manager-mcp 0.1.1

Read-only MCP server for Manager.io bookkeeping

manager-mcp

MCP server for self-hosted Manager.io — ask your AI about invoices, balances, and books.

What is Manager.io?

Manager.io is free, self-hosted accounting software for Windows, macOS, and Linux (also available as Cloud Edition). It covers sales, purchases, banking, payroll, and the full ledger, with an HTTP API (/api2) for automation.

This project wires that API into the Model Context Protocol so Cursor, Claude, VS Code Copilot, and other MCP hosts can query your live books in natural language.

Useful Manager.io links:

• Download
• Guides
• Forum
• Releases

What this server does

Default is read-only. You get:

• 10 read tools — discovery, six searchable collections, seven report shortcuts
• Optional scoped writes — 23 resource types across 9 domains (quotes, orders, parties, …), enabled only when you set env scopes
• Hard denylist — access tokens, chart of accounts forms, tax/currency, email templates, and similar high-risk paths stay blocked even when writes are on

Transport is stdio. No HTTP server. No global install required if you use uv / uvx.

Branding / icons

• stdio hosts (Cursor, Claude Desktop via mcp.json): the server advertises Manager branding in MCP serverInfo.icons (embedded PNG data URI, plus a GitHub raw HTTPS fallback).
• Cursor plugin: .cursor-plugin/plugin.json uses docs/manager-icon.svg.
• Claude Desktop Extension: pack mcpb/ (includes icon.png) — see Installation → Claude Desktop below.
• Claude.ai remote connectors: Claude.ai ignores serverInfo.icons and uses the root-domain favicon of the connector URL. If you host a remote MCP later, serve docs/favicon.ico at the registrable domain root (e.g. https://acme.com/favicon.ico for https://mcp.acme.com/...).

Requirements

• Python ≥ 3.10 (pulled in automatically by uvx)
• uv (provides uvx)
• A reachable Manager.io API: MANAGER_API_URL + MANAGER_API_KEY

Access token

1. In Manager, open Settings → Access Tokens.
2. Create a token and copy the value into MANAGER_API_KEY.
3. Set MANAGER_API_URL to your API base (desktop often http://127.0.0.1:55667/api2).

manager-mcp sends the token as the X-API-KEY header. Full walkthrough: Access Tokens.

Quick start

Run the PyPI package with uvx:

uvx manager-mcp

Paste a client config below, set MANAGER_API_URL / MANAGER_API_KEY, restart the host, then ask: “Who owes me money?” or “Show bank balances.”

From a git clone (dev): uvx --from git+https://github.com/flumpiey/manager-mcp manager-mcp or uv run --directory /path/to/manager-mcp manager-mcp.

Installation

Configs below pull manager-mcp from PyPI. Leave write-scope env vars unset for read-only.

Cursor

Plugin (Configure UI for URL, key, and scopes): this repo is a Cursor plugin via .cursor-plugin/plugin.json + root mcp.json.

1. Symlink or copy the clone to ~/.cursor/plugins/local/manager-mcp (Windows: %USERPROFILE%\.cursor\plugins\local\manager-mcp).
2. Reload the window.
3. Open Plugins → Configure on manager-mcp. Set Manager API URL and Manager API key. Leave Write scopes / Delete scopes empty for read-only, or paste a CSV such as quotes or quotes,orders.
4. Confirm the manager MCP server is enabled under Customize / MCP.

Marketplace listing is a separate submit at cursor.com/marketplace/publish.

Manual mcp.json: project .cursor/mcp.json or user-wide ~/.cursor/mcp.json.

From PyPI:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "manager": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["manager-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "MANAGER_API_URL": "http://127.0.0.1:55667/api2",
        "MANAGER_API_KEY": "your-token"
      }
    }
  }
}

Local editable (dev):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "manager": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "uv",
      "args": ["run", "--directory", "/path/to/manager-mcp", "manager-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "MANAGER_API_URL": "http://127.0.0.1:55667/api2",
        "MANAGER_API_KEY": "your-token"
      }
    }
  }
}

Optional scoped writes in the env block:

"MANAGER_MCP_WRITE_SCOPES": "quotes",
"MANAGER_MCP_DELETE_SCOPES": "quotes"

Restart Cursor after saving. Confirm manager under MCP settings.

Claude Desktop

Desktop Extension (.mcpb, shows branded icon): from a clone:

npx @anthropic-ai/mcpb pack mcpb

Install the resulting .mcpb (double-click, drag onto Claude Desktop, or Settings → Extensions → Install Extension). Enter API URL and key when prompted; leave write/delete scopes empty for read-only. Requires uv on PATH (mcp_config runs uvx).

Manual mcp.json config: edit the Claude Desktop config, then restart the app.

OS	Path
macOS	~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
Windows	%APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "manager": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["manager-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "MANAGER_API_URL": "http://127.0.0.1:55667/api2",
        "MANAGER_API_KEY": "your-token"
      }
    }
  }
}

Local clone:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "manager": {
      "command": "uv",
      "args": ["run", "--directory", "/path/to/manager-mcp", "manager-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "MANAGER_API_URL": "http://127.0.0.1:55667/api2",
        "MANAGER_API_KEY": "your-token"
      }
    }
  }
}

Claude Code

Add via CLI:

claude mcp add manager --env MANAGER_API_URL=http://127.0.0.1:55667/api2 --env MANAGER_API_KEY=your-token -- uvx manager-mcp

Or edit ~/.claude.json / project MCP config:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "manager": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["manager-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "MANAGER_API_URL": "http://127.0.0.1:55667/api2",
        "MANAGER_API_KEY": "your-token"
      }
    }
  }
}

VS Code / GitHub Copilot

Create .vscode/mcp.json in the project root:

{
  "servers": {
    "manager": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["manager-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "MANAGER_API_URL": "http://127.0.0.1:55667/api2",
        "MANAGER_API_KEY": "your-token"
      }
    }
  }
}

Local editable:

{
  "servers": {
    "manager": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "uv",
      "args": ["run", "--directory", "/path/to/manager-mcp", "manager-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "MANAGER_API_URL": "http://127.0.0.1:55667/api2",
        "MANAGER_API_KEY": "your-token"
      }
    }
  }
}

Reload the window. Open Copilot Chat and confirm the manager tools are available.

Windsurf

Edit ~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json (macOS/Linux) or the Windsurf MCP settings UI:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "manager": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["manager-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "MANAGER_API_URL": "http://127.0.0.1:55667/api2",
        "MANAGER_API_KEY": "your-token"
      }
    }
  }
}

Restart Windsurf after saving.

Zed

Add under context_servers in Zed settings.json (Agent Panel → settings also works):

{
  "context_servers": {
    "manager": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["manager-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "MANAGER_API_URL": "http://127.0.0.1:55667/api2",
        "MANAGER_API_KEY": "your-token"
      }
    }
  }
}

Cline

Edit the Cline MCP settings file (cline_mcp_settings.json via the Cline MCP UI):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "manager": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["manager-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "MANAGER_API_URL": "http://127.0.0.1:55667/api2",
        "MANAGER_API_KEY": "your-token"
      }
    }
  }
}

Continue

In .continue/config.yaml:

mcpServers:
  - name: manager
    command: uvx
    args:
      - manager-mcp
    env:
      MANAGER_API_URL: http://127.0.0.1:55667/api2
      MANAGER_API_KEY: your-token

Generic / any stdio MCP host

Any host that can spawn a stdio MCP server:

Field	Value
Command	uvx
Args	manager-mcp
Env	MANAGER_API_URL, MANAGER_API_KEY (+ optional write scopes)

uvx manager-mcp

Dev from a clone: uv run --directory /path/to/manager-mcp manager-mcp.

npx only runs npm packages. This is a Python package; use uvx.

Environment

Variable	Required	Notes
MANAGER_API_URL	yes	Opaque base URL (include /api2 when needed)
MANAGER_API_KEY	yes	Sent as X-API-KEY; never logged
MANAGER_MCP_WRITE_SCOPES	no	Comma-separated domains for create/update. Empty = no writes.
MANAGER_MCP_DELETE_SCOPES	no	Comma-separated domains for delete only. Never implied by WRITE_SCOPES.

Valid scopes: quotes, orders, parties, items, sales, purchases, banking, payroll, ledger. No wildcards (*, all).

Legacy MANAGER_MCP_ALLOW_WRITES / ALLOW_WRITES / MANAGER_MCP_WRITES hard-fail if set — use the scoped vars instead.

See .env.example. Prefer a secret manager for the API key in production configs.

Write scopes

When a scope is listed in MANAGER_MCP_WRITE_SCOPES, the server registers create_* and update_* for every implemented resource in that domain. MANAGER_MCP_DELETE_SCOPES registers delete_* separately.

Scope	Resources	Tools (when enabled)
quotes	sales_quotes, purchase_quotes	create/update/delete_sales_quote, …_purchase_quote
orders	sales_orders, purchase_orders	create/update/delete_sales_order, …_purchase_order
parties	customers, suppliers	create/update/delete_customer, …_supplier
items	inventory_items, non_inventory_items	create/update/delete_inventory_item, …_non_inventory_item
sales	sales_invoices, credit_notes, delivery_notes	create/update/delete_sales_invoice, …_credit_note, …_delivery_note
purchases	purchase_invoices, debit_notes, goods_receipts	create/update/delete_purchase_invoice, …_debit_note, …_goods_receipt
banking	receipts, payments, inter_account_transfers	create/update/delete_receipt, …_payment, …_inter_account_transfer
payroll	employees, payslips, expense_claims	create/update/delete_employee, …_payslip, …_expense_claim
ledger	journal_entries, depreciation_entries, amortization_entries	create/update/delete_journal_entry, …_depreciation_entry, …_amortization_entry

Bodies are opaque Manager-native JSON. Prefer GET form → modify → PUT (full-document replace). Example with only quotes enabled:

"MANAGER_MCP_WRITE_SCOPES": "quotes",
"MANAGER_MCP_DELETE_SCOPES": "quotes"

→ create_sales_quote, update_sales_quote, delete_sales_quote, plus purchase twins.

Denylist (always blocked): access-token forms, chart-of-accounts / *-account-form, bank reconciliation, customer portal, starting balances, tax codes, exchange rates, currencies, custom fields/buttons, themes, email templates/settings.

Tools

Read tools

Tool	Purpose	Period (from_date / to_date)
list_resources	Discovery; reports read_only + live write/delete scopes	—
list_records	Search/page a curated collection	—
get_record	Fetch one record via {path}-form/{key}	—
aged_receivables	Outstanding / aging customers	Accepted; may be unsupported on this view
aged_payables	Aging suppliers	Accepted; may be unsupported on this view
bank_balances	Bank/cash balances snapshot	Accepted; may be unsupported on this view
trial_balance	Trial balance	Forwarded as fromDate / toDate
profit_and_loss	P&L	Forwarded as fromDate / toDate
balance_sheet	Balance sheet	Forwarded as fromDate / toDate
tax_summary	Tax summary	Accepted; may be unsupported on this view

Collections for list_records / get_record: customers, suppliers, sales_invoices, purchase_invoices, chart_of_accounts, bank_accounts.

chart_of_accounts is list/search only (no single-form GET).

Bank dual path (intentional): bank_balances answers “what are my balances?”; list_records / get_record on bank_accounts answers “find account X and show detail.”

Write tools (opt-in)

Registered only for resources in enabled scopes. Pattern:

Pattern	Requires	Notes
create_{stem}	write scope	POST form path; 201 includes Key
update_{stem}	write scope	PUT {form}/{key}; full document replace
delete_{stem}	delete scope	DELETE {form}/{key}; write scope alone is not enough

Agent Skill

Companion skill: skills/manager-accounting/SKILL.md.

The Cursor plugin discovers this skill from skills/. Without the plugin, copy or symlink that folder into your agent skills path. It tells the model to call list_resources first, verify after writes, and which report tools to prefer.

Development

uv sync --extra dev
uv run manager-mcp

Offline tests only (respx). No live Manager required:

uv run ruff check src tests
uv run pytest

GitHub Actions matrix: Python 3.10 and 3.12.

Caveats

• One process ↔ one MANAGER_API_URL. Multi-instance routing is out of scope.
• Multi-business disambiguation on a shared host is unverified — do not claim multi-business support until validated against a live multi-business setup.
• Vendored src/manager_mcp/spec/api2.json is provenance only; runtime always hits the live URL.
• ChatGPT Apps need a hosted HTTP MCP endpoint. This package is stdio-only.

License

MIT — see LICENSE.