Budget Tracker

Log expenses from Claude with a free MCP server

In the [official MCP Registry](https://registry.modelcontextprotocol.io/v0.1/servers/io.github.theluckystrike%2Fexpense-tracker-receipts-mileage/versions/latest) (io.github.theluckystrike/expense-tracker-receipts-mileage).

Say "12.30 euros at Adobe, software, billable to Acme" and it is logged, categorised, VAT-split and ready to rebill. This MCP server keeps a local ledger of your business expenses: every amount is held in integer minor units in its own currency, vat_rate splits the gross on the receipt into net and VAT (set it once with expense_settings and every later expense is split without repeating it), merchant rules categorise new expenses on their own, receipts are attached by path and sha256 so an audit can prove the file has not changed, and business trips are priced from a built-in mileage table. Summaries group by category, project, month or merchant, always per currency and never mixed. It exports to CSV, xlsx or JSON, and expense_to_invoice hands the billable expenses of a project to mcp-invoice in exactly the line-item shape invoice_create expects. Everything is stored in a plain JSON file on your own machine; nothing is uploaded anywhere.

Log receipts and mileage in chat, split the VAT, and rebill them onto an invoice, no expense SaaS required.

60-second install

Use expense-tracker.mcpb v0.22.9 in Claude Desktop. Published checksums and the versioned download catalog identify the exact release. The npm package is not published.

For a source installation, use Node.js 22 or newer and build the shared dependency first:

git clone https://github.com/theluckystrike/mcp-servers.git

cd mcp-servers npm ci node scripts/bootstrap-timezone.mjs npm run build -w packages/mcp-license -w servers/expense-tracker

Merge this entry into Claude Desktop's mcpServers, or into .cursor/mcp.json for Cursor. Replace the absolute path with your checkout:

{

"mcpServers": { "expense-tracker": { "command": "node", "args": ["/absolute/path/mcp-servers/servers/expense-tracker/dist/index.js"] } } }

For Claude Code:

claude mcp add expense-tracker -- node /absolute/path/mcp-servers/servers/expense-tracker/dist/index.js

To run in Pro mode set MCP_LICENSE_KEY in the same config block, or call license_activate once with your key.

Tools

Resource: expenses://month returns the current calendar month's totals by category, per currency.

Prompt: monthly_close walks the month's totals, the billable expenses not yet invoiced, and the expenses with no receipt attached.

Mileage rates

The table holds one flat rate per region. Each row is an approximation with a stated assumption, not a tax calculation:

There are deliberately no year, vehicle or threshold tables behind these numbers: a table that looks authoritative but is a year out of date is worse than one that says what it is. Every mileage_add reply names the rate it used and repeats that caveat, for example (table rate PL 1.15 PLN/km, an approximation; pass rate_per_km for your exact scheme).

With no region, miles use the US rate and kilometres the EU rate. rate_per_km overrides the table with your own rate for the unit you passed, which is the supported way to claim an exact scheme (an engine class, a mid-year rate, the band above 10,000 miles). currency is only accepted together with rate_per_km: a table rate is quoted in its own currency, and relabelling PLN 1.15/km as EUR 1.15/km would convert nothing and book roughly four times the real cost, so that call is refused.

Pairs with the rest of the collection

expense_to_invoice returns {description, quantity, unit_price, tax_rate} objects, which is exactly the items array mcp-invoice takes. unit_price is the net amount, tax_rate is the VAT rate recorded on the expense, so the invoice recomputes the same tax rather than double-charging it, and the line total comes back to the gross on the receipt. Where rounding the tax a second time cannot reproduce that gross (EUR 0.03 at 23% splits into 0.02 + 0.01, but 0.02 taxed at 23% rounds to 0.00), the unit_price is nudged by the one cent if that lands the invoice exactly, and otherwise the group carries a visible [rounding adjustment ...] line at tax_rate: 0; rounding_adjustment_lines counts them.

Mixed currencies

One invoice carries one currency, so a week of USD hours, a EUR receipt and a GBP mileage line comes back as three groups. To get a single invoice, supply the target and your own rates:

expense_to_invoice {project: "Nova", from: "2026-09-01", to: "2026-09-07",

target_currency: "USD", fx_rates: {"EUR": 1.08, "GBP": 1.27}}

fx_rates reads as "1 unit of that currency = X units of target_currency". Every line is converted and one group is returned, and each converted line says so on its own face: ... [converted from EUR 12.40 at 1.08]. Nothing here fetches or invents a rate; a currency with no rate is refused by name. Without fx_rates, a mixed range returns the exact call to make instead of leaving you to work it out.

A stored vat_rate of 0 is a rate, not a gap: an exempt receipt stays exempt. An expense recorded with no rate holds a gross amount, and it is rebilled as-is with tax_rate: 0 and tax_rate: 0 (VAT unknown, gross rebilled as-is; pass assume_vat_rate to split) in the description, so a default rate on the invoice cannot tax the receipt twice. The expense_settings default is applied when the expense is inserted and never retroactively at rebill time: changing that default later must not rewrite the tax meaning of receipts entered before it existed. To split those older lines anyway, pass assume_vat_rate explicitly on the expense_to_invoice call and the lines are flagged [vat assumed 23%].

Nothing is marked rebilled by that call, and there is no option to make it: create the invoice first, then call expense_mark_rebilled with a required invoice_number. Because one invoice carries one currency, the result is grouped per currency, each group carries its own expense_ids, and you pass one group. Marking by ids is the precise route; marking by project and date range additionally requires currency, and touches only billable, not-yet-rebilled expenses in it, so invoicing the EUR group cannot mark the PLN one. mcp-time-tracker bills the hours on the same project; this server bills what the project cost you.

Free vs Pro

A limit never writes a partial file and never silently truncates: the export is refused with nothing on disk, and the tool says what to narrow.

Pro is a one-time $19, or $39 for every server in the collection, lifetime.

Numbers and money

Every amount is an integer number of minor units in the expense's own currency, and every printed amount carries its currency code, for example EUR 61.50. How many minor units make one unit comes from an ISO 4217 table, not a guess: 2 for most currencies, 0 for JPY, KRW, VND, CLP, ISK and the rest of the zero-decimal list, 3 for BHD, IQD, JOD, KWD, LYD, OMR and TND, 4 for CLF and UYW. So KWD 1.234 is 1234 minor units, not 123. The same table is used by mcp-invoice, because the two servers exchange amounts. HUF is 2 decimals here: ISO 4217 gives it two minor digits even though it is usually quoted without them.

The amount you record is the gross on the receipt. vat_rate splits it by rounding the VAT, not the net: vat = round(gross * rate / (100 + rate)), net = gross - vat, so net plus VAT is always exactly the gross and a half-cent of VAT rounds up instead of disappearing (EUR 0.03 at 23% is net 0.02 plus VAT 0.01). Summaries sum already-rounded per-expense values inside one currency; currencies are never added together and never converted. Mileage money is round(distance * rate) in the rate's currency. Dates are ISO YYYY-MM-DD.

Privacy

If data.json is ever unreadable or not valid JSON, it is not treated as "no expenses yet". The file is moved aside byte-for-byte as data.json.corrupt- , a data.json.corrupt ma