Connect LazyBooks to AI assistants

LazyBooks has an MCP server (Model Context Protocol, an open standard that lets AI assistants use tools). With it, an assistant such as Claude, ChatGPT, Claude Code, or Cursor can review and categorize the records in your LazyBooks organizations. You approve each connection, and you can remove it at any time.

What an assistant can do

• Read: see the organizations it may use; read the chart of accounts; list records that need review or are approved, with filters for dates, amounts, memo text, merchants, and accounts; search merchants; read one record with its line items.
• Change (only when the connection has the permission to make changes): set the account of a line item; create a subaccount and categorize a line item to it; approve up to 100 records at a time; save a memo rule that categorizes future records, and optionally the matching records that need review; change the connection's default organization.

Before its first change, the assistant must name the organization exactly, and it should confirm the organization with you. LazyBooks records every change in the record history with the connection that made it. The assistant cannot invite team members, change billing, connect banks, or change organization settings.

Before you start

• You need a LazyBooks account with at least one organization.
• Server URL: https://lazybooks.com/mcp
• Claude: custom connectors are available on Free (one custom connector), Pro, Max, Team, and Enterprise plans. On Team and Enterprise plans, an owner adds the connector for the organization, then each member connects.
• ChatGPT: app and developer mode availability depends on your plan and workspace settings.

Connect from Claude

This covers both claude.ai and Claude Desktop.

1. If LazyBooks is in the connector directory, open Customize > Connectors, find LazyBooks, and select Connect.
2. Otherwise, add it as a custom connector: open Customize > Connectors, select +, then Add custom connector, enter the server URL, and select Add.
3. Select Connect, then approve the connection in LazyBooks (see "Approve the connection" below).

Team and Enterprise: an owner adds it first, in Organization settings > Connectors (select Add, then Custom, then Web, and enter the server URL). Members then connect it from Customize > Connectors.

In a chat, turn connectors on or off from the + menu under Connectors.

Connect from ChatGPT

1. If LazyBooks is in the ChatGPT app directory, open the directory, find LazyBooks, and select Connect.
2. If your workspace allows developer mode, you can also add it yourself: turn on developer mode in ChatGPT settings, add a new app or connector with the server URL and OAuth authentication, then connect it.

ChatGPT menu names change often. The server URL and the LazyBooks approval page stay the same.

Connect from Claude Code

claude mcp add --transport http lazybooks https://lazybooks.com/mcp

1. Start Claude Code.
2. Run /mcp.
3. Choose lazybooks.
4. Select Authenticate. Your browser opens the LazyBooks approval page.

Connect from Cursor

Add the server to ~/.cursor/mcp.json (all projects) or .cursor/mcp.json in a project.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "lazybooks": {
      "url": "https://lazybooks.com/mcp"
    }
  }
}

1. Open the MCP servers list in Cursor settings.
2. Sign in to lazybooks when Cursor asks. Your browser opens the LazyBooks approval page.

Approve the connection

Sign in to LazyBooks if asked.

• The approval page shows which app asks for access: the web address that receives the approval, and, for apps that publish their details (for example claude.ai or chatgpt.com), the site that published them.
• If the app runs on your computer, such as Claude Code or Cursor, the page warns you. Continue only if you started the connection.
• If you belong to several organizations, choose the organizations the app may use and a default.
• The page lists what the app asks to do: view your data, and make changes if the app asks for that permission. Approve gives the app everything on the list.
• The Approve button becomes available after the page has been in front for one second.

If you are new to LazyBooks and have no organization yet, LazyBooks asks you to create one first. Then start the connection again from the app.

Example prompts

• "Which LazyBooks records still need review this month?"
• "Categorize my uncategorized Amazon purchases from March as office supplies, then show me what you changed."
• "Show my chart of accounts and suggest accounts for the records that need review."
• "Approve the records you categorized, and save a rule so future GitHub charges go to Software."

Manage or remove access

Settings > Connected apps lists each app with its organizations, permissions, and last use.

• Select Revoke to end its access at once.
• A connection stays signed in while the app uses it at least once every 30 days.
• To give an app access to another organization or more permissions, revoke it and connect again.

Limits and troubleshooting

• Each connection can send 120 requests a minute. If the assistant reports too many requests, wait a minute.
• "Organization unavailable": the connection doesn't include that organization, or you left it. Connect again and select it.
• The app asks you to sign in again: the connection was revoked or unused for 30 days. Approve it again.
• For help, email support@lazybooks.app.

Privacy and security

The assistant sees only the data that its tool calls return, and only for the organizations you approve. LazyBooks stores only hashes of the tokens that it gives to the app. The AI provider's own terms and privacy policy apply to data you share in a chat.

See our Privacy Policy and Terms of Service for more.