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.

▶ 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](../../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](./mcp-install.md) and [docs/which-agent.md](../../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-c