Xero MCP Server
This is a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server implementation for Xero. It provides a bridge between the MCP protocol and Xero's API, allowing for standardized access to Xero's accounting and business features.
Features
- Xero OAuth2 authentication with custom connections
- Contact management
- Chart of Accounts management
- Invoice creation and management
- MCP protocol compliance
Prerequisites
- Node.js (v18 or higher)
- npm or pnpm
- A Xero developer account with API credentials
Docs and Links
- Xero Public API Documentation
- Xero API Explorer
- Xero OpenAPI Specs
- Xero-Node Public API SDK Docs
- Developer Documentation
Setup
Create a Xero Account
If you don't already have a Xero account and organisation already, can create one by signing up here using the free trial.
We recommend using a Demo Company to start with because it comes with some pre-loaded sample data. Once you are logged in, switch to it by using the top left-hand dropdown and selecting "Demo Company". You can reset the data on a Demo Company, or change the country, at any time by using the top left-hand dropdown and navigating to My Xero.
NOTE: To use Payroll-specific queries, the region should be either NZ or UK.
Authentication
There are 2 modes of authentication supported in the Xero MCP server:
1. Custom Connections
This is a better choice for testing and development which allows you to specify client id and secrets for a specific organisation. It is also the recommended approach if you are integrating this into 3rd party MCP clients such as Claude Desktop.
Configuring your Xero Developer account
Set up a Custom Connection following these instructions: https://developer.xero.com/documentation/guides/oauth2/custom-connections/
Required Scopes
Custom connections require different scopes depending on when they were created. All scopes in the relevant list must be added to your custom connection:
Note: The MCP server automatically tries V1 scopes first and falls back to V2 if needed.
You can override these by setting the
XERO_SCOPESenvironment variable to a space-separated list of scopes.
Integrating the MCP server with Claude Desktop
To add the MCP server to Claude go to Settings > Developer > Edit config and add the following to your claude_desktop_config.json file:
{
"mcpServers": {
"xero": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "@xeroapi/xero-mcp-server@latest"],
"env": {
"XERO_CLIENT_ID": "your_client_id_here",
"XERO_CLIENT_SECRET": "your_client_secret_here",
"XERO_SCOPES": "accounting.invoices accounting.contacts accounting.settings"
}
}
}
}
The XERO_SCOPES variable is optional. If omitted, the default scopes listed above will be used.
NOTE: If you are using Node Version Manager "command": "npx" section change it to be the full path to the executable, ie: your_home_directory/.nvm/versions/node/v22.14.0/bin/npx on Mac / Linux or "your_home_directory\\.nvm\\versions\\node\\v22.14.0\\bin\\npx" on Windows
2. Bearer Token
This is a better choice if you are to support multiple Xero accounts at runtime and allow the MCP client to execute an auth flow (such as PKCE) as required. In this case, use the following configuration:
{
"mcpServers": {
"xero": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "@xeroapi/xero-mcp-server@latest"],
"env": {
"XERO_CLIENT_BEARER_TOKEN": "your_bearer_token"
}
}
}
}
NOTE: The XERO_CLIENT_BEARER_TOKEN will take precedence over the XERO_CLIENT_ID if defined.
Required Scopes for Bearer Token
When obtaining a bearer token, you must request the appropriate scopes. The scopes you request should be:
Note: Some scopes are being deprecated in favour of more granular scopes. See the Xero OAuth 2.0 Scopes documentation for details on deprecation timelines.
accounting.transactions (Deprecated)
accounting.transactions.read (Deprecated)
accounting.invoices
accounting.invoices.read
accounting.payments
accounting.payments.read
accounting.banktransactions
accounting.banktransactions.read
accounting.manualjournals
accounting.manualjournals.read
accounting.reports.read (Deprecated)
accounting.reports.aged.read
accounting.reports.balancesheet.read
accounting.reports.profitandloss.read
accounting.reports.trialbalance.read
accounting.contacts
accounting.settings
payroll.settings
payroll.employees
payroll.timesheets
Available MCP Commands
list-accounts: Retrieve a list of accountslist-contacts: Retrieve a list of contacts from Xerolist-credit-notes: Retrieve a list of credit noteslist-invoices: Retrieve a list of invoiceslist-items: Retrieve a list of itemslist-manual-journals: Retrieve a list of manual journalslist-organisation-details: Retrieve details about an organisationlist-profit-and-loss: Retrieve a profit and loss reportlist-quotes: Retrieve a list of quoteslist-tax-rates: Retrieve a list of tax rateslist-payments: Retrieve a list of paymentslist-trial-balance: Retrieve a trial balance reportlist-bank-transactions: Retrieve a list of bank account transactionslist-payroll-employees: Retrieve a list of Payroll Employeeslist-report-balance-sheet: Retrieve a balance sheet reportlist-payroll-employee-leave: Retrieve a Payroll Employee's leave recordslist-payroll-employee-leave-balances: Retrieve a Payroll Employee's leave balanceslist-payroll-employee-leave-types: Retrieve a list of Payroll leave typeslist-payroll-leave-periods: Retrieve a list of a Payroll Employee's leave periodslist-payroll-leave-types: Retrieve a list of all available leave types in Xero Payrolllist-timesheets: Retrieve a list of Payroll Timesheetslist-aged-receivables-by-contact: Retrieves aged receivables for a contactlist-aged-payables-by-contact: Retrieves aged payables for a contactlist-contact-groups: Retrieve a list of contact groupslist-tracking-categories: Retrieve a list of tracking categoriescreate-bank-transaction: Create a new bank transactioncreate-contact: Create a new contactcreate-credit-note: Create a new credit notecreate-invoice: Create a new invoicecreate-item: Create a new itemcreate-manual-journal: Create a new manual journal
For detailed API documentation, please refer to the MCP Protocol Specification.
For Developers
Installation
# Using npm
npm install
# Using pnpm
pnpm install
Run a build
# Using npm
npm run build
# Using pnpm
pnpm build
Integrating with Claude Desktop
To link your Xero MCP server in development to Claude Desktop go to Settings > Developer > Edit config and add the following to your claude_desktop_config.json file:
NOTE: For Windows ensure the args path escapes the \ between folders ie. "C:\\projects\xero-mcp-server\\dist\\index.js"
{
"mcpServers": {
"xero": {
"command": "node",
"args": ["insert-your-file-path-here/xero-mcp-server/dist/index.js"],
"env": {
"XERO_CLIENT_ID": "your_client_id_here",
"XERO_CLIENT_SECRET": "your_client_secret_here"
}
}
}
}
License
MIT
Security
Please do not commit your .env file or any sensitive credentials to version control (it is included in .gitignore as a safe default.)
