero API surface and being validated with MSPs running it live against their own production tenant in our weekly Build Sessions. RSVP at compoundingteams.com/build-sessions.

Standards. Conforms to the open Agent Skills spec (Anthropic, Dec 2025; 40+ agents). MCP-compatible - works with any MCP-capable agent including Hermes. OpenClaw-ready (frontmatter pre-wired, awaiting OpenClaw launch).

Maintained by Servosity. Apache-2.0 licensed. Built with CLI Printing Press. Last updated: 2026-06-06.