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Expense Book

MCP connector

Connect Claude or ChatGPT to Expense Book

Ask your AI assistant about your spending in plain words. If you allow it, it can also add, edit, move, merge and delete entries for you — and asks before every change.

What it is

Expense Book has an MCP server (Model Context Protocol, the standard AI apps use to connect to other services). Add it to Claude or ChatGPT as a connector and the assistant can look up your books, entries, budgets and recurring entries to answer your questions.

It works with the copy of your data in your Expense Book account — the one cloud sync keeps up to date — so it sees the books you own and the books other people share with you.

Who can use it

  • Expense Book Pro — cloud sync of your own books is part of Pro.
  • Signed in to Expense Book with Google, Apple or email.
  • Cloud sync on: in the app, open Settings › Account › Cloud sync.

Set it up

Server URLhttps://expensebook.ackbiz.com/mcp

Claude

  1. 1In Claude (web or desktop app), open Settings › Connectors and choose Add custom connector.
  2. 2Name it Expense Book and paste the server URL above.
  3. 3Choose Connect. An Expense Book page opens: pick Read only or Read and edit, enter your account’s email and the 6-digit code we email you.
  4. 4Turn the connector on in a chat (in the tools menu) and ask away.

ChatGPT

  1. 1In ChatGPT, open Settings › Connectors. Custom connectors need developer mode (under Advanced).
  2. 2Choose Create, name it Expense Book, paste the server URL above and pick OAuth.
  3. 3Sign in on the Expense Book page that opens: pick the access, enter your email and the 6-digit code.
  4. 4Add the connector to a chat and ask away.

Menu names can differ a little between versions of these apps. The approval page is always on expensebook.ackbiz.com.

What it can read

  • Totals by category, month, week, day, payment method or book
  • Month-by-month trends of income and expenses
  • Category and sub-category breakdowns, and spending per payment method
  • Your largest entries, and a search by name or note
  • Entry details, including notes
  • Your books, categories, monthly budgets and recurring entries

Try asking

  • “How much did I spend on food last month?”
  • “Compare my spending month by month this year.”
  • “What were my 10 biggest expenses since April?”
  • “Which payment method do I use most?”
  • “Am I within my budget this month?”
  • “Which recurring payments do I have?”

What it can change

Only when you choose Read and edit on the approval page. With Read only it can’t change anything.

  • Add new entries
  • Edit many entries at once: payment method, category, date, title or note
  • Move entries to another book
  • Merge entries that belong together into one
  • Delete entries

Try asking

  • “Move all my Swiggy entries from October to the credit card.”
  • “Merge the two electricity bill payments on 3 October into one.”
  • “Delete the duplicate Uber entries from yesterday.”
  • “Add ₹450 for lunch today, paid by UPI.”
  • At most 50 entries per change.
  • In a shared book, editors can make changes and viewers can’t. When the owner’s Pro ends, a shared book is read only for its members.
  • A merge keeps the first entry with the amounts added up (or an amount you name) and its notes joined.

Confirming and undoing changes

  • You confirm each change. Edits are marked as changes, so Claude and ChatGPT show what the assistant wants to do and ask before it runs. Choosing “always allow” in your AI app skips that question.
  • It reaches your phones by sync, like a change made on another phone. Each entry’s History in the app shows what changed.
  • Deleted and merged-away entries go to Settings › Recently deleted in the app, where you can restore them for 30 days.
  • To reverse an edit, ask the assistant to change it back, or edit the entry in the app.

Disconnecting

In the app, open Settings › AI › Connect Claude / ChatGPT and tap Revoke next to the app. It loses access straight away. You can also remove the connector in Claude or ChatGPT.

To switch between read only and read and edit, connect again from your AI app and pick the other option on the approval page.

Privacy

  • The assistant reads your data only through the connector’s tools, at most 50 rows at a time, and only from books you own or that are shared with you.
  • What it reads goes to the AI app you use (Anthropic for Claude, OpenAI for ChatGPT) as part of your chat, under that app’s privacy terms.
  • Receipts and photos stay on your phone; the connector can’t open them.
  • Expense Book records which tool was used, when, and how many entries a change touched — not your questions or the data sent back.
  • Access is tied to your approval: every call checks it, and revoking it in the app stops the connector at once.

More in the privacy policy.