MCP server
Connect any AI assistant to Expense.
Expense speaks the Model Context Protocol: connect any MCP client (Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini CLI, and others) and it can capture receipts from photos and PDFs, log drives at the IRS rate, answer spending questions from your data, build and export reports, and reconcile bank statements. Connecting is signing in with your Expense account via OAuth; there are no API keys.
Setup instructions
The base MCP server address is:
https://expense.labnotes.org/mcpAll connections use OAuth: the first connection opens a sign-in flow to your Expense account. No API keys.
Claude (claude.ai and Claude Desktop)
- 1.Go to claude.ai/customize/connectors
- 2.Click the + icon, then "Add custom connector"
- 3.Enter the server URL:
https://expense.labnotes.org/mcp - 4.Claude opens a browser to sign in to Expense; approve the connection
The connector also appears in Claude Desktop and Claude Code when signed in with the same Claude account.
What your assistant can do
Capture receipts
Upload a photo or PDF of a receipt to the chat and it will OCR and classify it based on your merchant history, just like in the web application—no manual work is required.
Log drives in natural language
“Log the drive home from the office on Tuesday.” It geocodes, calculates the route, and prices the drive at the IRS rate for the current year.
Answer questions about spending
“What amount did I spend on flights last quarter?” The question will get an answer based on your data.
Build and export reports
Create or close reports, assign expenses to them, and export a PDF version of the report in one sentence instead of filling out a form.
Reconcile statements
Upload the bank statement CSV file and it will find all charges without a receipt. Read-only: no data is written and no receipt is marked as not reconciled.
Tax-season answers
The categories match the ones in IRS Schedule C, so a question like “what’s my meals and entertainment total?” maps to your tax form perfectly.
Tools
| Tool | Writes | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| capture_receipt | yes | Capture a receipt from an image or PDF (file data or URL): extraction pipeline, stores the image, creates the expense. |
| log_mileage | yes | Log a driving trip from ordered stops; geocodes, routes, and prices it at the IRS rate. One way unless the trip returns to its first stop. |
| list_expenses | no | Query expenses by date range, category, merchant, report, or type. |
| expense_summary | no | Totals and per-category breakdown: the "how much did I spend on X?" tool. |
| list_reports | no | Reports with expense counts and exact totals. |
| create_report | yes | Create a report (fails if the name exists). |
| close_report | yes | Close (or reopen) a report; closed reports refuse new expenses. |
| add_to_report | yes | Move an expense into an open report. |
| export_report | no | Render a report as a PDF (same layout as the web export) and return it base64-encoded. |
| list_categories | no | The account's categories; use these when categorizing. |
| list_merchants | no | Merchant names previously used, most recent first. |
| get_settings | no | Home address, the account's named locations (work, hospital), and the IRS mileage-rate table. |
| reconcile | no | Match a bank statement (CSV/QFX/OFX) against logged expenses; pure analysis, writes nothing. |
Example prompts
- “Here's my receipt, log it under Q3.”
- “How much did I spend on meals and entertainment last quarter?”
- “Move all unreported June expenses into the Q2 report and export the PDF.”
- “Reconcile this statement.” (paste the CSV)
Security
Connecting is OAuth 2.1 with PKCE: the assistant never sees your password, access tokens live one hour, refresh tokens rotate, and only hashes are stored. A connection only ever reaches your own account. Revoke it anytime in Settings → Agents & API (MCP). Delete a single token or disconnect the whole app.
Signed in? Manage or revoke existing connections in Settings → Agents & API (MCP). For the read-only in-page tools a browser agent can use while you're signed in, see the WebMCP page. Prefer to skip the connection? Insights answers questions about your spending inside the app.
Your expenses, on speaking terms with your assistant.
Accounts are free and start empty. Add your first receipt in under a minute, then connect your assistant whenever you're ready.