bill4time-mcp 0.1.0

MCP server for Bill4Time API — legal billing and time tracking

bill4time-mcp

MCP server for Bill4Time — API coverage for legal billing and time tracking. Use Bill4Time from Claude Desktop with natural language.

What you can do

• Clients — list, filter by status, search active/disabled
• Projects — list, filter by client, status, billing method
• Time Entries — list by client, project, user, invoice, date range, billing status
• Expenses — list by client, project, invoice, date range
• Invoices — list by status (prebill/finalized), paid status, client, project, date range
• Payments — list by client, project, date range
• Payments Applied — track payment-to-invoice applications
• Users — list and look up users
• Contacts — list by status, date range, contact connections
• Trust Accounting — list trust records by client, project, date range

All resources support OData-style filtering via filter_expr parameter for advanced queries.

Requirements

• Python 3.10+
• Claude Desktop (or any MCP-compatible client)
• Bill4Time API key (create in Settings → API tab)

Note: The Bill4Time API is currently read-only. All tools retrieve data only.

Installation

pip install bill4time-mcp

Setup

bill4time-mcp-setup

This prompts for your API key and tests the connection. Credentials saved to ~/.bill4time-mcp/.

Verify:

bill4time-mcp-verify

Claude Desktop Configuration

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "bill4time": {
      "command": "bill4time-mcp"
    }
  }
}

Authentication Notes

Bill4Time uses an API key embedded directly in the URL path:

https://secure.bill4time.com/b4t-api/{api_key}/v1/{resource}

No OAuth or token refresh required. Create API keys from Settings → API in your Bill4Time account.

OData Filtering

All list_* tools accept a filter_expr parameter for advanced filtering:

"status eq 'Active'"
"clientId eq 751"
"invoiceDate ge '2024-01-01' AND invoiceDate le '2024-12-31'"
"billingStatus eq 'Ready For Billing'"

Supported operators: eq, ne, gt, ge, lt, le

Use top to limit results, orderby to sort, skip for pagination.

Example usage in Claude

"Show all unpaid invoices"

"List time entries for project 456 this month"

"Get all payments received from client 123 in 2024"

"Show trust account activity for client 789"

"List open projects ordered by project name"

License

MIT